Posted: Dec 11, 2006 10:46 am EST
“Some have suggested there was a greater reason for the Queen’s sinking – sort of a “Divine decree”, or even that it was written in my stars,” writes Captain Phil in his latest email. “Whatever the reason, culpability for her loss, rest with me, the ship’s Captain.”

For Captain Phil, the Amazon Queen is not a boat - it's part of his life. In his latest reports, the cap reviews all repairs the ship, once on the sand, will have to undergo. But he also recalls past adventures, present difficulties and future dreams - to become reality on board the Queen, and the mighty Amazon river.

Working on the Queen

“It took thirty man-hours just to clean the mud from the interior of the Amazon Queen,” reported Captain Phil. “Pumps from within her damp hull sent mud and water cascading from the ships torn bow out into the river.”

“Three weeks and three hundred man-hours later her exterior hull and decks have been sanded. The engine hopefully will be reassembled early next week. Mud and water has seeped into even the components of the ship’s electrical systems causing oxidation of the breaker panel, alternator, water pump, switches and wiring which will require compete dissemble and copious washing to reactivate them.”

Why - the question at the port captain’s office

“A ship floats and moves according to laws of universal physics. Structural integrity, buoyancy, lift and force are factors used to explain how steel, concrete and wood can float or in our case…can’t float. Explaining how my ship sunk referenced to the laws of physics, structural integrity and buoyancy was going to be a writing challenge - Where to start, I thought as I was handed the incident report form by an ensign assigned to the port captains’ office.”

“Try to be specific and brief” the young ensign emphasized in Spanish.

“We’re not looking for scholarly platitudes with exponential equations relating to physics, ship design, co-sign, tangents, and torque” he inhaled, while aligning his polished belt buckle to an imaginary vertical line extending from the buttons of his blouse down through the zipper of his pants.”

“As I sat filling out his forms I couldn’t help but notice the office walls covered with nautical maps, naval plaques, a picture of Colombian president Uribe, distinguished admirals and my old friend the Port Captain whom I too would soon be standing at attention in front of.”

Sunk due to lack of harmony

“Si, mi Capitan, Si Senor, Si mi Capitan”, replied the Lieutenant, standing at attention. His gaze was fixed to a spot on the wall ten feet behind the Port Captain. The Port Captain stood face to face less than a foot away from the ensign holding a limp piece of paper with my briefest answer to the question why my ship had sunk: “My ship sank, for lack of harmony between the wood and the water.”

Damage report at a closer look

“A weathered plank, housing the steel, through the hull, GPS transponder fitting, had ironically been missed on her annual inspection which proved to be the weakest point in the ships structure, and where the puncture in the hull occurred.”

“The loss of my ship was a painful reminder that overlooking the smallest detail can have catastrophic consequences such as in the tragedy of the space shuttle ‘Challenger’ or loss of a battle for fault of a horseshoe nail. In the shadow of such overpowering losses, I consider myself lucky to get off so light and accept my loss in a positive light, like tempering a steal sword through repetition of pounding, heating and quenching…making it harder, and sharper.”

The wood work

“Days of sanding have stripped years of paint from her decks and hull exposing the natural wood exterior for a more detailed visual inspection. Sweeping my hand back and forth over this massive hull helped to locate minor defects which I marked with a black letter “X” to assist the caulkers and painters. “

“Slamming a blunt and rusted ten pound hammer, “bam, bam, bam” against the planks, I listened for tone integrity… solid strong planks when hit sound like a hammer hitting a rock boulder…weak planks make a dull thumping sound. All the planks I tested sounded strong with the exception of that one.”

“Dark woods, strong as iron, known as “Itiuba” in Brazil, can last fifty years in the water but are now scarce in this region due to over cutting. The woods I selected for our hull and deck repairs, a sister species of Itiuba, are also very durable and can last twenty years in a ships hull if hauled and painted regularly.”

Navigation risks on Amazon river

“At least once a year for the past eight years navigating, the Queen has had to defend herself again the ravages of the Amazon and has stayed a float. The Amazon has always been a dangerous river to navigate because of its unpredictable shifting shallows, jagged underwater tree trunk, constant storms, massive whirlpools, violent currents and vast fluctuations of the water level often fifty feet during her seasonal ebb and fall.”

“Seasonal water levels can drop as much as a meter in three days stranding your ship for months in a dry isolated tributary if caught unaware. This nearly happened to us several years ago while taking a ‘short cut’ through one such jungle tributary in route down to Manaus Brazil.”

A dolphins’ story

“With less than an inch of water under her keel, the Queen skipped across a narrow shallow of mud with just enough force from the engine to propelling her out of the still water shallows into the swift current of the Solimoes River. (Brazilian name for the segment of Amazon River flowing between Leticia, Colombia and Manaus, Brazil)”

“Amazon Pink dolphins feed in the confluence of clear water tributaries that flow into the deeper, muddy waters of the Amazon It had been a distant sighting of these dolphins with my binoculars that gave me the clue and resolve to hold course through the narrowing passage despite being a few meters port and starboard from the jungle and with virtually no water only mud under her keel.”

“The Queen forward momentum began to slow and within meters of coming to a stop she glided gracefully back into the muddy waters of the Solimoes. The same dolphins I had seen at a distance, now swam curiously around the boat making sharp “whooshing” sounds through their blow holes as they cleared the surface to breath.”

A personal dream – on the tracks of Orellana

“My family and I always enjoy the presence of these playful creatures and accept them as good omens, like full rainbows, intense moon light, red-gold warm sunsets and clam sparkling waters. My dream for many years has been to navigate with my family from Colombia, the Queens country of registry, to the mouth of the Amazon at Belem do Para, the last town on the Brazilian Amazon River.”

“It was near Belem, in 1541, that an expedition lead by thirty-six year old, Francisco Orellana, arrived from an over land route beginning in Quito Ecuador and later navigated more than twenty-five hundred miles down the Napo and Amazon Rivers.”

“Wooden boat hulls similar to those constructed by Orellana’s carpenters are still seen along the Amazon. Boat builders use the same fiber caulking and tar sealer called “brea” as was used five hundred years ago.”

Growing pains for the aging Queen

“As each year passes this dream seem more illusive because fuel cost on the Amazon have risen forty percent since setting course eight years ago, about the time our daughter Cyd was born. The Queen has been hauled and refitted a dozen times and a new 120-hp diesel engine sits solidly where once was a wimpy 34-hp engine to push her hefty fourteen tons.”

“Few ships in her class have had more adventures navigating six thousand miles of impassable shallows and torturous tributaries, than has the Amazon Queen.
Millions of people have follow her exploits through the internet (check previous stories and links) or by direct radio contact on 14.347 and 14.300 megahertz upper side band, amateur radio frequencies.”

“Sadness I felt as the Queen went down was curiously not related to her monetary value but for the loss of a loyal friend and part of my life. Amazon Queens fame it seems will not only come from the legacy of her adventurers but in being a tenacious wooden ship with an unsinkable spirit.”

American Captain Phil, a former Vietnam veteran is traveling the Amazon River with his wife Lelia and their daughter Syd, 7.

Apart from his work deep in the jungle and his plans to eventually cross 6,000 miles of the river through Peru, Colombia, Brazil and back to Colombia - another interesting detail is the communication tech Phil is using.

Whilst the world is abuzz about blogs, podcasts, wireless and satellites - our Amazon Captain has his own ways. Check out the pictures to this story - they were transmitted via not satellite, nor through an internet cafe - but through amateur radio:

"I must admit there is a unique challenge in being able to transmit by radio, photographs and stories which may rival those of National Geographic... solely for the satisfaction of being able to accomplish this from a wooden ship navigating the rainforest tributaries of the Amazon River," he says.

 EMAIL   PRINT   SHARE   TEXT