Word: lakonia
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Ringing Bells. Tragedy was the farthest thing from anyone's mind when the Lakonia left Southampton. Most of the passengers were elderly Britishers off to enjoy Christmas in the sun; three honeymoon couples were on board, as well as schoolboys joining their parents in Madeira and a group of five London taxi drivers on holiday. On the first day at sea, Captain Mathios Zarbis, 53, ordered the only boat drill held during the cruise. Only the constant trouble with the Lakonia's electrical system gave reason to suspect trouble ahead...
Memory Drums. The first distress message was tapped out at 11:30 p.m. and gave the Lakonia's position as 180 miles northwest of Madeira. Already, thick, billowing smoke was seeping from under the door of the barbershop, where the fire apparently had started. And by now, the flames had burned their way through the floor. So thick was the smoke that Passenger George Chapman was forced to grab a gas mask as he tried to force his way below to his sleeping three-year-old son Geoffrey. "I thought if I had to die, I wanted...
...shortly after Captain Zarbis gave the order to abandon ship, the last mayday message was flashed: "S O S from Lakonia. Last time. I cannot stay any more in the wireless cabin. We are leaving the ship. Please help immediately...
More than 3,000 miles away, the distress signals were picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard station. The Lakonia's position was immediately fed into an AMVER (Atlantic Merchant Vessel Report) computer, which plots the location, course and speed-and records such information as whether a doctor is on board-of some 850 merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Within moments, the computer's memory drums typed out the names of five vessels within 100 miles of the Lakonia, and urgent messages were flashed to them to proceed to the stricken liner. The five were the Argentine...
Screams in the Air. At Lajes Air Force Base in the Azores, the U.S.'s 57th Air Rescue Squadron also swung into action. Shortly after the Lakonia's last message was received, four C-54 rescue planes swung out over the Atlantic toward the flaming vessel, 3 hr. 30 min. flying time away. The planes were loaded with 42 life rafts that could carry 600 persons, 400 blankets, food and survival packages, flares of 300,000 candlepower, and six paramedics who could jump into the ocean to help passengers, if necessary...