Gibraltar- Shipwreck of the Liberian Cargo-Hauler Freda

by retrorocketrick | January 7, 2009 at 12:46 pm

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This is a very interesting story and reinforces the axiom that it does not pay to mess with Mother Nature!! We landed in Gibraltar about 3 weeks after this happened. It was calm and beautiful when we arrived, but on the night August 12, 2008 it was quite different. The Mediterranean is notorious for bad storms that blow up at a moments notice. Trust me, I sail her in the 1970's! As storms make their way West there is no land mass to stop them until they reach Gibraltar. That night the 35,000 ton Liberian-flagged Cargo-Hauler FREDA was anchored off Europa Point making some needed repairs.

There is an interesting conversation I had with one of our Guides, that was not widely reported in the press: It seems, as the storm came in the FREDA began to drag anchor, and was being pushed toward the point by the heavy wind and waves. Two tugs went out to try to offer assistance but when they got to the FREDA, her Captain reportedly said he was not about to pay exhorbitant towing fees when he had perfectly good engines. The tugs even threw lines to the FREDA, but the Captain ordered them thrown back. The tugs therefore left the scene. Guess what? Yep, when the Captain called for his engines, they did not answer! I don't know if the Captain had ordered the anchor pulled up in preparation for getting underway, but whatever the circumstances at that point, the wind and the water pushed FREDA closer and closed to land, until it impacted the rocks right below the lighthouse on Europa Point.
As the weather pounded it on the rocks the storm broke her back and the foward end seperated just forward of the Superstructure, and the ship broke into two pieces!! A resident that lives close to the Point, and was there that night, reports that the sound when she broke apart was unlike anything he had ever heard - "Cruuunnnnnchhhh!!!!"; There were reported to be 20 ft. swells battering the ship when she finally broke apart.

The FREDA carried a crew of 35, mostly Filipino, crewmen. A Spanish Rescue Helo was dispatched to the rescue. After rescuing a dozen or so, the helo had to land because it's engines were over-heating after fighting exceptionally strong winds. The next thing they tried was rigging a mobile crane on the cliff's edge overlooking the forward piece of the ship. They rigged a cradle and lowered it to the crew. Throughout the night they hauled up small groups of terrified seaman. At one point 11 members of the crew were still aboard but the operation had to be suspended as the storm intensified. One rescuer was said to say "Well, we've lost them"

At 7AM the next morning a small window of relative calm appeared and they were able to haul the final 11 crewmen to safety. None of the crew were lost, although quite a few ended up in the hospital emergency room.
Salvage crews had not yet started to tackle the the mess when we were there, but we were told that the Captain of the FREDA was still sitting in JAIL on The Rock of Gibraltar.

- Rock On!!