British divers swept out to sea tell of their terrifying ordeal
From Andrew Drummond, Pulau Bidadari, Indonesia
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From Andrew Drummond, Pulau Bidadari, Indonesia
This is the moment 25-yr-old Charlotte Allin thought she was about to die.
Charlotte hanging on to ‘Wilson’. Copyright James Manning
Strapped to a long with four other castaways and having been swept 40 miles by an ocean current her eyes can reveal her anguish. Right now she knows she may never see land again.
The log, on which their lives depend, has been named ‘Wilson’, after the football Tom Hanks dressed up as an imaginary companion in the Hollywood film ‘Castaway’
Public school educated Charlotte knows her only choice is to paddle furiously with her colleagues for land but they are making no headway. It looks like they will be washed away far into the Indian Ocean never to be seen again.
But after weather conditions miraculously changed the party struggled ashore led by the heroics of her former Royal Marine Commando boyfriend only to be attacked by a lethal Komodo Dragon.
Now for the first time Charlotte and her boyfriend Jim Manning, 30, told of their two day two night ordeal, which began on what was their last planned dive off Komodo Islands in Indonesia.
Here on Pulai Bidadari, off the coast of Indonesia near the town of Labuan Bajo, recovering from exhaustion, dehydration, and cuts and bruises, they told of their fateful last dive with colleague Swede Helena Naradainen, Frenchman Lauren Pinel, and dive leader Kathleen Mitchinson, 50, from Carlisle.
“We had just done one dive site called the Hanging Gardens and went for our last dive 65 minutes at a place called Manta Corner.
“The dive went fine with our supervisor Kath. We went down 17 metres at 15.03, according to Jim’s watch, and saw Frog Fish and Scorpion Fish, Moray eels and sharks and surfaced at 16.08.
“We saw our dive boat and signalled. But the boat had its back to us. So we blew n our whistles and put out a bright orange Surface Marker Boy SMB). Still they did not see us so we put up another surface marker boy.
Added Jim: “I had waited for over an hour before to be picked up by a dive boat so I was not worried. But the current was taking us away quite quickly. So we put out a second and third markers boys.
“We drifted past a rock then between two islands. Each time we tried to swim towards the island across the current we failed.”
Said Charlotte: “Jim and I got separated from the rest who had ended up in some sort of whirlpool. We eventually kicked ourselves back to the group blowing whistles.
“By 6pm it was getting very dark. We needed to get to land. We saw lights on an island and tried to paddle towards it. But each time he headed towards an island he current took us past and around it.
“I was talking to the group trying to keep them interested, trying to keep their spirits, but maybe my spirits up. We were getting very thirsty and it was getting cold.
“We drifted past yet another island. The next hour must have been the worst. We knew from our dive leader Kath that the Indonesians could not search at night because of the reefs.
“I thought this is it. We are going to drift off into the Indian Ocean never to be found. I thought we would die of hypothermia. We were not worried about the reef sharks.
“Then we saw something black in the water in front. My first thought that it was a shark, then, more optimistically, a dolphin. But when we swam towards it we saw it was a log. A massive great tree stump about 18 inches in diameter. It was big enough to support us all.
“We clipped ourselves onto to the log and Jim clipped himself to me and I clipped myself on to Helena the Swede.
“Then the weather turned bad. The wind got up and do did the waves with them. We were all attached to the log and we were swirling around in the stormy water.
“We were swallowing water. We tried to use our masks to protect our faces. In the skies we saw shooting stars. Each time we saw one e veryone in the group made a wish. Some wished for dry land. Some wished for safety. I just wished for my life.
“Beside me Helena had taken ill. Basically she was seasick, but in an extreme way.
I tried to talk to everybody. I did not want to die. I made a decision looking up at the stars that I would live or die. I decided I had to pluck up all my resources to live.
“I had to be positive. We all had to stick together. We were kicking continuously even though the wind wand currents were swirling us around all the time. We were kicking to stay warm. Although Helena did not seem to be responding.
“My fingers were red and bruised from digging my nails into the log. My other arm was tucked under Jim’s life jacket. We had long since got rid of our diving weight belts.
“We chatted to each other. I asked Lauren about his travels. I asked Kath about her other diving experiences. Jim joked that he hoped Kath was not going to charge us for a night dive as well. We were just talking and joking to keep our spirits up, but we all knew what was happening was deadly serious.
“We knew we had to find land. Then at about 10.45 at night on Thursday the sea flattened out. Then we started kicked like mental for our lives.”
Said Jim from Barnstaple: “We knew then we had to kick ourselves to some sort of island if we were going to get through this. Everybody was aching. We all had cramps.
“At some point I saw a white patch ahead in the darkness. I thought it might be a beach. I said to the group that I would leave ‘Wilson’ and swim to the white patch. If it was a beach I would return and tell them.
“But some people were not in agreement. Certainly Charlotte was not. It was eventually agreed that both Kath and I go.
“There was a chance that once we let go of ‘Wilson’ we would let go of our lives. But this white patch was the only recognisable solid thing we could see.
“Kath and I swam off together and found we could make good progress without the log. It was ashore. But Kath could not get ashore. She was being flung against the rocks.
“We decided to switch places. I tried to get ashore and succeeded. It was a beach of sorts but there were massive white pebbles in the way. I found a way through and came back to signal to the rest of the group.
“First came Lauren the Frenchman then Helena, then Charlotte and finally Kath.”
Charlotte, Lauren, Helena on the rocks after striking land. Copyright James Manning
“Yes. We were delirious with joy, “ added Charlotte, “but we could not stand up. We had to lie down and look up at the sky. We were cold and shivering with unbearable pain in our legs and stomachs and unable to sleep – but we were alive!”
“Kath had decided that the island we were on was called Pulau Pandar. If that was true, she said, in the next cove would be a sandy beach where fisherman and live aboard dive boats spent a lot of time.
“Kath and Jim would go in the morning to raise the alarm.”
In fact the group had landed on Rinca Island, an island dominated by lethal Komodo Dragons, whose bite is fatal to both man and beast.
But when Kath and Jim went to search the following day they did not know this.
Jim, a former Corporal of 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers, who has done tours of duty both in Afghanistan and in Iraq and had been offered a place on an SAS course, takes up the story.
“When we woke up we found a hill behind us 200 metres high and very steep. This was not a walk it was a climb. Initially it was ok to go on hands and knees, we had to go through and under brambles and thorns.
“But it got to the stage that it was so steep that it one of us fell we were going to be in a very bad situation. I told Kath I would go on my own. And she made her way back to the beach.
“I had to be careful where I was putting my hands. I did not know what was in the crevices. When I got to the top I did see another bay. And started to go down the other side. I was stopped in my tracks. Actually I landed back on my arse rather than stumble right into a beehive, then backtracked.
“I went along the coast along the top of a cliff and saw another bay. I was parched. I could not breathe. The sun had come up and was beating down full and I had not had a drop of want since 2.30 pm the previous day.
“I managed to get down to a beach and dived into a rock pool to cool off.
“By this time I knew it was useless to go back and tell the group that this was the wrong island. I had to go on. I could not go up. The sun was too hot.
“But the cliffs were high and the only way to get round the island was by both swimming and climbing.
“But the swell was getting up too. I still had diving boots, but apart from that I was just about naked. The waves would bounce me against the rocks. I was able to use my boots to fend myself off most of the time, but I took a bit of a beating as well from the sharp rocks and crustaceans.
“When the current caught me it the waves would roll me over, take me out, turn me upside down. I did not know where I was. Each time I recovered I would swim madly for the shore.
“At one point I had to climb again and made my way up the cliff forcing my hands and fists into every available crevice. But this was not like army training, where we used ropes and you could even let yourself fall onto the rope to take a breather.
“Eventually I found a cove with a sandy beach. I thought I saw some people there and started shouting and swearing at them when they did not reply. When I got up closer I realised the people were just rocks, but they looked like people sitting and holding their knees.
“I saw monkeys and a herd of deer but they were too far in the distance. Eventually I found a section of rocks facing the sea, which had three flat shelf-like surfaces on which I could lie, although they were at an angle and I had to use me feet to stop slipping off.
“I could rest there and watch out for boats. I went back to the beach and gathered some leaves. I covered myself in leaves for warmth. All I had was shorts, a Rash Vest.
“I kept staring out to see and saw a boat and again I started shouting, then swearing. But it was not a boat it was a rock.
“At midnight I moved down to the bottom shelf because I could not stay awake to stop myself slipping off the higher shelf.
“Then in the morning after stripping off washing myself in the sea and began my lookout duties again.
“I was struggling to stay awake. Then I saw this speedboat approaching. I jumped and waved and ran down and jumped into the sea. It was 12.30 pm.
“My colleagues were all there. Everybody was smiling, even the Indonesians.
“I did not know I had spent all this time in Komodo Dragon land.”
While Jim was out looking for help Charlotte remained with the rest of the group on the beach where they had landed.
“The first morning our spirits were good. We saw three boats. One looked like it had spotted us and started coming towards us, then it turned away. We were waving our safety sausages (SMBs). We thought it had turned away to summon help.
“I had mixed emotions about Jim. I knew he was capable of doing the climbs and that he was physically and mentally strong. But I knew he could fall and if that happened nobody could help him.
“Kath and I started to get a fire going after collecting dry grass and by using a magnifying glass which she had. But it got really hot and we had to hide in the shade of the rocks, which were like giant white pebbles.
“We also put together an SOS sign made out of these giant white pebbles, but I could only carry one at a time and we were all absolutely parched. We were so, so, so thirsty.
“Every time the thirst played on me I just imagined I had drunk a large glass of Sprite (lemonade) with ice through a straw.
“I felt like I had had a drink. We found a coconut and Kath broke it open. But inside it was rotten. We kept it anyway just in case.
“We kept ourselves occupied by playing hangman or noughts and crosses in the sand.
Lauren the Frenchman spent the morning and afternoon on a lookout rock, coming back at midday for two hours because Kath said the fishermen would not be out during those hours.
“At midday the heat was unbearable there was no shade at all.
“We saw ships in the distance but nobody saw us and by about 4.30 pm I was beginning to despair. We found an overhang in the rocks by the shore and saw water dripping down. Kath and I tried to drink it. When we did we realised it was just sea water from the splashing waves.
“Then suddenly we heard a scream. We saw Helena and right next to her was a Komodo Dragon. It was just inches away. These Komodos can kill buffalo and deer with just one bite.
“The Dragon made a lunch at her and I saw his tongue darting out. Then he grabbed the hood of her suit which was beside her. We rushed and Kath picked up a couple of sticks and beat it, but it did not go away.
“Then the Komodo grabbed Jim’s wet suit which he had left behind. Kath hit the Dragon again and he left go
“We rushed to the sea to fill out bottles with sea water, because we were told the Komodos did not like water. But it did not seem concerned when we threw water over it.
“The Komodo Dragon kept coming back. It was big but not an adult, We knew it must have a mummy and a daddy about somewhere. People and other animals die from the bites from the bacteria.
“I collected all the wetsuits because we needed them to keep warm during the night. We let the Komodo have any masks or flippers or BCDs (buoyancy control devices) he wanted.
“We were confused what were Komodos doing on this island. We huddled together for the night.
“Lauren seemed to have the most energy and we asked him why. He said he had been eating sea snails. That cheered us up. The next morning we knew it was safe to eat them. So having slept all night on some big boulders we went down for breakfast,
“At first we just broke off the shells, smashed them with a stone and swallowed them.
But Lauren was chewing. So we gave them a try. They were black and slimey but actually not bad and we got some juice from them.
“But our spirits were still down. I did not think we would be able to survive one more night. By this time I thought Jim was dead. I thought even if we were rescued I would not leave without him.
“Then about midday we saw a boat out to see turn around and head in our direction.
Could that boat have at last spotted us? We did not want to let our hopes up. But it came on and came on towards us. Oh my God. It IS coming!
“Kath and I dropped on our knees and burst into tears.
“When we got on the boat and had some water we insisted that Jim was still out there. The boat took us around the island and then a crewman shouted from the front. He’s here. My darling was jumping up on a rock and waving his hands. Our lives had been spared.
“We do not blame anyone for what happened. It could have happened to anyone.
We are just so glad all of us to be alive.”
Charlotte and Jim’s trip was organised by Ernest Lewandowski from Locherbie, Scotland and Kathleen Mitchinson, from Carlyle who run Reefseekers Dive Centre out of Labuan Bajo.
Said Ernest afterwards: “We are so happy that everyone is safe. I had already got by group back into the boat. We raised the alarm when we could not find Kath’s group.
“I went to see a local soothsayer in Labuan and she predicted exactly where the group would be found. I am very proud of the way Kath led her group.”
Copyright: © Andrew Drummond June 8 2008
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Charlotte, Jim, and Kathleen: Picture: Andrew Chant