The sinking of the Thandi, my perspective by Bill Slade

My wife and I arrived in Cape Town, South Africa September 14, 2017 to begin planned excursions, safaris and ending up in Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls. At our hotel in the early evening, our entire gang met in the pub to celebrate our arrival in Africa. There were eight of us, all in someway related, most from the Ottawa Valley, Calgary and two as far as San Francisco.

First on our agenda, bright and early the next day was a trip to Robben Island where the great South African leader moving the country out of apartheid, Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in captivity.

We had purchased tickets for the 11 am ferry sailing to Robben Island from Cape Town, roughly a 40 minute crossing. We gathered and headed off to the ferry terminal at the waterfront.

What we did notice before we left, it was very windy out. Some of the vendors in the outdoor market in front of our hotel had taken down their stalls for the day as their inventory was being blown in all directions.

Nelson Mandela Entrance to Robben Island

Boarding the ferry we were told to sit inside as the upper deck was off limits due to the weather conditions. A safety demonstration on how to don a life jacket and we were on our way. A fairly large catamaran style ferry, the crossing was quick and uneventful despite the waves churned up by the wind.

Madiba 1, a catamaran style Ferry The Madiba a much larger vessel

Arriving on Robben Island there are buses ready to take you on a tour of the famous prison. Parts of the tour are hosted by ex-inmates to give a realistic perspective about what this prison was about.

As we hit the end of the island and a small shop, the wind had picked up considerably blowing loose clothing and hats around. This was near end of the tour; we headed back to the docks to board the ferry home.

I had hung back a bit to take some pictures of the dock area and had to run to catch the ferry my wife and four of our companions had been placed on. The ferry was called the Thandi, quite a bit smaller than the ferry we took to the island.

The Thandi in calmer days On board the Thandi still at dock. Maureen, Val & Jon

Despite the gale force winds and 2-3 meter seas we were all placed on the upper deck. On board were 64 passengers crowed on this small ferry that later we found out was certified for ‘calm water’ only and had just been put back into service that day with reservations from the marine safety and certification agency. This boat should never have left the dock.

Having sprinted to catch the ferry, I was the last to board; the crew untied the vessel and hopped on. We were underway.

Even as we left the protection of the harbour, waves were breaking over the bow causing a light spray over the passengers on the open upper deck. As we exited the harbour, the vessel was pitching up and down as it hit the waves causing not a spray but a deluge of water soaking all those on the upper deck. With the water and the heaving deck, we were thrown out of our bench seats on to the deck. About the second time I was washed out of my seat, I was violently pitched back against the seats severely bruising my right side and ribs. After a third time of being blown of my seat I stayed lying on the deck and hung on to a railing. Wave after wave washed the ferry throwing it about, up and crashing down. The captain had the engines wide open but peering up we were barely a kilometre from Robben Island after 30 minutes underway.

As we were being tossed and soaked a panicked crew member came up the stairs yelling; ‘get your life jackets on now!’ We had heard quite the commotion below on the first deck but were too busy hanging on while being washed by cold sea water and tossed around.

There had been no safety drill prior to heading out. Remember the phrase ’ in the unlikely event…’ Well the unlikely was happening. The boat had taken on water, the bilge pumps could not keep up and the alarms were going off. Suddenly the ferry hit a massive wave and was unable to ride over it, rather the bow buried into the wall of water. The roof of the wheel house was ripped off and all the front windows were blown out. Wave after wave of water was now flooding in and the bow began to sink.

Panic was the key word, both passengers and crew. Here we were in a sinking vessel, the bow now underwater, the superstructure ripped off and flopping around dangerously. We pulled the life jackets from under the seats on the upper structure and were left trying to figure out how to put them on. Women and children were first to be given life jackets. I witnessed a panicked male rip the life jacket from the hands of a woman and head downstairs to the main deck. The woman was given another jacket.

It is not easy to don a lifejacket in a pitching and listing boat. You have to let go of your grip on the railings. We couldn’t figure how to open the buckles at first. Finally we figured it out but the boat was overcrowded and there were not enough adult life jackets for all. One member of my party was given a child’s life jacket. As I looked down to the lower deck there were passengers without a life jacket on.

The crew had deployed the main life raft but it had been caught in the winds and waves and rapidly disappeared, it was not tied down. The crew then launched a much smaller life raft and tied it behind the boat. A crew member jumped on board but the raft immediately flipped throwing him into the water. He climbed back on board and bailed the raft out. Then it was called for all children to be placed on the raft. The call for women and children had gone out to assemble on the lower deck, first to be evacuated. They were told to take their shoes off and get ready for a water exit off the boat. The idea of placing the children in this small raft was simply suicide. A bulky passenger stepped forward and took control. No children were to be tossed on to the life raft and no one was to enter the water while we still had a platform to stand on.

It took about 20 minutes for the National Sea Rescue unit to arrive. 20 minutes of panic, wave after wave of cold water and anxiety. The boat was sinking fairly rapidly, the lower passenger deck was awash, underwater with the boat listing to the starboard while being tossed in the high seas. On the upper deck we all stood on the port side to counter balance the steep angle.

National Sea Rescue Institute Rescuing passengers on the stricken Thandi

At the time of the SOS call the NSRI had been practicing a simulated ferry sinking with 140 passengers. Then the call came in for a real emergency. Ships and helicopters buzzed the area.

First the women and the children were placed on the rescue boats. These high power solid hull zodiac boats could hold between 6 to 8 at a time, each one with three rescue crew aboard. Two rescue crew had boarded the Thandi to take control and facilitate orderly evacuation.

With the pitching of the two boats, the sinking ferry and the rescue craft, the boats had to co-inside on a wave that allowed them for a moment to be even but apart from each other by about three feet. When that condition happened the two rescuers would each grab an arm and place or toss a passenger to safety on the rescue boat where rescuers in the zodiacs caught and placed you on the floor. Once filled a second rescue boat repeated the process. For the number on the Thandi it took over eight loads of passengers working from three rescue boats about 30 minutes to evacuate the ferry.

My party stayed on the upper deck until the lower deck had cleared with the exception of my wife and a female friend who were first to evacuated with the women and children. When it came time we descended down the ladder on to the rear platform on the stricken ferry. I looked down inside the passenger compartment, the seats were underwater. A NSRI boat pulled up beside the Thandi and the next thing I knew I was grabbed by both arms and landed in the arms of two rescuers aboard a rescue boat. When they had enough on board the rescue boat it headed over to the large ferry that had been standing by for over an hour ready to accept survivors. Many of the passengers on board the large ferry were quite seasick from being tossed by the waves and wind. When we pulled beside the big ferry, the difference between the back deck of the vessel and the rescue boat was a quite a bit different than the sinking ferry. Again two hands grabbed my arms and I was tossed on the rear deck of the ferry and into the waiting arms of two other rescuers. I was quickly hustled inside to a seat in the passenger area.

Rescue continues The final group leaving the ferry

Once all the passengers and crew from the Thandi had been evacuated the large ferry headed for the dock in Cape Town.

Here we were met by medics, doctors and trauma councillors. One victim was taken off the ferry first on a stretcher, another suffering from hypothermia and another suffering from a severe anxiety attack were also transported to hospital.

We were hustled into a large auditorium where our names were taken and blankets wrapped around us. There were plenty of warm drinks. But being exposed to the cold water and winds for such a period of time we all suffered from hypothermia. Having been tossed against the seats of the boat a medic checked me for broken ribs and a doctor advised me what to do if I experienced trouble later on.

We were in the auditorium for over an hour. Since we were soaking wet, no taxis would take us back to our hotel so a van was arranged. We arrived back wrapped in a blanket sloshing through the lobby and up to our rooms.

The auditorium The Canadian contingent, some with wet passports

Even a hot shower and a change into dry clothes the cold feeling hung on. Then it hits you, you survived the ordeal.

All you want to do is reach out to friends and loved ones just to hear their voice. I called my two daughters but I was so cold I could barely talk. It was just to hear their voices. I texted a friend and told him of the ordeal. Somehow reaching out made it a bit more bearable.

Pretty well everyone who experienced this ordeal got ill after a few days. Most went shark cage diving the next day. As a scuba Instructor, a dream I have. But the bruising on my ribs was such I was unable to go. Shark Cage Diving seemed rather passive.

There is an ongoing investigation into the sinking of the Thandi. While it has not reached its conclusion, we have been told the ferry was not certified for those conditions, the ferry was overloaded and there were not enough life jackets to go around. All passengers they have reached out to have submitted their observations of this sinking.

The Thandi, what happened to her? While it did take on considerably more water and flounder further, I believe when the winds and the waves calmed, crews were able tow the vessel to Robben Island Pumps were used to remove the water and re-float the Thandi .

For day two of the trip and onwards, we toured South Africa, went of countless safari’s in Kruger and Karonqwe Parks and ended up in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The first day of our trip to South Africa reminded us of how fragile life can be and how quickly events can change.

The next day ferry service to Robben Island was cancelled due to the weather conditions.

If you are ever in Cape Town, a trip to Robben Island is a definite must to understand some of the history and where the country came from. Nelson Mandela had a vision of a ‘rainbow’ nation. In many ways the oppression continues to this day.

Bill & Maureen Slade at Cape Point, South Africa