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ESCAPE
FROM VIETNAM Page 10 Gradually, I gathered my composure. I shook my head several time to shake myself out of this numbing terror. I had no doubt that all of us was about to meet our maker very shortly. I closed my eyes and silently prayed to God to give me a quick and painless death if the boat founder. Dying by drowning is a very painful and slow death, and just the thought of it made me shuddered with fear. I prayed to God to protect my father, my mother and my brothers who were still in Vietnam. They would never know where and how I die. Slowly, I tried to shake myself from the feeling of self-pity, anger, and fear. I tried to remember the last words that my father told me before we parted: "You should never give up hope! As long as your heart still beat and your eyes still can see, no matter how bad the situation is, you still have a chance to win and survive. If you give up hope, you won't even see the chance if it is there." I repeated these words again and again in an effort to psyche myself up and convince myself that this is not the end yet. Gradually, I felt better. I positioned myself firmly in a corner of the engine room and closed my eyes to try to get some rest. Outside, the storm raged on. While the waves didn't take the boat to the bottom of the sea, the constant pounding on the boat started to take its toll. About an hour after the storm started, there was a leak on the bottom of the engine cabin, and the water started to flood the bottom of boat. The water pump was broken shortly after that, and the water level steadily rose. The crew men weren't able to seal the leak since they didn't have anything to seal it with. If nothing was done, the boat would be sunk in about an hour. There was only one solution to the problem: use a pail to manually scoop and throw the water out of the window in the engine room. This is exactly what was done for the rest of the journey (9 days altogether). The captain quickly announced that all the men on the boat (at 14, I was nevertheless considered as a man) would have to take turn and worked in team of two to throw the water out. The crew men, the captain, the boat owner and 3 other men who took turn steering the boat would be exempt from this labor. All the men on the boat (including me!) were immediately organized into teams of two to start scooping and throwing the water out. Together, six teams (a total of twelve men) were organized. There are 4 or 5 other men on the boat who were too sick and weak from the storm and the sea (or at least they claimed that they were!) to participate in any kind of labor. I had some serious doubt whether these men were really too sick or were they just really selfish lazy bums who were just making excuses not to do any work. Each team was to work for one hour, then rest for 5 hours before starting again. My team, consisting of me and a middle aged school teacher, would be working on the second shift. I was very tired, thirsty, hungry and feeling somewhat dazed from seasickness and the storm. Weak and small as I was, I wasn't excluded from the labor. I didn't bother to argue with these men. I didn't want to be thought of as lazy or a liar. I also wanted to live. If I refused to work and everyone else did the same thing, we would surely die. Even though I didn't believe that we have much of a chance for survival, I didn't want to give up hope. I stayed in my comer and tried to rest, preparing for the long hard labor that was to come. After the first team had finished, I and the teacher took their places. I sat on the window of the engine room, hooking both of my legs securely into some holds to prevent myself from falling into the ocean. Even then, it was a pretty precarious position. The wind was howling angrily and many times, I thought I nearly was sucked out of the boat. The teacher was standing down in the engine cabin and scooping the water with a pail, then handing the pail to me so I could throw the water out. His position was much more secure than mine, but his share of the work is much more tiring. Looking down at the engine cabin, I could see that the man is up to his knee in water. The water level was about one and a half feet. I was soaked from head to toe from the rain and the splashing waves. After just 15 minutes of throwing water out of the window, I felt as if my arms were about to fall off from my body. I also had never felt so cold in my life. The relentless wind keep beating against my soaked body, and the chill penetrated to every single nerves in my body that still were sensitive. The hunger and thirst suddenly became insignificant comparing to the painful tiredness and the hellish cold. Many times, I thought I was about to collapse. It was with the greatest will that I managed to keep my eyes open and refuse to faint. I didn't say anything or complain to anyone. The teacher was not in much better shape than I. He was also soaked and extremely tired. As for the people in the main cabin, they were submerging in water up to 6 inches. There was no dry places in the boat. The exhaust pipe of the boat was placed not too far from the window, and the smoke coming out of the pipe was blown by the wind straight to my face. I tried to keep my head away from the smoke. Nevertheless, within half an hour, my face, head, and neck was blackened with smoke. Throughout the night, the boat lurched violently from side to side. Many time, I thought my face was just inches from touching the surface of the water. The will to live keep me from giving up. If I was to close my eyes for a few seconds or relax my holds a little bit, I surely would have fallen into the sea and never be seen again. By the time we finished our shift and another team came to relieve us, I felt as if every muscle and every nerve in my body were screaming out in pain. I slowly crawled back to my corner in the engine room and passed out within one minute. |