35 Miles from Shore (18 page)

Wilfred Spenser swam toward the open galley door to see if he could release the escape slide from its container, but the slide wasn't there; it had already broken free. He searched the water around him but saw no sign of the slide. He started swimming toward the right overwing exits in hope of reentering the aircraft. As he swam closer, he looked inside the plane and noticed people still sitting in their seats. Wilfred struggled to climb aboard the partially submerged wing. As he neared the exit, a wave swept him off the wing and back into the sea. He was about to make another attempt when he heard someone yelling from behind, “Help me! I don't have a life vest!” Wilfred turned to see that it was Harry Evans. “Can I hang onto you?” Harry pleaded. Wilfred swam toward him. Harry wrapped his arms around Wilfred's neck, momentarily pushing him beneath the water. He didn't loosen his
grip until Wilfred complained. Harry stayed just long enough to catch his breath, then swam off.

Wilfred turned to make another attempt at getting to the overwing exits but determined that it was too dangerous. It appeared to him that the plane was about to sink. The right wing was fully submerged and the left wingtip was rising out of the water.

The swells were ten to fifteen feet high. One minute Wilfred would be facing a mountain of water. The next he was riding atop a swell searching for other survivors. It was at the top of one these mammoth swells that Wilfred spotted Tobias off in the distance. He yelled to him. “
Tito, bo a mira Margareth?
” he said in Papiamento. Tobias shook his head. He hadn't seen Margareth.
¹

A lifeless body floated by. “Sir,” Wilfred called out. “Are you all right?” The man was wearing an inflated life vest, but his eyes were closed and his head was barely out of the water. Wilfred watched helplessly as the man floated away.

Wilfred became increasingly concerned that the weather was going to hamper any rescue attempts. He was also concerned about it getting dark before they could be rescued; it was already hard to see beneath the overcast skies. He thought of his wife and children as he considered the possibility of not being found in time.

Hugh Hart wasn't in the water long when he spotted Harry Evans swimming toward him. “I don't have a life vest,” Harry said. “Can you help me?”

“I'll see if I can find you one, Harry,” Hugh said, thinking that he might find a life vest floating in the water or inside the aircraft. He started to swim toward the right side overwing exits when he felt something brush up against his leg. He hadn't thought about the possibility of sharks, but now the thought flashed through his brain.
He looked down and was relieved to see not a dorsal fin but a rigid plastic package. When he pushed the package away, he got a better look and realized that it was the escape chute. He found the inflation lanyard but was unable to gain any leverage to pull it. He enlisted the help of a female passenger. He had her hold on to the package while he swam away from her. Hugh yanked on the lanyard, and the bright yellow slide inflated. The slide immediately became a focal point for anyone near enough to reach it. Hugh began gathering people and helping them toward the slide. There were only a few hand-holds to hang onto. Hugh took off his belt and had a few of the other passengers do the same. He looped his belt through one of the hand-holds, creating a makeshift tether line to which other survivors could cling.

Hugh was helping passengers get to the slide when he saw the passenger he had last seen lying on the galley floor. He had assumed that the man had been pinned by the raft and was startled to see him. The man was clinging to an aircraft tire along with a woman. “Are you all right?” Hugh asked as he swam toward them. When there was no answer, Hugh repeated the question. The woman finally spoke up. “He's all right. He's just a little dazed.”

Tobias was floating alone in the water. At first he didn't see any passengers. Soon he started to see other survivors scattered around him. He said a brief prayer. When he rose to the top of one swell, he spotted people off in the distance gathering around what at first looked like a life raft.
*
He swam toward the group of passengers, at one point grabbing onto an aircraft tire to use for additional support.
He assumed that the tire had broken free from the plane. It looked to him like a nose tire. Two passengers swam toward him and also held on to the small tire. Together they made their way to the large group of survivors.

Harry Evans was understandably panicked at being in the water without a life vest. He spotted Hugh and asked for his help. He then swam over to Wilfred and clung on to him long enough to catch his breath. The aircraft was still visible, though only the tail remained above water. Harry left Wilfred and swam over the submerged fuselage toward the tail, thinking that he could hang on to the tail for support while he looked for something else to cling to, such as a suitcase or a seat cushion. The plane was in a slight bank to the right. When he reached the tail, he draped himself across the left elevator. The elevator was flapping up and down in the heavy seas, making it difficult to hold onto. Harry looked over his left shoulder and noticed a woman ten to twenty feet away. He left the tail and swam toward the woman. He didn't get very far before he felt something pulling him from below. It was the undertow from the sinking plane. Fortunately, Harry spotted something floating in the water and grabbed onto it. He then swam over to the woman. When he turned to look back at the aircraft, he spotted what appeared to be a life raft. He was about to head toward the raft when he saw Balsey swimming toward him. He waited for Balsey to reach him, and then the three of them made their way to the escape slide.
²

Once they reached the main group of survivors, Balsey helped Harry onto the slide. He then climbed onto the slide himself in order to help an injured passenger. The passenger was an elderly woman who was bleeding from cuts on her forehead. The escape slide was upside down in the water. It could accommodate only two or three people and only if they were sitting. Balsey and several
passengers helped to get the woman onto the slide. Balsey then slipped back into the water.

Rick Arnold wasn't a religious person. He considered himself an agnostic. But there was a brief moment in the water when he seriously considered the prospect that he might not survive. He thought briefly about praying but decided that if he was going to make it out alive, it was going to be fate and not divine intervention that would save him. He surveyed his surroundings. There were people and debris bobbing up and down all around him. He felt as if he were watching a movie — one that he was in. He called out for Loretta. When he didn't get a response, he pushed aside the suitcase that he had been clinging to and started swimming toward a large group of people. He found Loretta holding on to what Rick believed was a life raft. As he neared the slide, Rick saw one of the crew members kneeling atop it, instructing people to stay off the slide for fear of it overturning. Rick felt it was a selfless act. He didn't notice how little room there actually was on the slide, or that the crewmember wasn't wearing a life vest.

“I can't find Gene,” Loretta said as Rick neared.

“Don't worry,” Rick said. “I'm sure he's around here somewhere.” Rick surveyed the faces of the people in the water around him. There was no sign of Gene.

“He's gone,” Loretta said fatalistically. She told Rick that she couldn't feel her legs. Rick swam over to her. Some of the other passengers were removing their belts and ties and attaching them to the escape slide, so Rick took off his belt. He found a tie that was already attached to the escape slide and looped the tie around his belt buckle. It was then that Rick noticed the deep gash in his hand. He was surprised that he didn't feel any pain, even with the salt water washing away the blood.

A young black girl with braided hair swam over and grabbed onto Rick's belt. The waves were thrashing people about and Rick kept hitting his mouth on the back of the woman's head. He continued to hold onto the belt with one hand and Loretta with the other. It wasn't an easy task in the sea conditions. Letting go would have meant certain separation from the main group. Adding to his difficulty was his life vest, which was pinching his neck. Like a lot of other passengers, Rick was having difficulty with his life vest. It tended to float away from his body.

At one point Rick looked at his watch and noticed that it had stopped at twelve minutes to four. Radio transcripts would later confirm that radar contact was lost at exactly twelve minutes to four.

As soon as Emerson Ussery hit the water, he pulled the two inflation tabs on his life vest. The vest inflated immediately but failed to offer much support. He had neglected to secure the waist straps; the vest simply floated away from his body. It barely kept his head out of the water. He had to arch his back in an awkward manner in order to keep the life vest from coming off. Emerson struggled with the vest a while before giving up on it. He decided to search for the life raft. He assumed that there had been plenty of time to launch the raft that had been sitting in the galley. He was stunned when he didn't see it floating nearby. He spotted the woman who had been sitting next to him and started to swim toward her. “Where's the life raft?” he asked.

“They put it in the water and it sank,” the woman said. She apparently had seen galley equipment being tossed out and assumed it was the life raft.
*

The woman who reported having seen the crewmembers toss the life raft into the water was Vivian Rosotto. She had been sitting in seat 1E next to Emerson. Vivian had been in a brace position when the plane hit the water and as a result was not injured. She escaped through the open galley door. As Emerson approached her, she noticed an aircraft tire floating in the water. She pointed it out to Emerson who swam over and grabbed it. They both assumed that the tire had been ripped from the aircraft. They didn't know that the tire was actually a spare that had come from the cargo compartment. Minutes later, two people, a man and a woman, swam over to Emerson and Vivian. “Do you mind if we join you?” the man asked rather nonchalantly. “Certainly,” Emerson replied. “Grab a wheel.” The man and woman were Arthur and Sybil Johnson.

The four paddled their way toward a large group of survivors. When they were close enough that they could grab onto a belt or tie, they pushed the tire away. It was too difficult to hold onto in the rough seas. Emerson saw a woman who appeared to be drifting away from the main group. He swam toward her to see if he could help. When he reached her, the woman flung herself on him, forcing him underwater. Emerson felt a sharp pain in his back as he managed to free himself from the woman's death-grip. He left her and swam back to the main group. When he turned to look back, the woman had drifted a considerable distance from the main group. He lost sight of her soon after.

Israel Kruger inflated his vest and swam over to help his wife. She was still dazed and taking in big gulps of water. “Toby, spit the water out,” he shouted to her. He continued swimming with one arm wrapped around her. “Spit the water out,” he repeated over and over. Eventually, his wife responded by spitting out a mouthful of salt water. Israel spotted a group of people around a yellow flotation
device and swam toward them, towing his wife along with him. Israel had been a lifeguard in his younger days and knew how to assist someone in the water. Three people were on what Israel believed was a life raft — two crewmen and one woman. Israel yelled at the man he believed to be the captain, telling him to get off the raft so other people could get in. He didn't know that the captain was assisting an injured passenger.

Israel felt pain around his ankle. He tried kicking off his shoes, but they wouldn't come off. He reached down and could tell that his right ankle was swollen. He unlaced both shoes. The shoe on his left foot came right off. He was still having trouble removing the shoe from the foot with the swollen ankle. He swore at that moment he would never again wear laced shoes.
*
He loosened the laces on the remaining shoe and eventually managed to get the shoe off. Israel then helped Toby remove her shoes. He clung to both the slide and Toby. He was exhausted but relieved to have made it out of the plane safely. He scanned the horizon looking for a rescue ship but saw only an angry sea.

Jeannie Larmony started swimming away from the aircraft the moment she entered the water. She didn't want to be near it when it sank. She kicked off her shoes as she furiously pedaled away from the sinking plane. Jeannie had spent most of her life around water. She was an excellent swimmer. She was so determined to get away from the sinking plane that she never took the time to inflate her life vest. When she turned around to look back at the plane, it was gone. In that instant, Jeannie thought about her children, wondering what they would think when they found out what had happened to her.

Jeannie fought to keep her head above the water. She still didn't think to inflate her life vest. She saw a group of passengers around what she believed was a raft and swam in that direction. When she reached the other survivors, she vomited and complained that her back and neck hurt. Her forehead was bloodied. One of the passengers, Christine Cromwell, insisted that Jeannie be put up on the slide. Two male passengers and the captain helped pull her onto the slide.

The reactions of the passengers around the slide were mixed. Some responded as if the whole incident was just a minor inconvenience. Some stared off into space, never uttering a word. A few passengers complained of their injuries, but no one complained loud enough to bring attention to themselves. The air temperature was about 76 degrees. The water temperature was in the upper sixties. It wasn't cold enough for hypothermia to be an immediate threat, but it was cold enough to cause several passengers to shiver. Adding to their discomfort were several rain showers that passed overhead.