A3 - Wednesday, July 4, 1984 - North Shore News ALSO Pets SEL TRIO ENERO Automotive ...: . Business ....... Budget Beaters... . .C2 Classified........A1T4 Entertainment... .. .B8 Fashion...........0 Food.............€4 Mailbox ..........A7 | be ceeeee ees BI WEATHER: OLYMPICS: BI WHAT’S ON: B8& TREATMENT: Cl Never Stewart... .C5 Increasing cloud this week A Noith Shore swimmer is Your entertainment for this Ils an underwater treatment _'V Times........B10 with some showers. after Olympic gold. week. effective in fighting MS? What’s Going On. . .B6 assengers survive sinking in stormy strait GERALD PREVOST, the Royal Princess pressing onto him as he boarded the Zodiac life boat, thought his back might be broken by the weight of the sinking yacht. His wife Eleanor had already decided she would fight to the end but that it was really not too bad a time to go. MARK HAMILTO The retired couple described the feelings and events Monday, sitting in the living room of their quiet West Vancouver home, less than a week after the Royal Princess sank and they spent four hours in life rafts in winds gusting to 90 knots and 20-foot seas. What they remember most is the calm unselfishness of the 20 people aboard the Royal Princess and life boats in the face of the storm. ‘‘That,’’ says G0crald Prevost, ‘‘had a lot to do with our. safety Nobody panicked " (A third West Vancouver resident, Kathy Newton, was also aboard the yacht.) The Royal Princess was a week into a tour of Indian sites, under sponsorship of the Vancouver and Seattle Art) Gsallenes, when i ieft Bella Bella on the BC coast at $ '4 am last Tuesday to ctoss Hecate Strait, shallow and exposed to the weather: off the Pacific, to the Queen Charlotte Islands The yacht) was) running west into heavy seas from the southwest and madc tt only a quarter of the way across before secking shelter — some passengers were sea-sick, crockery had been smashed and other damage done — bechind an outer island After a three-hour stay, the decision was made to run 100 miles north through a sheltered inside strait and tackle Hecate Strano oon a course that took them into the waves, instead of across them At ll pm _ the second crossing began Although the forecast was for winds of 20 knots, tt blew at 60, with gusts up to 90 knots What started as a rough crossing, quickly became morc “The winds got very bad and we had different kinds of trouble" says Prevost “The port engine began overheating so badly the whole boat filled up with ether fumes and u had to be shut down. The other motor throttled down, so we made very little progress **The boat was basically heading into the waves and the bow was fising about 51x fect into the air and then crashing down with an unbelievable smash that Jit crally shook every timber passengers were warmest clothes and started the water At about dawn (on Wednes heard Barbara coming in were issucd The yachts Passengers leaders, ask the captain tf he was aware how much there was in the boat (Investigation has revealed gasoline cans to bail water ‘*The great thing came to be fighting off hypothermia and hoping someone would see us before we were too cold to do anything about 1t.”’ substantial starboard stde of the Royal indicating something Prevost says the storm ) the wheole W ecdnesday NEWS photo lan Smith GERALD AND Eleanor Prevost, happy to be home, after the sinking of the Royal Princess and four hours spent in life boats in the stormy Hecate Straits. the icy, stormy waters and scrambling tnto the first of the Zodhacs and then across uw to the second Prevost, standing inh water up to tas waist on the deck of the Royal Princess, was the last to leave “By that timc the Princess was hanging over the first Zodiac at about a 48 degree angle ft pretty nearly came down oon top of at. says Prevost Hias wife had almost been hit by the yacht and, as he clambered aboard the life boat, the yacht did come down across him Lxcept for some bruising he was not rajpured dtoowas an unbtbchevablc tartyphe an the 7 cocbiane says Prevost There were Lt? of us and at) took TO or 14 minutes just to straighten everybody out and situp As the life rafts drifted away from the sinking ship, the two were tied together by 50 feet of line and later, while the storm still raged, they managed to transfer two people from the first Zodiac to the second, less crowded, life boat. But the first few minutes were the ‘‘most terrifying’’. Faced with 20-foot waves that were breaking because of the shallowness of the Strait, those on board were certain that the small inflati- bles would be flipped over and they would be lost. “lt was marvellous the way they rode the waves,’ says Prevost. ‘‘We lost our fear of being upset and the great thing came to be fighting off hypothermia and hoping someone would see us before we were [too cold to do anything about it *' Gerald, one of two mann- ing oars, was kept occumed manouvering the Zodiac into the waves and ensuring that the two hfe rafts did not col- lide Hle was too busy, he says, to think much about the situation Eleanor kept warm, wor fied about the younger peo ple on the trip and looked up ‘at the waves “not believing i was really me out there'’ Three hours after climbing into the /odiacs, spirits soared and were dashed as a plane passed over without spotting them oom the still rough seas lt was another long hour before they spot ted the huge liner SS) Rot terdam oand its crew saw them ‘The Rottcrdam drew toa stop about 200° yards away and wt looked about a moun tan thagh. Says Prevost “They had lowercd about LO rope ladders but we edit see how we could gel up them “Suddenly there was a roar Overhead and a big moh lary Fitna appearcd along with three beleopters A diver dropped trom one the Camadan Coast Coaand See page A&