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One Disaster After Another Aboard the Amazon Queen

Jul 19, 2004 11: 51 EST
When Bogart dove into the Nile to fix his prop he had to worry about leeches; in the Amazon Captain Phil worries about pirhanas, undertow and a 10 inch hole in his stern. Check out the latest from the Amazon Queen;

"Tonight I am looking at the moon setting to the west; this is the only thing which has gone right so far this day. I stayed to the left bank according to my chart and here I am in a maze of islands all seemingly to be the best way to Iquitos. Since I have already tried one route and had to turn back, I decided not to navigate past dark and will get my bearings at sunrise.

The family living in a thatched hut where we are now tied off gave us permission to spend the night on their land. I asked "which way to Iquitos", "all ways" they gestured with their hands. Guess I can’t miss by going west then. Except that this is the intersection of the Amazon and the Rio Napo leading to Ecuador. Strange the moon should be setting within an hour after the sun set. I didn't realize it worked that way. So maybe the day of disasters isn't over.

Rocked Violently in the Night

It all started when I got up; the sunrise seemed to work out well. I checked in by radio to the spiderwebnet on 14.347 and said hello to the gang. Some how I thought it was Monday, not Sunday - The first clue. My daughter has already set out to chat with a fisherman and his wife and their small daughter who happened upon our sand and driftwood island, or maybe it was their island? At one point in the night we were rocked violently by continuous resounding wave from a passing military gun boat headed down river. The Queen rocked so violently that all of us scurried to the deck to see what was happening. Nothing to see, just a disappearing stern light now far down river.

Jose our sailor got the best view of the ship. I never saw it. We have experienced this a lot along the Brazilian Amazon when the large cargo vessels come up river. Some of them can push a wall of water higher than the Hex-beam on top of the Amazon Queen. The waves created by these ships are truly uncommon to the calm flat waters of the Amazon. I decided to place two starboard lines on the Queen during the night in case we had a storm. We were almost parallel to the sand bank and it worked well.

Swift current, pitch black, and the water full of piranhas.

Preparing to cast of, I started the engine and turned the bow into the bank to take the slack off the lies. That worked well until on of the lines got loose, and disappeared so quickly pulled by the 6 knot current that it went under the boat and into the prop. I must have had great presence of mind to turn of the engine off before diving under the hull to free up the fouled line from the prop, because I sure felt stupid to have tangled the line in the prop in the first place.

Remember that scene from the movie, "African Queen" where Bogie dove under the boat to fix his broken prop and came out with all the leeches. Imagine my thought’s of having to dive under the Amazon Queen - swift current, pitch black, and the water full of piranhas! After about an hour, Jose and I freed the tangled line.

Petroleo

The day seemed to turn around for me for the next few hours. I had a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, pancakes resembling tortillas, juice resembling juice, and a great cup of coffee. The river was calm and we make good speed averaging about 5.5 knots. Our speed is increasing since we are no longer carrying a full load of fuel. Actually the fuel gage now registers about a quarter tank, which means I have 140 gallons, plus another 28 in reserve. Everywhere we set in someone asks for diesel fuel to fill their lanterns. Diesel fuel is refereed to here on the Peruvian Amazon as petroleo. That confused me!

We're Sinking!

About mid-day Jose, came running to the helm shouting ...we're sinking! I slowed the ship to a stand still, and raced down to the bilge. He was right, we were sinking. Water was poring into the bilge from somewhere astern. I connected the second bilge pump capable of 2,000 gallons output per hour to the battery using the alligator clips and Raz, our photographer, put the pump into the quickly rising water. At about the same time I gave the engine full throttle and pushed the Queen hard to the bank. I spotted a group of fisherman standing by their wooden dug outs and raced for them. I could see they were surprised especially having a 50 foot, 14 ton vessel bearing down on them. Emergency I shouted, we're sinking. The raced to move their boats and as the Queen came to a stop the fisherman raced to secure lines which we were throwing to them. With both 2,000 gal pumps going the water receded quickly.

A grass hopper covered with ants

By now the action had drawn all the families from this little community. The bank was alive with kids yelling and shouting. The boat was like a grass hopper covered with ants. Kids were standing on the bow, standing on the hydrofoil, and some had even taken their places in the auxiliary boat, the Amazon Princess. Back again into the piranha infested water, now looking for the source of the water leak. It was relatively easy to find since the water was being sucked in we surveyed the hull with our hands and located a about a 10 inch strip of caulking that had come out. I had had the hull re calked only 5 months ago so this leak was a curious discovery. We tried to caulk the narrow slit by using the fiber from tree bark that was originally used to caulk the hull. That didn't
work. Tom Keenan HK3RZX had given me an epoxy emergency repair putty for Christmas, along with a great map, and a LED light that lasts for days without going out.

The water has stopped

The putty which could be used under water worked perfectly. "Ya esta parada!" shouted Jose from within the hull. "The water has stopped" he shouted! I only wish I had 4-5 more sticks of that epoxy with me, but now since it is all gone I feel very vulnerable should the leak open again. We treated the fisherman who helped us dive under the boat to a big lunch. Both he and I were shivering from the cold water even though the water temperature was only 79 degrees.

Lelia gave the fisherman a bag of food, rice, sugar, salt and soap. Our dog Luna was put on the bank to stretch her legs and Cyd played with some new dolls she got from the Yagua Indians yesterday. This brings you up to date. The repair seems to be holding. Thank you Tom. We are triple tied off in shallow water near the small hut I mentioned.

Now if the river doesn't drop too much during the night and leave us on the mud, we'll get our bearings at first light and push on to Iquitos where we'll have to pull the stern out re caulk the hull. Position report 03 28' 38'S 072 8'38'W."

Captain Phil, onboard his Amazon queen is an American war veteran on several missions. He is taking medicals to tribes and also searching for a young, missing traveler. Whilst he does this, he is getting ready for his dream voyage. Read about the Captain, his boat and his mission below. And enjoy today's picture transmitted over a transistor radio straight from the boat.

Captain Phil Gonzales made a 600 mile voyage on the Amazon from Leticia to Iquitos Peru in November last year. Now he is out again. He travels on his Amazon Queen, a wooden ship.

The voyages are in preparation for the main trip: A 4-5 month voyage on the Amazon covering 6,000 miles. The trip will take place as soon as he can get the money together for it.

The Captain is still looking for sponsors for his trip; onboard his own Amazon Queen, down deep in the rain forests of Amazon jungles, Captain Phillip Gonzales has been staying up every night writing until 2 a.m. He has been looking for sponsors, organizing a radio communications program with schools as well as organizing material for his new website. "It's draining me" he told us in one of his mails.

Another interesting part is the communication he is setting up. He transmits the most beautiful high res pictures using a transistor radio.

This is a truly cool trip. If you want to be a part of it, mail team@explorersweb.com and we'll set you up with the Captain.

Image for the 'African Queen' courtesy of the AMNH.

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