The Tell Tale 2 vessel which sank off the coast of Santo Domingo (SD) last week met the same fate as its near namesake, the Tell Tale 1, which went down in the Essequibo River in January last year.
Both vessels sank after they started to take in water, but the difficulties in which the first-named boat found itself last week were compounded by the absence of a pump and the fact that the generator had broken down, a reliable source told Stabroek News.
Eleven Guyanese crewmen were on board the Tell Tale 2 which left Guyana en route to the Dominican Republic carrying sand, but the boat started encountering problems in mid-sea off Trinidad.
The problems were rectified and the ship then set sail again for its intended destination, but the problems recurred near Santo Domingo and it started to sink. A crew belonging to the United States Coast Guard reportedly rescued the sailors on board, and these men are currently lodged in a Jamaican hotel awaiting flights back home.
Bibi Bailey, the wife of the captain Eugene Bailey told this newspaper yesterday that her husband had set sail in January and had told her that he was headed for the Dominican Republic. However she said he had called her weeks later to inform her that the ship had encountered initial difficulties off Trinidad and that they had been stuck at sea for about eight weeks.
The woman said it was customary for her husband who has been a sailor for over 35 years to make contact with her whenever he moved from one port to another. She said he called her last week Thursday and said he was leaving Trinidad on his way to Santo Domingo and that the voyage would take about five days. He also said he would call her as usual.“But after I saw five days passed and I hadn’t heard from him I got worried, but then I didn’t take it on because I expected him to call. But after the days went by and I heard nothing I decided to check the local office here to find out if they had heard anything,” she said.
The woman said the only assurance she had been seeking was that her husband was alive and well, but the secretary at the Tell Tale Shipping office was not able to reassure her.
Bailey told this newspaper that it was her cousin who eventually advised her that the ship had sunk, and not the company.
She said she had been unable to get any information even about the possible location of the ship, and this had caused her to worry more about her husband’s safety.
The woman said she waited to see if any information would appear in the media but to no avail.
In her quest to find out what was happening after countless checks with the local office here had achieved nothing, Bailey said she contacted the Human Services Ministry where she was consoled and comforted and where she confirmed the information that the boat had sunk.
“But they were extremely helpful to me and I am very grateful to them,” the woman said.
However, a phone call from her husband on Friday morning relieved all her worries.
“He called and we spoke briefly and he told me that he was safe and that they were rescued by US Coast Guard.”
She said her husband also told here that all the other crew members were safe and would return to Guyana shortly. Bailey had also worked on the Tell Tale 1 and it was only in December he had started working with the company again.
Bailey expressed her relief at hearing her husband’s voice. “He is my only breadwinner and I was worried because I know I would usually hear something and so it bothered me,” she said.
Back in 2002 Tell Tale Shipping company’s Tell Tale 1 vessel sank in the Essequibo River. All the crew members on board were rescued but the boat has not been salvaged.
