On the calm morning of the last day, the “Gran Rio R” vessel, ironically, sailed right past its Crown Point destination at the south-western corner of Tobago, since the nine-member foreign crew were required to first register with the immigration authorities further away at the Port of Scarborough.
Moving slowly at an estimated eight-nine knots because of its large load of sand, the 43-year-old ship, would have kept to deep waters, trying to avoid the coral platforms and shoals that lurk under the white-capped waves surrounding the wind-swept, mountainous island. Aboard the boat, numbered by the International Maritime Organization 5134765, the eight Guyanese and one American, must have been tired but relieved, that their routine voyage of roughly 450 nautical miles started two days earlier, on April 9, was almost at the end.
Delivery to the Hurricane Lenny-damaged Coco Reef Resort, which wanted the sparkling white sand to rebuild its famed tourist beach, meant the seamen could retrace the route back home to Guyana. Prized for the colour, quality and sheen, the silica and powdery quartz sands were deposited by ancient rivers, lakes and streams. The workers had planned to collect outstanding payments from employer Dennis Rambarran and his Meadow Bank-based shipping and trading firm, in time for the weekend.
They had chugged along established nautical paths, hugging the north-western coastline of Guyana, and passing way off Venezuela’s rugged Parque Nacional Delta del Orinoco, with its maze of jungle islands and narrow waterways haunted by gangs of killer pirates. Cutting across to the eastern border of Trinidad, the black-hulled “Gran Rio R” would have entered the deep channel known as the Galleons Passage, separating Tobago from mainland Trinidad.
On the St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG)-flagged vessel, was veteran Captain Michael Paul, also known as Patrick Paul, 54, who had manned it for nearly a decade. Mr Rambarran would tell Stabroek News at the time that Captain Paul knew the “Gran Rio R” better than anyone else. Other crewmen were Chief Mate, Morris Mangru, 37; Chief Engineer, Indarpaul Latchman, 40; Second Engineer, John Karpan, Jnr, 35, an American citizen; Third Engineer, Phillip Scott, 21; the vessel’s cook, Ravanand Persaud, 33; and Michael Joseph, 28, Muhammed Inshan, 41, and Rummel Wilson 25, sailors. Later that day, April 11, 2000, the “Gran Rio R” disappeared, presumed lost with its entire crew off Tobago.
Based on a collection of related papers kept and recently released, including online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/337614474662656, by the surviving relatives of Mr Karpan Jnr, the likely sad fate of the Dutch-built “Gran Rio R” and the faithful band of sailors who stayed with her on the final journey, becomes clearer after more than two decades of waiting.
Due to the Karpan family’s appeals for assistance from the authorities, the Chief of the United States (US) Military Liaison Office, Lieutenant Commander (LCDR), Michael White reviewed the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard’s (TTCG) case file.
In an April 20, 2000 email, a copy of which was provided to the Karpans, titled “M/V Gran Rio R. Final Report” LCDR White revealed that the subject ship was seen “aground” in Scarborough Harbour at around 11 a.m. on April 11. He explained, “the vessel had grounded while departing after clearing Customs.”
But, “Apparently she refloated at high tide. TT Customs Officers report the vessel appeared to be in very poor condition and may have been over-loaded, she had approximately 3.5 feet of freeboard,” he continued, stressing, “(Yes feet not meters).” Freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, and will vary according to the type and weight of the load. When a vessel encounters conditions that cause her to roll, heave, pitch, sway and yaw, it is the reserve buoyancy that counters the effects of those forces. Reserve buoyancy is the volume of enclosed spaces above the waterline and is measured by freeboard, crawfordnautical.com explains.
The ship’s seaworthiness was unchecked by the Guyana Maritime Authority, as the Port Control regulations were yet to be formulated and gazetted, although the Maritime Act had come into force on January 1, 2000, during an administration that appeared largely indifferent to the tragedy. The SVG registration and the foreign flag of convenience the vessel flew, meant that Guyana could not enforce inspection, a top official of the Transport and Harbours Department informed Stabroek News in late April, 2000.
“The vessel sailed from Scarborough on the high tide and was due to arrive off Store Bay, Tobago that evening. She would have encountered seas of 4-6 feet while transiting from Scarborough to the west,” LCDR White pointed out.
“Later that evening she reported to another vessel of the same company that she was taking on water and would need a pump. No notification was made to the TTCG until 1100Q on 12 April. The first helicopter was on scene at 1300Q (1 p.m.)”
Aerial and surface searches over several days covered a total of over 1 000 miles, before the TT Coast Guard suspended the exercise, a move that caused anguish for the crew’s worried relatives, with the Captain’s wife likening it to “a death message.” The halt was based on the assumption that during the night of April 11-12, “the vessel became unstable due to flooding and free-surface effect of the cargo and most likely capsized in an area south of Crown Point…” on a “current-swept sandy-bottomed region known as DREW BANK on nautical charts,” LCDR White said. “The strong and variable currents would have scattered debris over long distances.” He agreed with the TTCG.
Free-surface effect is due to the critical motion or movement of the cargo, in this case the heavy sand, to one side, shifting the centre of gravity and immediately reducing the stability of the ship. The intrusion of sea water from the swells given the low freeboard meant that the “Gran Rio R” may have gone quickly, taking her overwhelmed crew before they could issue a clear distress
signal. They would not have had the time to release the life rafts or trigger the Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), even if the battery was viable or the distress frequency was that of 406 MHz, the only one monitored by satellites operated by an international consortium of rescue services called COSPAS-SARSAT.
In the words of LCDR White, “The theory also is that the sand cargo may have spilled and buried bodies and other debris during the capsizing.” Given the depths of 60-100 feet, the TTCG had raised the possibility of future confirmation by a sonar sweep but I was unable to determine whether this was ever done.
A second vessel owned by the Rambarran family, the “Fiona ‘R” transporting a similar cargo of Guyanese sand vanished on its way to SVG, in September 2002, with one of the brothers, the Captain Chandrama ‘Randolph’ Rambarran, and a crew of at least four other Guyanese. Expected to arrive around daybreak on September 24, 2002, the ship is believed to have sunk in the Caribbean Sea, during rough weather from the tropical storm that became Hurricane Lili.
Back in Guyana, the 81 year-old mother of Chief Mate Mangru like other relatives of the missing crew members, struggles to cope with the loss of her son, while praying for answers and hoping to see him one day. “He was loving and caring,” a close family member recalled, acknowledging, “I don’t want to accept it either (that he is not ever coming home), but I guess there will come a time when we will have to – (for) he was the type of man that would have made contact with you (us) no matter where he was.”
ID extends her belated condolences to the grieving families of the missing seamen. In 2014, marine archaeologists discovered the untouched remains of a famous Dutch warship, “Huis de Kreuningen,” embedded in a Tobago reef. It went to a watery grave on March 3, 1677 during a bloody fight with an invading French fleet.
