Aeolian Sky – The Marmite Wreck |
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Based on a true story. Third of November, 1979. Twenty miles north of Guernsey, just north of France. Forty nine degrees north. Two degrees west. It was a dreary night in November. A storm was blowing in from the Atlantic, and we were tucking into our second round of bacon butties while The Two Ronnie’s flickered on the TV. Ploughing through the waves, the captain mumbled to himself as he tried to see beyond the stacks of marmite-filled cargo containers on the decks and the torrential rain hammering the bridge windows. By the time we saw her, it was too late. The German trawler Anna Knuepell ploughed bow-first into the side of our ship, the Aeolian Sky. We dropped our bacon butties and hurried along the deck to inspect the damage. The Anna Knuepell came off with superficial injuries, but there was now a gaping hole in our hull where steel plating once resided. The captain sent out a mayday call, and a French tug, the Abeille Langdoc, came to tow us to Cherbourg. By the time the Abeille Langdoc arrived, we had drifted too far north to be towed to Cherbourg, so the tug headed for Southampton, England instead. As we started to take on water, it became evident that we needed to make port soon, otherwise we risked losing the Aeolian Sky. We arrived at the Solent and requested permission to dock in Southampton. We were just about to pull into port when they refused us entry. They said that if the Aeolian Sky were to sink in the shipping lanes, it would bring the whole port to a halt, so we turned back and headed to the Portland harbor. Halfway to Portland, the Aeolian Sky began to list badly. Finally, after hours of struggling, she began to sink. As the ship was falling apart, the cargo containers started to fall off the deck. Thousands of marmite jars inside shattered, staining the wreck with the stench of marmite for the next week. Shortly after she sank, salvage teams broke her masts, sinking them from a depth of nine meters to eighteen meters. This allowed passage of other cargo ships to continue. Most of her cargo, on the other hand, was left untouched and can still be found lying on the sea floor in their containers. This wreck is popular with modern day scuba divers because of the masses of treasure to be found. From marmite jars to Rolex watches, divers have found an abundance of treasure on the Aeolian Sky, with hundreds of containers still untouched, their hidden treasure not yet recovered. |
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Written By: The123king Edited By: Rocky Martin Coded By: Donut Juice |