[CW] Podcast about 1980 XXX and SOS of ms PRINSENDAM/PJTA

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

Hello Steve,

I went and found some write ups on the Internet.

Here's one:
https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3009282/the-long-blue-line-prinsendamcoast-guards-miracle-rescue-over-40-years-ago/

Here's another - and I even went to the USCG museum when they dedicated a
large mural highlighting the SOS. The artist wanted to put TT WILLIAMSBURGH
in the center of the action because an 1100 foot ship was very useful for
landing USCG and Canadian helicopters. I made plans to have lunch with H.
Paul Jefferson, who wrote this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Cold-Cruise-Prinsendam-Greatest/dp/0760320799


Here's a very telling review:

Lack of review/homework hurts the story.

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2006

Initial glaring error creats many questions of Authors research, facts, and
credibility. Considerable space is given to an "Admiral" Richard Schoel,
USCG, including a full page quote following the Table of Contents. The
"Admiral" of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District during the PRINSENDAM
incident was Rear Admiral Richard J. Knapp, who is not even mentioned in
the book. As Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in
Valdez, Alaska, I worked closely with Admiral Knapp throughout this
incident, including matters involving use of the T/V WILLIAMSBURGH as a
rescue platform, and then return of the survivors to Valdez. The Admiral
was the key person representing the Coast Guard in this rescue and deserves
full mention and credit. Numerous other errors in personnel rank, title,
and areas of responsibility exist.

Additionally, no mention or credit is given of the major decision by the
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company to allow the fully loaded T/V
WILLIAMSBURGH to return their terminal. This was no small undertaking.

Not allowing the PRINSENDAM to be towed into sheltered waters of the State
of Alaska was a major decision of Commander, Jake Jacoby, Commanding
Officer of the Marine Safety Office, Juneau, Alaska.

Award ceremonies were held throughout Alaska by Admiral Knapp, including
bringing the CGC BOUTWELL to Valdez to serve as a "Platform" for the
citizens of that area. A little effort might have been made toward listing
the persons receiving these awards.


James K. Woodle, Commander, USCG (Retired)

H. Paul Jefferson, the author was involved with radio but the behind the
microphone type. I had specifically told him that every other book got the
story wrong.

First there was the URGENT message from PRINSENDAM

This is a text copy of the Archive webpage


Recordings of the Urgent broadcast and later SOS broadcast made by ms
Prinsendam which was on fire and burning out of control due to a fire in
the engine room in the Gulf of Alaska. Chief Radio Officer, Jack van der
Zee (he was from Beek, Netherlands) on the Netherlands Antilles registered
cruise ship "ms Prinsendam" on October 4, 1980. He sent this to United
States Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak, Alaska (COMMSTA
KODIAK/NOJ). COMMSTA KODIAK advised him that due to the late hour and most
of the ship's in the vicinity only have one operator who was off radio
watch, that an SOS should be sent preceded by the international auto alarm
to activate the autoalarm receivers on nearby ships and ring a bell on the
bridge and in the Radio Officer's cabin. A short while later CRO van der
Zee sent out an SOS what is most remarkable about this is that the Captain
of ms Prinsendam directed him to only send out the message as an Urgent
message or XXX. CRO van der Zee was unsuccessful in convincing him that an
SOS was needed, but the Captain remembered that once a ship sent out SOS it
entitled rescuing vessels to salvage rights. CRO van der Zee literally
feeling the heat from the deck through his shoes made the courageous
decision to accept the penalty of disobedience which was loss of his
license, fines and imprisonment and sent out the Captain's message as an
Distress or SOS message instead of an Urgent or XXX message as he was
ordered. CRO van der Zee reasoned: "If I send this as an XXX no one will
hear it besides the Coast Guard, if I send it as SOS I will send the
autoalarm signals and the nearby cargo ships will be notified that there is
a distress. If I loose my license, get fined, and go to jail, at least I
will be alive and so will the passengers and crew, God willing." Queen
Beatrix who had just ascended to the throne of the Netherlands shortly
before this event was to award CRO Jack van der Zee the Order of
Netherlands Lion, a type of knighthood for his courageous actions in
willing to do the right thing despite the possible consequences of jail and
loosing his livelihood, his pension and his financial security for him and
his family.

A copy of the original hand written radio logbook from "TT Williamsburgh"
WGOA is included. This log is signed by Chief Radio Officer of "ms
Prinsendam", Jack van der Zee, Chief Radio Officer of "TT Williamsburgh",
James N. Pfister, and Observing Radio Officer, David J. Ring, Jr. An
"Observing Radio Officer" is a fully qualified and licensed USCG Radio
Officer who needed to obtain the FCC required six months sea endorsement
before sailing as a sole Radio Officer on a ship.

[1] A copy of the official radio log of EXXON NEW ORLEANS/WNDM has been
kindly provided by the radio officer, Richard Singer. Richard keeps an
excellent log, is an excellent R/O and can send Morse beautifully as anyone
who has heard him on the air as K6KSG can attest.

[2] Also a picture of the QSL (verification) card of amateur radio station,
N1EA which features a artist's rendering of the ship blaze and lifeboats
with survivors is included.

[3] A PDF file of the Radio Log of supertanker "WILLIAMSBURGH" / WGOA (call
sign) is also included. Notice that there is no URGENT or XXX broadcast
contained in the logbook. That is because the first broadcast went out as
an XXX / URGENT and could not and was not preceded by the Auto Alarm signal
which if sent would and did activate the auto alarm receiver on nearby
vessels - including WILLIAMSBURH. That's why sending the SOS was important:
because along with it, the auto alarm could be sent to wake up all the
nearby cargo ships with one operator who only worked 8 hours a day.

[5] Two video files of news coverage of PRINSENDAM rescue and aftermath are
in the archive at
http://archive.org/details/MsPrinsendamSosDistressOct.41980_292

[6] WILLIAMSBURGH Deck Log for October 4, 1980:
https://archive.org/download/SosMsPrinsendamOctober41980/1980-01-04_williamsburgh_deck_logbook.pdf

[7] USCG COMMSTA SAN FRANCISCO/NMC Intercept of PRINSENDAM's XXX at 0900Z
04 October 1980.

[8] Dutch Board of Inquiry Report - Official Translation - English -

[9] Rescue at Sea: CW Saves the Day. WorldRadio Online August 2012, article
about the SOS and Rescue of ms PRINSENDAM by Randall Noon, KCØCCR .

[10] Fire at Sea - an article written by Don Bush, KL7JFT and published
here with his permission.
[11] "Abandon Ship!" Alaska Magazine, January 1981.

[12] 1980 November 24 USCG COMMANDANT'S BULLETIN

[13] The Long Blue Line Prinsendam — Coast Guard’s “Miracle Rescue” over 40
years ago! A Published 2022 April 29, a reprint of the 1980 November 24
USCG Commandant's Bulletin (above)

[14] Pacific Search and Rescue [PACSAR] Chronological Report (Kept in Time
Zone Tango - Pacific Daylight Time.)

[15] Alaskan Miracle Titanic International Society -1991

[16] USCG Official Photographs courtesy of USCG Commandant, WashDC.

 #1 ms PRINSENDAM listing.
 #2 ms PRINSENDAM listing to starboard.
 #3 ms PRINSENDAM from stern, listing to starboard.
 #4 ms PRINSENDAM from bow.
 #5 ms PRINSENDAM lifeboat and helicopter lifting basket.

[17] PRINSEDAM CIVILIAN AWARD RECOMMENDATIONS.

On Wed, Jan 31, 2024, 8:49 PM sbjohnston--- via CW <cw at mailman.qth.net>
wrote:

>
> David - that's frustrating.  Why do you think this point is repeatedly
> gotten wrong?  Is there a lack of interest in the truth, or do you sense a
> desire to deliberately distort the history to put the responsible parties
> in a better light?
>
> On certain historical points that I have personal insight into, I have
> also encountered an unwillingness to listen on the part of some
> historians.  Some don't want to change what they've already written, others
> seem to want to "tidy up" the history and make it sound "better".   Myself,
> I think getting as close as possible to the truth is better...
>
>
> Steve WD8DAS
>
> sbjohnston at aol.com
> http://www.wd8das.net/   <http://www.wd8das.net/>
> http://af4k-crystals.com/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Radio is your best entertainment value.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, January 31, 2024 at 01:19:09 PM HST, David J. Ring, Jr. <
> n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:
>
>
> Yesterday, I listened to a podcast I dreaded listening to because I feared
> it would distort history.
>
> It was a podcast about MS PRINSENDAM [
> https://wondery.com/shows/against-the-odds/season/26/](https://wondery.com/shows/against-the-odds/season/26/)
> and right near 34:50 on the timer, it says that the ship's Master
> (landlubber: Captain) says that he ordered the ship's radio operator [sic]
> to change the XXX message he previously ordered him to send to an SOS.
>
> And that's exactly what didn't happen.
>
> Of all the books written about PRINSENDAM, the only one (despite my
> telephoning the authors prior to publication and offering to review the
> pages about the radio communications, is the books by Stanley Jaceks.
>
> What happened was that Chief Radio Officer Jack van der Zee of Beek,
> Netherlands was given a message by the Master and ordered to send it as
> "Urgent" or "XXX". R/O v.d. Zee told the Captain that sending an SOS was
> the appropriate thing to do, but the Master was concerned about ships
> answering the SOS and demanding salvage rights to a multimillion dollar
> passenger ship. When he did so, USCG Communications Station, Kodiak, Alaska
> advised him that it was more appropriate to send it as an SOS and proceed
> it by the series of dashes of the radiotelegraph autoalarm.
>
> As MS PRINSENDAM/PJTA was a ship registered in Netherlands Antilles and
> not in U.S. territorial waters, the USCG could not order the ship to do so.
> Chief Radio Officer van der Zee advised the Master of what the USCG had
> advised but he did not wish to send an SOS.
>
> Soon R/O van der Zee could feel the heat on the soles of his feet and as
> he told me, "If I don't send an SOS with the autoalarm signal to alert the
> cargo ships in the area, the lives of the passengers and crew would be in
> jeopardy but if I did so, I could be brought up on charges and lose my
> license, and even be put in prison." He made the choice that even if he
> faced prison, he would change the XXX message to SOS and send the
> autoalarm.
>
> He said, "I might be in prison, but the passengers and crew would be
> alive." I told him that if he was ever brought up on charges, I'd fly to
> the hearing, and testify in his defense. A hero accepts the consequences of
> his actions and does the right thing to save people's lives.
>
> I tried for many years to write to the Queen of the Netherlands to see if
> what Jack did could be honored, but when she finally agreed, unfortunately
> Jack had died the month before. See this account which is mostly correct:
> https://onetuberadio.com/2015/10/04/profile-in-courage-jack-van-der-zee-1980/
> 73 David N1EA Radio Officer T/T WILLIAMSBURGH/WGOA during the SOS.
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