But visibility was down 10 less than one mile and the chances of ge1ting a radar reflection off the v . ooden · hulled yachts v . ere remoce . panicularly in these seas . Then just after 2100 hours . the ship detected a radlo iransmlssion from Curry Sark and immediaiely turned on 10 the direction finder bearing . John Alsop later said :
They asked me 10 give a slow I to 10 cowl ! and a
JO to I a couple of times . Within I 0 minutes their navigator had pinpointed our position in degrees , minules and seconds ! We all smyed below , the old boat steering herself with not even a lashing on the wheel . We changed into dry clothes , ate some biscuitS . keeping a lookout lhrough the hatchway . Then Tony sponed her lights on the horizon and weswitchedon all our lights too . I took a compass bearing on them-1800-and radioed it IOSwan .
Al 223 . S , the search was over and Swan was manoeuvred 10 place the yacht abeam on the leeward side of the quarter deck where scrambling nets had been lowered . A line was passed to the yacht and the
three aboard were inslnlcted to jump onto the nets as she came close to the ship . John Alsop said :
There was no question of panic , but we were relucmnt to jump for fear of being crushed or lost in the sea . Cutty was still riding out thestonn well and we had fuel for the mo1or , st0rmsails 1oset iUld ample food aboard and we knew we would clear Norah Head . We did not send out a distress call a1 any time . If we had had Norah Head to leeward it would have been differenL
Commander Cummins later said that he believed Cutty Sark had only a minimal chance of survival , with the wea1her woNlening every hour . He said :
Wo had a falling barometer and increasing wind and sea . I decided the safe1y of life was para · mount . I also had one more yacht to find . I was not prepared n1 first to put my swimmeNI in the wa1er , but when I saw the crew were not prepared to jump I had no option .
Said John Alsop :
Swan came alongside in the conventional way of taking people aboard-the big ship providing the lee . We got that lee but the seas were so colossal that one minute we were level with her bridge , the next looking at her bilge keels , as she rolled 45 °. We crashed agalns1 Swan several times and C11tty ' s riggings hooked in the upper-works of the ship . The mast apparently jumped out of its deck step and went over the starboard side . We hit again , this time abeam . and as she bounced away Tony jumped for the nets-but missed and fell into the water ! Cutty lurched back towards the ship , but stopped 2 melres away and two navy swimmers had him up the net onto the deck in n flash .
Commander Cummins then moved Swan so as to place her just downwind of the now dismasted yacht and "' 2300 he 5CO [ three swin1n1c1 $ ac1v .:. s tu llle : yacht . Said John Alsop :
They let Curry go astern and out to weather and pumped fuel oil out to flauen the surface of the sea . We were hanging up on the weather side , held
off by the back draught of the big ship .
One diver arrived alongside and was halfway aboard before I saw him . They were in wet suits , masks and nippers and had towed lines across . They put a line around Jack and he jumped overboard with two of the swimmeN1 . The nexl thing ,
I saw him halfway up theneL Ofcourse , the whole operation was f . oodlit from huge search lights on Swan .
Then they sent two swimmers back for me and I jumped over the starboard quarter . The ship was rolling 45 °. going up and down like a tin . One moment I could see her bottom , the next her deck , but when the nets came down I grabbed bold .
I got halfway up the netS and I was buggered . Oneof thcdivers . a huge man they called ' Horse ', literally lifted me the rest of the way up .
As soon as we landed on the deck of Swan we were taken to the sick bay , stripped and rubbed down , and given hot Steaming soup . TI1eir COO • cem and ! heir hospitality was unbelievable-they made us 1heir guests and we rested until the next morning when the capmin invited me to the Opcrallons Room togiveanyassismncelcould in the search for Nimbus II .
HMAS Swa11 , the ship that rescued the owner and crew of Cutty Sark .
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