The Fifth Day

oil, 26" x 40"

$22,500

This painting is based on the Artist’s personal experience working as an electrical engineer on a Polish Rescue Tug in the 1970’s. In January of 1966 the ocean tug Jantar was directed to the typical towing work of towing two Prestonian-class frigates from Halifax, Canada to La Spezia, Spain, going to a scrap. The North Atlantic crossing was very difficult, and the wind was gusting to a strength of 10 on Beaufort scale (up to 55 mph). Waves, wind and heavy icing antagonize the tug all the way across of North Atlantic however, Jantar passed Halifax’s Sambro Lighthouse in early morning and soon arrived at the waiting frigates - 317- Cap de Madeleine, and 305- La Hulloise. It was discovered the Jantar' and its crew could not leave the Harbor due to the lack of a towing permit. The situation resulted in securing the wrecks under the surveyor’s supervision, and extended their stay for few in the port. In the meantime, the tug's crew had installed towing equipment and were assigned three crew members for each wreck. Finally, on the last day of the month, before noon, the convoy started to move toward distant Spain. On the main tow hawser was first frigate “317” and attached to her stern was the intermediate hawser with “305” on the end - a typical tandem towing style. On the third day of the trip, the weather started to deteriorate, turning into a very severe storm. The wind was gusting to a strength of 11 on the Beaufort scale in a snowstorm. The towed Canadian frigates were soon invisible. Suddenly around midnight, an alarm rocket was spotted on the tug bridge, fired from “317". A moment later the radio news came about the towing line breaking to "305.” A report from “305” arrived quickly, confirming the situation. Jantar stayed near the drifting “305” all night, and finally, in the morning, it was able to provide a temporary towing line to “305.” After that night the weather improved slightly, but the advancing squalls hindered progress. After midnight, the alarm rockets were seen again, this time from both wrecks. A huge wave had thrown the Jantar off course. It crossed the towing lines, breaking the line connecting “305” and throwing her onto the bow of “317,” causing a powerful collision in which the “305” suffered a piercing of her hull side above the water line and the bow of the “317” was crushed. The hard fight to close the watertight compartments on both ships was a success. The “317” with her crushed bow was holding on to the main hawser and “305,” tossed by waves, was drifting away from Jantar. A new towing line was prepared, but the raging ocean made it impossible to approach again. Jantar sailed around the "305" for five full days, until the weather finally improved and crew managed to connect towing line. This painting shows the moment when the improvement in the weather allowed for the transfer of the new towing line approach, what happened on “The Fifth Day.” In the painting, Jantar is approaching the height of the drifting stern of "305- La Hulloise” pulling "317-Cap de Madeleine” with a broken bow at the same time. The low speed caused “317” to set sideways to the waves, the trip lasted 35 days, arriving in La Spezia on April 3, 1966, 14 days longer than normal.