We Sighted the Flare!

oil, 16" x 20"

SOLD

This painting is based on the Artist’s personal experience working as an electrical engineer on a Polish Rescue Tug in the 1970’s. Marek described the drama that unfolded: “On August 9, 1974, we completed the last part of a towing contract after five months at sea. We moved the last two ships SS Rocket and SS Green Bay from Quebec City, Canada to the Castellón de la Plana on the East coast of Spain. We took enough supplies for the short voyage to our home port Gdynia, Poland, in the Baltic Sea. We crossed Gibraltar heading north, and after about one day of sailing home, we received a message to divert our trip to tow a ship in the Atlantic that had lost its main propulsion. We were the closest Rescue Tug to undertake the task, the weather was getting worse and a large storm was coming from the West. The tanker MT Suffner with cargo, was just drifting, being pushed by wind and waves pushed by wind and waves, with its crew fearing the approaching storm. We were going as fast as possible in relatively large waves, which was not a very pleasant for our crew. Soon we established permanent radio contact with our client, which also helped us keep track of the position of the MT Suffner in the ocean. After a few days we found ourselves in the area of the expected meeting. We soon saw the reflection of our tanker on the radar screen and an emergency flare appeared in the sky in front of our bow confirming that we were already in the right position. In the meantime, the waves grew considerably larger and the sky turned the color of dark ink. The next step was handing over the connecting rope which was successful after the second attempt and then pass the proper towline. Soon we started towing the MT Suffner to its destination, Le Havre, France, arriving on August 18, handing over the tanker to the port tugboats. From here we went out to sea again, but this time heading home. I’ve chosen to depict the moment we sighted the flare ahead which signaled that we were in the right place.”