The Chain
By 6:00 PM on 14 February, 1989 we were making our way out to the Firth of Clyde, and ready to proceed out to sea. Unfortunately, the weather window we were hoping for was not there and the forecast showed only a slight chance of improvement over the next few days. The Captain and the senior scientist decided to drop the anchor and wait until morning to see if conditions would improve. In hindsight, this was not a good move.
The next morning, it appeared there might be a break in the weather, enough for us to make an attempt for the survey area. Orders were given to weigh anchor and move out to sea. The hydraulics kicked in and the anchor was pulled to the surface and onboard . . . almost. It didn’t seem to want to come all the way up. A quick observation showed why. It broke the surface of the water and we all leaned over in awe as we saw it had a large chain draped over it. A massive chain, with links the size of your arm.
To this day I have no idea what was on the other end of it, or how long it had been down there. We tried dropping the anchor and pulling it back up. In fact, we tried this several times. No luck. The chain remained caught in the anchor. The decision was made to pull it free from whatever it was tied to on the bottom. All hands were ordered inside and all four engines brought online. Full astern, full ahead . . . nothing worked. We were caught like a fish on some angler’s line, although this angler was on the bottom of the Clyde River!
You may think that by this time we were getting the message that this cruise was somehow not meant to be. You would be correct! What does one do with a vessel over 300 feet in length caught up in a chain in the mouth of the Clyde River? A good question. Heads were scratched and ideas tossed back and forth. Finally, the Captain radioed back to Glasgow and explained our predicament to someone who came up with the answer. Cut it off with an acetylene torch. This was a good idea, except we didn’t have one. However, one of the local tugboat and salvage companies did and they sent out a boat to do the job. It pulled alongside and one of the occupants was able to reach over and burn through one of the links. That did it. The chain fell back into the Clyde, where I assume it still rests today, and we were free.
A number of theories were offered as to what was on the other end of the chain, varying from part of a submarine net to a sunken oil rig. My favourite was that of the Captain who suggested it probably was the British cruiser the Hood, that was sunk by the Bismarck on 24 May 1941. The fact that this occurred in the Denmark Strait, well over a thousand miles away, did not deter us. We had found The Hood!
Last updated on Thursday, 12 April 2007