Winchester Veteran Caught in Typhoon

The following was submitted by Michael Regentz.

Veterans Day reminds me of good times and some bad times when I was in the US Navy. It was 1965 and I was stationed aboard the USS Sampan, a guided missile frigate out of San Diego. The Vietnam War was in full tilt and we were ordered to relieve the USS Chickabow on station by May 12.

We left San Diego to not one dry eye as our dependants on the pier waved us off. It was a cold March morning and we were to steam to Viet Nam via stops in Honolulu, Subic Bay, and then our first stop in China, the Hong Kong harbor.   Little did we know how this trip would turn out. War was one thing, but April-May was typhoon season on the Asian coast.

We enjoyed our short stop in Pearl Harbor as well as the three-day stop in Subic Bay on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.

By our third day in Subic, the weather report for the China coast was turning bad.  Typhoon Meredith had sprung up between Sydney and Christ Church and it was making its way from northern Australia due north by northeast.   Meredith was due to hit the China coast at almost the same time the USS Sampan was due to dock in Hong Kong harbor.

We found ourselves “trapped” about 64 nautical miles due east of Hong Kong when we heard that the news was bad, Meredith was due to hit Hong Kong tomorrow.

Our Captain, Captain Locker, was a career sailor and had high hopes of making rear admiral next year.  Captain Locker decided to “ride it out at sea” by dropping the port anchor -- we had both a port and starboard anchor as most ships of the line do.  An anchor on the ship weighed three tons not to mention the weight of the anchor chain at about a ton a link.

At 3:55 PM China time, Captain Locker gave the order to drop the port anchor.  The anchor chain played out about two hundred and fifty feet when all of a sudden the typhoon Meredith hit the ship.   The Sampan strained and pulled.  The chain was so taught it began to “sing” a “high C” when all of a sudden the chain broke right at the spot where the chain went through the gunnels.

This just did not phase Captain Locker.  Although the ship floundered a bit, we were able to get another hold on the bottom by letting out the starboard anchor.

By morning, it was a bit calmer with wind gusts only up to about 35 knots.

We were scheduled to go into Hong Kong and dock today.  It was clearing so Captain Locker ordered the weighing of the starboard anchor and off we went toward Hong Kong.

At 8:15 AM, the First Lieutenant, Lt Hollingsworth -- he’s the bloke that is in charge of the deck force -- reported to the captain on the bridge over the ship’s intercom that the ship was listing to starboard.  Lt Hollingsworth said, “It’s because we do not have a port anchor.  We look naked!”  Captain Locker felt that we would be a “laughing stock” to his fellow captains when they see the lopsided ship.

Captain Locker ordered Petty Officer JC Carlson, the ship’s carpenter to construct an anchor out of wood, paint it “haze grey” and hang it from the bow on the port side – opposite of the starboard anchor.   

What a work of art the wooden port anchor was.  A sailor running for his life could not tell the difference between the fabricated anchor and a real one.

The Sampan proceeded to port and found that all of the pier and buoy tie ups were taken.  The harbor master sent us off to the anchorage near Kowloon.   We took on an English-speaking pilot and proceeded toward the anchorage.

The storm had died down a lot but the gusts were substantial.

We arrived at anchorage slot “Tango” and the pilot called for the port anchor to be dropped. He forgot, or did not realize, that the port anchor was a lightweight fake made out of wood and was painted to look real.  It still weighed 650 pounds!

A gust of wind came up estimated at 80 knots and picked up the loose port anchor flinging it at the ship.  It struck the ship on the 04 level, that’s four decks above the main deck and it’s where the “Sea Detail” conning officer, the captain, and the pilot were piloting the ship.  The loose flying anchor struck and killed the sea detail helmsman and two lookouts before it came to rest amidships.

You should have heard the radio conversations between the “old man” and COMSEVENTHFLEET, the admiral in Pearl.   I think Captain Locker had missed his chance at becoming a real admiral.

Michael O. Regentz is the founder of Winchester Etiquette Institute.  He can be reached at Mike.Regentz@WinEtiquette.com