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Neibāde in 1910 |
-Captain, what do we do now?
He was yanked off his thoughts by the voice of
the helmsman piercing through the shroud of gusts of wind and water like a
long-distance radio message.
The captain licked his lips gaining the
necessary moments to finish off a short internal battle.
-Turn her around. We are going back to Riga.
The wheel started to run through helmsman’s
hands.
That’s weird… The ship turned slow and heavy. Like
it had blended into one with the sea and was wrestling itself free from human
control. The captain stuck his head over the starboard. Why is she so deep in
the water? He turned to the helmsman.
-Have all the portholes been closed?
-Yes, captain, it’s impossible even to get to
them, there’s a ton of goods stacked in front of them.
-At least one is left open. We are sinking.
Neibāde went down in 15 minutes. It was not a drawn-out
over-the-top agony like the one in the Titanic. Far from it. There were no tuxedos
and ball gowns, no strings playing, and there were no tables with fine cutlery
floating around. No splendor at all. Just the same horror and pain. And panic. Which
was only amplified by the ship’s siren which was vailing all the time calling
out for a savior but only stressing out the passengers even more. Some broke
down on knees clutching their fists in desperation. Others had turned pale like
the white caps of waves – some from fear, some from seasickeness. Some appealed
to God. Children cried.
With every passing moment, there remained less
and less of the ship. The sea was eating it away right in front of the
terrified passengers. It was clear – there was no going back to Riga. Can we
even reach the coast? The captain ordered to steer for the closest land
desperately clinging on the hope that they could still get sufficiently close
to the coastline 5 km away. To gain the precious time, the crew and passengers started
to feed the sea with the ship’s cargo and luggage. But it was like filling
abyss by a teaspoon. It was not enough to satisfy the monster creeping closer
and closer to people. The water level inside Neibāde was raising fast. Too
fast for the pumps to cope with it.
Luckily, Neibāde was not only overloaded
with cargo, but with life jackets too. There were 200 of them – for only 40
passengers and 11 crew. So people started grabbing them in a mad scramble. Some
got into two pieces. Others out of desperation somehow managed to pull on three.
There was one thing that lacked though. Lifeboats. There was only one. That was
it. One… single lifeboat. It was decided to leave it for women and children. Having
no time to spare, the crew rushed to lower the boat in water, but in a less
than satisfying manner. Waves gushed inside the boat and it capsized. That was
it. People could no longer wait. One by one passengers and crew started pouring
over board to avoid getting sucked into the depth along with the ship. Some
tried to hold onto the sides of the capsized lifeboat, but they could have had better
luck with holding onto a block of ice. Their hands were slipping off, there was
simply nothing to latch onto. So people grabbed one another instead. Others did
not even try it – they simply dug their hands into the waves aiming straight
for the coast. It was the last moment to do so because the back end of the ship
rose high in the air as a lone mountain peak piercing through clouds and then fell
back sliding under the waves. Neibāde was no more.
The tragedy after the tragedy
That day, 9 of September 1926, out of the total
of 51 passengers and crew, only 9 survived. 5 women and 4 men, captain
including. The sinking of the steamer Neibāde shocked the nation pouring
absolute outrage from every periodical. Not only because of the tragic loss of
life and the sheer number of victims. Yes, it was unprecedented, it was heart‑breaking.
But what was mindboggling, was a wave after a wave of utter negligence that
followed the moment the ship sank. And every such wave cost more and more lives
that otherwise could have been saved.
First of all, no matter how hard and long the
ship’s siren was blaring for help, no one responded. Somehow, the lighthouse on
the coast did not notice the tragic struggle that was taking place on the sea. The
ones who did witness the tragedy were the local fishermen but they did not do
anything. They were not ready to go into sea in storm. Later they were heavily criticized
for it by their colleagues of Kurzeme coast who scoffed at the cowardice and
incompetence of their brethren at Vecāķi.
And talking about cowardice or incompetence or
both, the captain’s name kept floating up to the surface in the public
discourse long after the tragedy. As you probably know, the captain was
supposed to leave the ship last. There was a big controversy about what exactly
happened to the captain, that is, how he ended up in the sea first. Or one of
the first ones. History and witness accounts are really murky there. One thing
we do know – he was not in the last group of people on the ship. There were
still some poor souls running back and forth on the deck while he was already floating in the sea. The captain himself said that he was
blown off the command bridge by a wave and later kept directing the rescue
efforts from the sea. Others say that he jumped overboard by his own will. Other
seasoned seamen interviewed by periodicals could only laugh about it. They all
maintained that it was impossible for the captain to be washed off the command
bridge before other people.
But that was only the beginning. When finally
the news reached the authorities, two rescue ships were sent out in the sea to look
for the survivors. Zibens and Zanders. However, Zibens failed
to even reach the sinking site and turned around while Zanders did put
in some effort but was looking for the victims in the wrong place – some 5-6
kilometers from the sinking site. Obviously, not finding anything, the captain called
off the search and Zanders returned to the port.
In the meantime, the beach at Vecāķi was being
littered with goods, crates, lifebuoys, luggage, casks, liquor bottles, boards
– every loose object on the ship you can imagine. And most importantly, people.
Dead and alive. The second scene of the tragedy unfolded right there, on the
shore. In the hours following the disaster, no one rushed to save the survivors
who were being washed ashore since 2 PM in the afternoon, some of them still
alive but too weak, others unconscious, but all of them waiting for help. Help
that only arrived 4 hours later – around 6 pm in the evening. By that
time, there were already 20 people who no longer needed help.
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The beach of Vecāķi after the disaster |
“Corpses don’t need my help anyway”
One of the helpers or doctors to attend the
survivors was supposed to be Dr. Brauns. He was the first one who was ordered
to go to Vecāķi beach. He lived closest to the scene, some 13 kilometers away. When
the policeman arrived at his house to take him to the beach, the doctor flat
out refused to go. He said that corpses did not need his help anyway. Moreover,
he seemed to be more concerned about his own wellbeing than that of any
possible survivors, asking who was going to pay him for the service. Even after
receiving a call from the police precinct, he stuck to his guns and refused to
go. He said he was too tired and there was no transportation.
Tragedy
for some, celebration for others
How long do you have to wait before you can
throw a party at a place of a tragedy? Seems like an immoral question. However,
the local fishermen did not have that moral dilemma. While the corpses were
being lined up in the sand and family members of the victims were arriving to
recognize their loved ones, the local fishermen decided that finally they are
ready to go into sea. But not to look for survivors or what’s left of them. They
were interested in a more valuable catch – the liquor. Among the goods that had
been loaded on Neibāde that faithful morning was also 120 crates of
liquor. Since there was no more room in the hold of the ship, which was already
loaded to the brim with other goods, all of the alcohol was piled up on the
deck. Now the whole shipment was scattered in sea. Some crates had already been
washed ashore. Fishermen did not feel particularly shy or struck by the magnitude
of the tragedy around and broke the crates open right there on the beach. The
two policemen sent to maintain order were far from capable of slowing down the bacchanalia
that ensued. The binge continued well in the evening.
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The deceased lined up in the sand |
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People arrive to look for family members |
If only it had been about liquor… But when
there is the one, there is the other... Like the liquor crates, the captain’s
brother was soon washed ashore as well. And he too was rescued by the fishermen,
who took him to their house. He had lost consciousness. And after regaining it,
he found that he had also lost 500 lats. He never regained those. Or his golden
cufflinks, for that matter.
Needless to say, he was not the only one among
the living and the dead who got pickpocketed. Afterwards, five people were
arrested and punished for robbing the victims on the beach.
So thieves were brought to justice. But how
about the ones behind the tragedy itself – the captain and the shipping line
that operated the ship?
The battle of trials
There surely must have been somebody to blame for this! Right after the tragedy, the society was raging like sea in a storm flooding the public domain with all kinds of reasons why the ship sank and, ultimately, who were responsible for it. The strongest contender in this race was, of course, the shipping line Kaija who operated the ship and was known to always overload them. The second in line was the captain who did not make sure all the portholes had been closed before the storm, thus inviting the sea inside the ship and sinking it.
A special parliament commission was set up to look
into the matter. However, when all those considered guilty had given their explanations
to the commission and the public, it turned out that there were no guilty
parties at all. “Everyone had done everything they could”.
Phew, what a relief! People could finally move
on. Not really. Obviously, the parliament commission was not satisfied with
such overwhelming amount of innocence, and the Cabinet of Ministers had also
appointed their own investigation commission. This led to establishing an
entirely new court institution – the Sea Court – where violations by seamen
were to be tried by seamen. It meant that it had a certain air of the highest
expertise on the matter. This new court looked through the Neibāde case
twice. In the first trial, no fault in the actions by either the captain or the
shipping line was found. In the second trial, the defense had worked up the
courage to the point that they were so bold to plead before the court in the
following manner:
“If the captain is found guilty, then his
tragedy would be much bigger and heavier than that of those who drowned”.
It seems that the tide turned in favour of the defense.
The captain and the shipping line were acquitted for the second time. It comes
to no surprsie that the prosecution was not ready to accept that and took it to
the district court where the case was tried again in early 1928. There the
defence of the captain was even more shameless and eloquent:
“The sea gave him life, now I am asking you to
give him freedom”.
This time, they didn’t. The district court found
the captain guilty of involuntary manslaughter. At the same time he was
acquitted on the charge of leaving the ship during the storm before others. He
was sentenced to 6 months in prison. On top of that, he and the shipping line Kaija
jointly were ruled to pay the families of the victims compensations in total of
around 70,000 lats. Needless to say, the defense did not find this fair and brought
this ruling to the Supreme Court for an appeal. But they were already past the
curve of luck. The supreme court kept the exist ruling in force. The captain,
however, got out of paying a single cent. He exchanged this “liberation” for
his life. In January 1929, he disappeared in the waves along with his new ship Laima
and the whole crew.
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A couple of the few lucky survivors at a fisherman's house |
Neibāde rises again!
From the very first day after Neibāde
sank, there was interest in salvaging the wreck. And for a number of good
reasons. The ship was relatively new – it touched water for the first time in
1908. So if not for bringing it back to carry passengers again, it could have
been cannibalized for its parts, most importantly engines. Also, it was an
obstacle for shipping and fishing in the area. Moreover, unlike Titanic, Neibāde
sank only 3 kilometers from the shore. The seafloor where the ship was resting
dug into the sand was quite shallow – around 18 meters deep. So it was within
the reach of the equipment available at the time. However, years went by, but
the ship remained in its tomb, sinking ever deeper into the sand and oblivion. Finally,
12 years later – in July 1938 – a saviour’s hand reached out and lifted it up
from the deep. A team of a 130-ton crane and a tugboat did the job.
However, the rather handsome steamer had turned
into a sea monster. All these years in seawater had eaten away all its beauty. Almost
nothing remained of the superstructure. It was swept clean, most likely by the movement
of ice in springs. The command bridge had been chewed up pretty bad. The
chimney and masts were gone. Only the hull of the ship, under a shroud of
seaweed and a coat of barnacles remained intact. That is, if we don’t count the
reddish spots of rust dotting ship’s body looking like a bad rash. It was so overwhelming
that nobody could say what color the ship was 12 years ago. The
inside of the ship did not look better – it was like a dumpsite for sand and
seaweed.
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Neibāde in 1938 |
There are not many tragedies in the Latvian
history that later turned into popular songs. But for some reason Neibāde
did. In 1966, a song was dedicated to the sinking of the ship. If you think
it’s a sad one, you will be very disappointed. Although “The Ship Neibāde” sinks
into details about the terrible accident, it does so with a rather cheerful
tune. The chorus of the song is quite catchy. Which is the reason the song got
popular, and nearly everybody living today has heard it. Here is a link to the
song and a rough translation of the lyrics below, so you too can go on the last trip of
Neibāde:
Do you
still remember the small ship Neibāde
That used
to cruise between Riga to Saulkrasti?
Built and
laid down in water around the turn of the century,
It defied
winds, it was young and beautiful!
Do you
still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
Do you
still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde
that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
Nobles,
barons, shipowners rode on it,
Farmers,
servants and hoards of workers too.
Cargo
changed all the time,
Sometimes
herring, sometimes flour, sometimes cotton yarn.
For many
years it served, through rain and snow,
It was the
pride of the crew and the joy of the captain.
Through the
storms it was guided by the stars that shine,
It was home
to those whose hearts yearn for the sea.
Do you still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
Do you
still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
But one
autumn night September was brisk,
Swedish liquor
was loaded on the ship Neibāde.
The portholes were forgotten, they were left open,
The waves were
high and the water soon poured inside.
The ship
tilted sharply and began to sink.
Screams
everywhere, panic did not stop.
A few moments,
and the depth took it.
Only a few were destined to survive that night.
Do you
still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
Do you
still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
People were
waiting for the ship in the port.
Relatives
and friends stared in the distance in vain.
Only the
gray waves and the gusts of wind
Seamed to
tell them the story about the fate of Neibāde.
Only the
gray waves and the gusts of wind
Seamed to
tell them the story about the fate of Neibāde.
Do you still remember, do you still remember
The ship Neibāde that used to plow the Baltic Sea?
*Neibāde (Neubad in German) is the old name of the town of Saulkrasti. The name was changed in 1933.