Manning the bilge pumps

As our journey from Panama, on July 1, 1975 extended into the months of August through September and then into October, without reaching a landfall, the old girl began to leak fairly significantly. Leaking was always a problem with Klaraborg, as her old oakum seams were tired. If the ship worked very much in a seaway, she would begin to leak even more, as the hull was twisted and torqued by the ocean's forces. This constant motion gradually began ejecting more tar and oakum from her hull seams, causing her to leak at a gradually increasing rate. We were not able to contain the leaks effectively while at sea, and the volume of water flowing into the hull continued to mount. The dribbles became a torrent coursing through the hull - unabated. As we approached Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands, seawater was being manually pumped out of the bilges at the rate of one-thousand gallons per hour - twenty four hours per day! This was feat of endurance and survival and each crew member on-watch spent a full two hour trick (out of a six hour watch) pumping the bilges.  We were even pumping small fish and barnacles from the bilge onto the deck and into the scuppers. So there we were month-in/month-out, pulling on those dreaded bilge pump handles. I pumped my way across the Pacific. 

 

Klaraborg had one engine driven pump that operated off of the GM 371 Diesel - that powered the boat. We never used this however - to conserve fuel. We also had two permanent manual bilge pumps on-board. These were installed as permanent fixtures, at the foot of each mast, on the main deck, they were the principal way of pumping the water from the bilges. They were antique cast iron monstrosities, that were manually operated, by pulling a six foot long steel bar up and down, in a reciprocal motion, once the pump was primed and was drawing water. At this point in the voyage eighty plus days at sea, we had installed an auxiliary manual bilge pump for the ladies to pull on. (Please see separate photo of bilge pumps.) 

 

This photo shows my shipmates, during a typical afternoon watch in the Pacific - 1975: Jon Fry and Janet Lawrenson - pumping the bilges at the mainmast,  Klara the ship's dog - held by Brian Wylie, Kjell Johnson sitting,  Eric Wood standing and facing away, and Barbro Olsson, near the rail. Pacific - 1975.