Shipwreck

THE SINKING OF THE FAT CITY OCTOBER 1985

      The Fat City, a converted Louisiana Bayou shrimper, my current vessel du jour, was tucked in tight,Talcot Shoals Santa Rosa Island , Channel Islands California. We were just finishing up an epic day, diving for Sea Urchins.  Little swell allowed us to get into about 25 feet of water.  The urchins were bunched a up along these waist to shoulder high reefs, that could not of been more perfect for knocking the urchins off directly into the net sack.
      I was tired having been in the water most of the day and I was looking forward to the 30 mile voyage to home port Santa Barbara Ca.  I estimated we were loaded with about 10,000 lbs of sea urchins on-board; Mike Fair and I realized towards the end of the day we had picked about the same number of bags, as we were both swimming together admiring that huge pile of urchins on the boat, and Bill with that huge grin on his face, happier than a pig in shit.

      Bill Williams was an old school oil patch hand and tool pusher, from Bakersfield, but had that Oklahoma accent, that somehow stuck with some of those Okies, a generation after they migrated west during the "Dust Bowl” and "The Great Depression" Bill and his wife Frances, grew tired of that heat and dust and grime from the oil patch and decided to give commercial fishing a try. Those people would do anything for you if you asked. Very kind generous and considerate. Bill wasn't much of a waterman, but he loved the ocean and the Channel Islands, and he could take a diesel motor apart and put it back together, as well as any other kind of motor, valuable skill to have in commercial fishing, especially if you didn't have all the right tools or parts, because when your not located close to the local auto parts store you got to make do with what you had, and he sure could do that all right.

        Well after Mike and I discussed who probably had the most weight , Bill looked at us with that precious grin and said “Im satisfied, if your satisfied” Apparently Mike was not satisfied he was far enough ahead of me in weight because he looked at me and said “I m getting another one” whether that was a challenge, or my ego could not let that go, or both, I replied “so am I.” We were in the water all day in about 20 ft, with very few breaks because this was the bonanza all sea urchin divers dream about and we were going to take full advantage of that window of opportunity before it closed.

       We would never know who won that competition on as Posiden decided to take that load back.

We were about 5 miles out of Santa Barbara when the boat took a sudden 45 degree starboard list and capsized. Probably more weight than that Louisiana Bayou shrimper should take in these waters, although it was rated for that tonnage. All of us, except Bill, who had the helm watch went from a dead sleep to in the water within 10 minutes and the boat sunk from under our feet as we were scrambling to stay on the boat while it was rolling until it was upside down and we were standing on the hull. I managed to get a Mayday call off on channel 16 as I helped Mike out of the cabin. The water was coming in so fast I probably saved him from going down with the boat. He managed to get the bottoms of a wet suit, before the boat sank, but the rest of us had nothing. I kicked my shoes off and took my shirt off so I could swim better, but the water was cold, it was October at night.

I could hear the Coast Guard respond, but by that time it was too late to confirm. Amazingly Bill maintained his sense of humor and optimism as he was struggling to keep his head above water. His reaction:"Well it looks like I get a new boat" Mike decided to attempt to swim in, and I was going with him, wet suit or no, but I decided that it would be better for me stay back and help Bill, who was not that great of a swimmer. After a couple hours of holding on to the back of his pants and feeble attempts at encouragement, we were not making much progress toward shore and I was already tired from the long day. Bill started depending on me to keep him afloat, and I had to let him go. I have a lot of guilt and shame over that decision; I had a lot of love and respect for that man. He kept calling out to me not to leave him, but I had to make sure I was going to make it at that point.

      Later on I found out that members of  the urchin fleet coming in that night heard my Mayday call and knew we were out there floating around in the water, somewhere they said they would stop at the estimated coordinates of our last known position, then turn their engines off and yell our names so they could better hear us and visa versa.  Visibility was good, as far as the lights of Santa Barbara, but if you were looking at the ocean, on that moonless night it was so dark you could barely see 10 ft. It seemed like Bill was calling out to me forever after I left him, and it was killing me, but I look back and I realize I had heard the other crews calling my name, and I was ignoring them because I thought it was Bill still crying out to me not to leave him. Anyway Mike finally made it in, and the Coast Guard sent the Pt. Judith out. I spotted the parachute flare they had deployed then started swimming toward them. I was eventually rescued by the Harbor Patrol. I figure I swam about halfway in. I psyched myself out by imagining I was in Hawaii, just out for a midnight swim like Magnum P.I. There were to hotties on the beach waiting with mai tais. It was when they pulled me out of the water I went into shock I was shaking so badly from the cold.

      They searched for Bills body for a couple days, they never did find him, but I will be forever tortured with the fact that If I had stayed with Bill a little longer, he might still be alive today I am blessed that I knew him, and if you look at the fisherman memorial in Ventura Harbor, you can see his name, I made sure of that.

       I stayed with the widow Frances for a while and paid the rent for her until her insurance kicked in. She was devastated. Bill was the world to her, she was not very attractive, but Bill really loved her, and she was never the same after his death.

they missed the vessel name FAT CITY AND THEY GOT THE YEAR WRONG 1985

      20 some odd years later, I was in Ventura Harbor watching some construction. There was a lady working on something, so I asked her what she was building. She said she was sculpting a Fisherman’s Memorial for all the fisherman that lost their lives at sea in the area. I asked if she had the Fat City and Bill Williams on her list. She said she did not. I told her the story and she asked me to come to her office and I gave her all the details I could remember. She included the Fat City on the memorial and is still there the last time I looked.