"We Crashed at Sea!" - The Origins of the Born Again Irishman
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Flight 923 Brace for Impact Crowded Raft Rescue Ship Beautiful Ireland I-Connection

The Rescue Ship - The Celerina  

The ship was a Swiss freighter, the "Celerina," headed for Antwerp, Belgium. It took two days and three nights to reach the coast of Ireland due partly to the violence of the storm. Three people had died on the raft. One fellow was brought on deck and looked as if he had signs of life. The crew tried the old fashioned method of resuscitation. I volunteered to take over with mouth to mouth resuscitation, which I knew was a lot more effective. I did it, and did it .. blowing air into his lungs. Methodically and with force, I blew and blew, for well over a half hour until they made me stop. I don't know who he was. He was too far gone to be saved. I cried over my failure to bring him back..

Before the first day on ship had ended, the seriousness of some of the injuries became more evident. There were relatively few broken bones. Mostly, the injured were suffering from burns … chemical burns caused by sea water and gasoline being rubbed into the skin as everyone rubbed against another in the pitching and rolling raft. The rubbed off skin began to run with what ever it produces to repair itself. A brave medic team dropped onto the ship from a helicopter and tried treating wounds. Unfortunately, the bandages they used stuck to the skin when the body fluids dried. The pain got a lot worse when they tried to removed the bandages. They took the fragile skin off with them. 

I didn't think I was hurt very badly. The skin on my right calf was pretty much worn off, but it was hardly anything compared to others. After the first 48 hours, my calf started to get infected, so that classified me as injured. 

The weather broke when we got closer to land. The waters calmed and the sun came out. We had maneuvered to the south of Ireland, some 16 miles southwest of Cork City, along Galley Head peninsula. British RAF helicopters evacuated 17 of us to Mercy Hospital. 

Since I was probably the least injured of the most seriously injured (and at that point I felt my injuries were nothing at all), I found myself with new-born energy, stamina, and enthusiasm that defies description. I was high on my new shot at life, almost euphoric.

I had written a very long letter to my parents describing the crash as soon as I could muster the energy during those two days on the Celerina. I had it neatly prepared for mailing and handed it to a very willing news reporter for the Irish and British Daily Mail as I stepped out of the rescue helicopter. He promised that he would contact my parents to tell them I was O.K. The story -- my letter and my photo -- was on the front page of all of the papers. I had become a celebrity in the land that I had only previously read about in school. My Italian relatives never talked about Ireland. All the only land they knew or spoke about was New York, New Jersey and Italy. I had no idea of what I was getting into. 

Go to -> [The Raft] - [The Rescue Ship] - [Ireland at Last]

Back to-> [Flight 923]   Return to-> [The Irish Connection]
 

Copyright 2001, Fred Caruso, All Rights Reserved

This article is the central theme of "Born Again Irish" by Fred Caruso, a story of transformation -- from being a rowdy young man raised as an Italian Catholic in a very Jewish community in the suburbs of New York City, to that of being an easy-going Irishman, with dual US and Irish citizenship, and a home near the village of Glengarriff in southwest County Cork.

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