While operating out of Gitmo... We were called upon to assist in supporting riot torn Haiti, and this is how it was...

Date:   9/22/2005 11:23:27 AM ( 19 y ago)

It seems like only yesterday when the USS Furse along with two fleet Destroyers were dispatched to riot torn Haiti....  It was a quick three hour, passage across the Windward Passage to the Golfe De la Gonave... 

We took up station, three miles off Isle De La Gonave;  which is just  off  Port-Au-Prince, Haiti....  This Island is about the size of Grand Bahama Island, it has a large flat top mountain, which is called the "Table of the Devil"....  We tracked @ three Knots, in line, @ 500 Yd intervals with the Furse in the mid position...   The track was NE for about ten miles then 180 degrees; back on a SW track the same distance, then start all over again...  The weather was mild, with a slight wind of about five knots and the sea has about a two foot chop, not bad at all...  The worst thing was not to get sunburned...

The first few days all we saw was were the local fishermen coming out in sail boats,  the morning and returning in the evenings...  They sometimes waved and spoke...  BTW Haiti has the lowest per capita earnings in the western hemisphere... Appox $500 per year... Very sad indeed...  Since we were on Wartime Alert using Superheated Steam we were burning fuel at a high rate...   So every third day, we would rendezvous with a fleet oiler, to rep starting at 05:00 in the morning...  

 Well the first rep went well, but three days later we were the last to refuel, and even though the oil king,{the guy who kept check on the fuel on board the ship} had been checking the amount of fuel pumped aboard, some thing went wrong...  We had fuel, in this case Bunker "C" oil, liquid tar almost pouring down Port side, from the forward fuel drop....  They had the Tanker stop operations, and break away, but the damage had been done....   The oil was like a wave of liquid tar rolling down the port side decks..  It jumped into the aft berthing compartment, ruining the mattress, which had to be thrown out....  This stuff was like a thick black paint on the decks...  We spent the next few days cleaning and repainting the ship after that wonderful experience...  

Then one day about noon time we picker up a high speed contact, with a constant bearing and decreasing range....   {That meant it was coming right at us..}  We had tracked Soviet Patrol boats off Cuba, and this had the same signatue...  We got a visual on the contact at about ten miles, it was a Haitian Navy Patrol Boat...  It came along side, out about a hundred yards off the starboard side...   The craft was an ex US Coast Guard 95 Foot patrol boat...  It had one 20 MM Gun on the front deck which looked like it had not been fired in years, the stern had a canvas cover, complete with some hay bales, a couple of women, some goats, and a few crew members; rather rough looking craft..   

The Patrol boat skipper tried to speak to us using a Marga phone, which did not work well, and his English was terrible...  So we went to signal light, {you have seen these in movies, the flashing lights, from one ship to another... BTW all of these signals are international code, so you do not have to translate} The Captain was  on the Bridge, in the Ole man's chair on the Starboard side, right by the patrol boat..  He had the forward 3 inch open twin gun mount maned, and ready...   

  The signalman on Duty, gave the Captain the message from the Haitian Navy Boat. "What are you doing here?"   

To which he replied " We are fishing"....    We had a couple of guys with fishing poles standing on the fantail, to make it look good...  

The patrol boat then ask "How long are you going to be here?"  

The Captain replied " Well as long as the fishing holds out..."     He then had the forward gun crew exercise the mount....  That means make it work, very impressive to these the Haitian Navy Boat....   So with that the Haitian Patrol boat headed off toward Port-au-Prince to tell of our presence....  

It was funny how the riot settled down that next week... We were able to walk softly and carry a big stick, once more....   Another job well done!!   Life is about decisions, and I have seen where people will respect power, if nothing else....  This was history in the making.....  See ya on our next adventure of true life on the high seas....  K 

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