Tai Ki
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The Tai Ki (origin of the name: Taiji (Chinese philosophy) ) was an Austrian experimental ship of the ship type of a junk , which had to be abandoned by its crew in October 1974 after 114 days on her maiden voyage from China to Mexico in the North Pacific . The castaways were rescued by the US freighter Washington Mail ; the whereabouts of the wreck is unknown. As early as March 1939, the American writer Richard Halliburton and his junk replica Sea Dragon were lost on a similar route.
Technical specifications
- Designer and client : Carl Frederik Grage (* 1930), Denmark
- Shipbuilder : So Hawk Sum
- Length over deck: 18.23 m
- Length at the waterline: 13.05 m
- Freeboard : 1.40 m
- Width above deck: 5.70 m
- Width at the waterline: 5.10 m
- Mast length over deck: 17.25 m
- Ballast : stone
Expedition idea
The idea for a junks expedition, on which a cultural transfer from China to Mesoamerica should be proven around the year zero , came from the Austrian journalist Kuno Knöbl .
Knöbl managed to convince the Viennese publisher Fritz Molden of the project; he made himself available as a sponsor and financed the construction of the Tai Ki after reconstructions by the Danish captain Carl Frederik Grage. Grage had evaluated all available documents about junks for his construction, but it was not possible to win the support of Chinese authorities in the People's Republic of China , which had not responded to a request by Knöbl.
The trip
The junk left Hong Kong with tug assistance on June 16, 1974. The crew of the Tai Ki consisted of Knöbl, Captain Grage, the Danish radio operator Allan Kartin, the Hamburg wolf Werner Rausch, the Irishman Hal Price, the British ship's doctor Dr. Bob Kendrick, the American cameraman Bill Martin and the Austrian Arno Dennig, who was involved in the project development from the start.
Due to delays in the construction of the junk, the original travel period from spring / summer 1974 could not be kept, so that the Tai Ki got into the bad weather period in the North Pacific and the planned travel time was significantly exceeded. Due to an illness, Knöbl had to leave Tai Ki in Japan on August 11th .
On September 2, a good 1000 nautical miles east of Japan, the crew discovered that recurring leaks were caused by shipworms . The spruce wood of the junk had only been treated with tung oil during construction . The first travel destination, the California coast near San Francisco , was 4,000 nautical miles away at the time.
On September 11, the generator-operated amateur radio that was used to maintain contact with Swedish radio operators in Nynäshamn failed , so that the constant connection to the outside world was broken. However, on September 13, an emergency radio was used to contact a US Coast Guard station in Kodiak (Alaska) . The Tai Ki at that time had heavy list to port . However, the crew managed to stabilize the ship again by constantly pumping and sealing the leaks with a mass of tung oil and sawdust .
The date line was crossed on September 29th, and radio contact with Kodiak was re-established on October 3rd . At this point the Tai Ki was at position 41 degrees 0 minutes 2 seconds north, 174 degrees 27 minutes west. She met the Greek freighter Master Petros on October 4th, but turned down his offer of help.
On October 5th, the crew gained the certainty that under the prevailing circumstances the Tai Ki would no longer be able to reach a port and an evacuation had to be considered, since water penetrating again and again carried the risk of capsizing .
On October 8 during a violent burst storm the helm . Captain Grage ordered a Mayday message to be sent. Kodiak forwarded the distress call to ships in the area, albeit with the previous day's position, 40 ° 30 north and 169 ° west. The distress call was picked up by the Washington Mail under Captain George Greenwell. The Tai Ki dog , Lap Sac, was put to sleep because he was supposed to have been a security risk on the life raft, which had to be occupied if necessary .
On October 9, 0.15 a.m., a coast guard aircraft reached the Tai Ki and dropped a sonar buoy so that the drifting wreck could be located at any time. At about 12 noon, the crew of the junk 2,000 nautical miles off the North American coast was picked up by the Washington Mail and the Tai Ki was left to its own devices. The freighter called Seattle on October 14 , where the castaways were put ashore.
The BBC originally planned a documentary about the company. So far it is unclear what became of the footage that Bill Martin shot on board.
literature
- Kuno Knöbl: TAI KI. The journey to the place of no return , Vienna / Munich / Zurich (Fritz Molden Verlag) 1975.
Web links
- The "Tai-Ki" expedition failed , in: Hamburger Abendblatt of October 10, 1974 (PDF)