It's really hard to believe that August 4th this year was the 31 year anniversary of the sinking of the Oceanos and this site is overdue for an update.
Last year I was very honoured to receive a beautifully framed certificate and medal from the South African National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) for my part in assisting fellow passengers during the rescue operation of the Oceanos on August 4th 1991.
Thank you very much to the NSRI for presenting me with this prestigious award.
I realize it is difficult to read what is written on the certificate, so I will paste a copy of the transcript below. It reads as follows:
BRAVERY AWARD
BRONZE
Presented to
Michael O'Mahoney
For his courageous actions when the passenger ship Oceanos sprang a leak in horrendous weather conditions - hurricane force winds and 14 metre waves - off the Wild Coast of South Africa on the evening 03 August 1991 and eventually foundered twelve hours later.
Michael O'Mahoney was a passenger on the Oceanos, cruising with his wife, small son, and baby daughter between East London and Durban. When the Oceanos crew panicked on learning that the ship was taking on water and largely left everyone to their own devices, he played a large role in assisting with the evacuation of passengers from the vessel.
In particular he helped passengers, including his family, to clamber into the lifeboats, a dangerous operation with the sinking ship rolling and pitching violently. When the lowering mechanism of the last lifeboat to be launched jammed, leaving it dangling in the wind and crashing into the side of the Oceanos from time to time, Michael and his friend Neil Shaw tried desperately to release the boat. After an hours trying, they had to abandon the effort and heave the passengers who were on board back on to the Oceanos' deck. Michael then helped passengers, especially the elderly, to scramble forward on the by now steeply sloping deck to where they could be airlifted to safety. His calm demeanour was a vital ingredient in keeping their spirits up until they were rescued. In one case, he came across an old man still below who could not move at all in the circumstances. Michael rigged a lifeline from sheets, got the elderley man on his back, piggy-back style, and hauled the both of them up the sheet 'rope' to the upper, starboard, railing of the ship's main deck.
Finally, Lorraine Betts, the TFC cruise director who had taken over the task of organising the passengers' evacuation, in the absence of any of the Oceanos's crew, thanked Michael and Neil for their efforts and instructed them to jump overboard. They were picked up by a Navy diver in a rubber duck and carried across to the Nedlloyd Mauritius, one of the commercial vessels that answered the Oceanos Mayday call for help.
Michael O'Mahoney's bravery and selfless actions that day played a major role in saving many peoples' lives. As fellow South Africans we are proud to be able recognise and honour his achievement, albeit so long afterwards,
Signed by: Ronnie Stein
Chairman of the Board of Directors
04/6/2021
Kind regards
Michael O'Mahoney.
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