Enduring Lightning and Finding Hope

Don't panic! Don't panic! The bottom literally disappeared from under It's a terrifying moment for our castaways. Parents Dougal and Lynn. Their 18-year-old son Douglas. 11-year-old twins Sandy O'Neal and 22-year-old Robin, the only non-family member . The rubber floor of the raft has complet ely disintegrated. Leaving Douglas, Robin, and Lynn floating in the water . They have to move to the dinghy . Now the decision had been made for us. The dinghy it is. Live or die . Time has run out. Not a second to lose. Douglas looks at his dad, remembering what they talked about. It's a three-man dinghy , and there are six of us maybe there's not enough room for everybody. If there isn't, they'll have to make a decision. That idea of losing someone and and everything which that meant it never crossed my mind . Dougal pulls on the rope, bringing the dinghy alongside what remains of the raft . As fast as he can , he clears space inside it , chucking overboard anything they don't need . Like old turtle shells . And even their old life jackets. Everything that might weigh them down. They must be as light as possible . That done, it's time to move. The twins go first . Alright, my boys. Neil. Hold me, Dad. Hold me . One by one. Sandy. Come on. Holding hands, they help each other into the tiny boat. Step by agonizing step . Steady . The dinghy suddenly lurches to one side okay when you're next and it was sinking it was pressing down into the water douglas and I just watched. Fearful . Expecting it to end in disaster . And then there was just me and my dad left. And he said, you go next, Douglas. Douglas hesitates, looking back at his dad. I said you you're coming . You're coming, aren't you? I'm coming. I'm coming. You know, we can't do this without you. I'll be right behind you . Douglas holds out his hand and helps his dad into the ding . We've done it. We've done it. We're all in. Well done, everyone. And suddenly we were all on the dinghy . We were all on the dinghy . And we were still afloat . All six of them have made it . In silence , they watched the raft drift away, like being parted from the dearest of friends. Really felt a great sense of loss . We thought of the Icelanders who'd given us the raft . And how that raft has kept us alive . The raft that Dougal had said they would never need. Without it, we would never have got this far . We kept looking for it . And then it was gone . They're left with just the dinghy . A tiny dinghy in this vast ocean . And from now on , survival will be much harder . This is Adrift, an Apple original podcast produced by Blanchard House. I'm Becky Milligan . Episode Six Hell on Earth Life changed so much . Those first days , we missed the raft . There is one good thing. They're not sitting in sea water anymore. We're actually dry for the first time since the Lus et sank . We'd lost the sea water bo ils. All that had gone . But that's the only plus . The dinghy was a different set of problems, you know. Our new home. Apart from being dry, it was extremely unstable . And it's tiny. Not much bigger than a bathtub. It was so cramped. There was no space, no freedom to move around. Once you got your position , you had to stay there. Careful . Careful! I said careful . So if one of them moves one way, someone else has to balance it by moving the other way. You had to uh give warning. Can you move your leg, please, because I want to move my leg. You had to cooperate with each other to move. And even stretching a leg could be enough to capsize the boat because it's so overloaded. They have to keep the dinghy level at all times, their weight evenly spread. One mistake, you tip the dinghy over and you're in with the sharks don't move don't m I said don't move you had to sit there and not move at all in fact, Dougal makes it a rule. You were not allowed to move. Could you stretch your legs out? I mean, how did you sleep? We slept sitting upright. So most of the time I was basically sitting in that position. Their muscles start to seize up. Your shoulder, your bottom, your legs, your knees. Lynn is worried about the twins. She has to get them to She would get your ankle and twist your ankle and move your legs and it was bloody painful that was . But Lynn's a nurse and she forces them to exercise every day. We hated it, but mother insisted it was good for us. The raft had a canopy to protect them. The dinghy is open to all the elements we're alone in that huge sky and that big sea there now very low in the water, just six inches between the sea and the top of the dinghy . We were almost part of the sea, part of the ocean life . They can look over the side and see everything. Up close . We felt like we were in it. It was quite a bizarre feeling. And we could see huge fish swimming around underneath us. We could see the sharks. They were constantly with us. All man eaters. And we'd think bloody hell . But what they fear most is a change in the weather. There's always the fear of storms. One big wave, and they'll be swamped . The next few days, they're lucky, but they know their luck could change. For now, in the doldrums, it's hot and windless . Early morning, the Pacific Ocean. Still water like glass . The sea was so calm. Eleven-year old Sandy is awake . Just like looking into a mirror. You can see your face . I was looking at myself. He hardly recognises the face staring back at him. My hair . My eyes . And then I got my finger. And I flicked the water . And I'll watch the ripples. Oh, look at that. I've got the circles meeting in the middle. That looks really good. He tries something else. With two fingers this time. Double flick. Oh, that's really good . The shark's fin just came out of the water. Big white tip on the top of it. The oceanic white tip . One of the most dangerous of all sharks The tail was outside one end of the boat, the head was outside the other end . Bloody big shark. Huge it was . And I just gazed at it as it glided past , and a voice behind me said I don't think you should do that again . The sharks are never far from the dinghy, the family's constant companions, silent predators, waiting for their next meal . You could see these shapes . Do it down there Quick! Grab it! Grab it, Robin, grab it! There's something all over the place. Come on. They've just caught a dor ado . It's thrashing around in the bottom of the dinghy. Crab it ! Why the hell can't you keep your bloody knees out of the way? Robin has let the fish get away. Use your hands. It doesn't matter if the bloody fish bites you. It's have a go at Robin time again. But before Dougal can say any more... Look, turtle! Turtle! Douglas reaches over the side to grab it. Come on, Douglas, let's have it . This time, it's Douglas who mucks up. Why the hell don't you leave it to me if you can't manage it? That's right, hit him, you big bully . Dougal glares at her . But for once doesn't say anything . We spent the rest of the morning contemplating our own misery. Day 22 . They've been in the dinghy for five days . One afternoon, the family's luck runs out . In the distance they spot clouds gathering. Huge, towering, menacing clouds. Scary to look at. It gradually built up. Thick dark clouds. Threatening. It looked threatening, it looked dangerous. We had been prepared by my dad to be ready. Keep building. Keep the boat balanced. My crew were looking at me. I studied their faces . Full of fear . There would be no second chances if we were swamped , we will have to fight for our lives . Dougal rigged up pieces of sailcloth for possible shelter as we prepared ourselves mentally to endure whatever was to come . The stor m is getting closer . We could see it coming . We could hear the waves . Strong winds whipping up the sea. The seas got rougher and rougher. We were bouncing around a lot . It was just a matter of counting down the minutes . And it started to rain . Big heavy drops of rain . The coldness of that rain. It was so cold . We were shiver ing. We were shaking . And it hit us . The sea around us exploded into cascading white capped rollers . Absolutely torrential . Dougal is trying to keep the front of the boat heading into the waves. If he doesn't, they'll be tipped out into the sea. He just kept coming . It was getting worse and worse . Worse. Worse until you couldn't see waves engulfed the small boat . The water was coming in so rapidly . They can't fail quickly enough . It is very, very rough. The dinghy rolls dangerously. Tossed about . If they're hoping the storm will pass and They're wrong . It closes in. Faster! Faster! Keep bailing! Bail for your life! By nightfall, the waves were snobbing aboard. And Robin, Lynn and Douglas had to bail continuously. Bailing, bailing, bailing, bailing , never-end ing. We bail constantly. I was kneeling in the center, bailing hard, praying it would all stop . I don't know how we're going to beat it. Feel for your lives. Fail for your lives. Faster ! Faster! It just had to be done. You had to keep going, had to keep going. Faster! Faster! Feel faster! Keep feeling . I'm gonna be sick, Mom. I'm gonna be sick . Above all the noise, I could hear Sand y sobbing and Lynn praying while the rhythmic scrape of the bailers got faster and faster . And still the water was gaining us. Time was running out for us . We needed a miracle and we needed it now . The storm goes on through the night . Dougal sits on the bench across the middle of the tiny boat. The others are huddled together trying to protect themselves. He took the pain of being on that centre bench, not Douglas, not Robin, not my mum. That bench was the most exposed place in that dinghy. And he sat there all night . Dougal can't take much more of this. I heard another voice tell me I had had enough, urging me to quit, telling me to give up and die . Above the wind and above the rain we heard this moaning sound . This man groaning. He was so exhausted and so stiff from the cold. He was so cold. All we could see was this silhouette of a man. Hunched shoulders, head down in his chest. He sat there . Didn't move . Getting colder, colder and colder. He wasn't speaking. Or moving . I thought it died. Died where he was sitting . So we knelt at his feet. And I told everyone, rob him, get him warm, get him warm . He stayed silent, but slowly we robbed the life back into his frozen body . He was about to give up . And my mother held his eye and said, do not forget . If we only do one thing, Dugo , we must get our boys back to land . The oath that he had made do not forget. A defiant light burned brightly in her eyes, and held my stare with a look that said no, that demanded you will not give up . You will carry on, not just for yourself, but for all of us. The storm doesn't let up . This tiny boat, with all six of them on board, pitches and rolls . The waves keep coming and the rain lashes their faces . They're not going to give up . Then, out of nowhere, a voice. Sing! Sing for your lives! We burst into God save the queen . We were singing to stay warm . We were desperate . We were hanging on. An ultimate act of defi ance . It was just hope . It's early morning when Douglas wakes up. The storm had gone, and it was quiet, and the sun was out, and it was completely surreal. Clouds part, sunshine's out . Marvellous what the sun does. Dries everything up. It's a beautiful warm feeling as if nothing has happened . The dinghy is in a terrible state but we had come through it. We had come through it. They bale out the water . And then under a cloudless sky and in the warmth of the sun , their exhausted bodies can rest We just thought it can't get worse than that. The following night . This was a storm of a different kind . We could not believe what we were looking at . They have never seen anything like it . Bolts of lightning speared down from above . Straight down into the sea . And then next thing... One of them's gonna hit us . Next thing One of them hits us, we're gone. One minute, it's pitch black. The next the whole place was a lie . It was like somebody switched a big light on . A vision of hell. Then it was gone. The sea was boiling . With the acrid smell of scorched air . This is hell on earth, Dad. This is hell on earth . If there's hell, this is it. I hugged him. I couldn't muster any words of comfort . We were just stuck there. It was like a game of Russian roulette, waiting for the single strike of lightning that would fry us all in an instant . It was terrifying . Each minute seemed to last an eternity . The night slowly slipped by . Draining us of every last bit of strength and energy that we had left Twenty-four days since the Lucette sank . Finally it began to get light . The rain has stopped. The wind has died down. The lightning and storm gone . They've survived. Dad was absolutely shattered The cold the wet no protection That storm absol utely destroyed him He had that steely mental strength the mental strength to sit there on that bench to get through that and stay there . He was keeping everybody alive . He knew that only he could do it . The last thing I do I'll get these boys to land . But Lynn believes it isn't just down to dougal She said there were seven of us on board last night . She had seen a vision . A protector somebody behind Doogle . His face shining bright and smiling light glistening and streaming from his hair and beard . Standing there on the water at Dougal's right hand , helping him . She meant Jesus was with us . And I'm thinking really ? Yeah, but maybe she sees something you didn't see. Maybe. But I didn't see him . All was enveloped in warmth and tranquility You know maybe her a vision came to her to assure her that we were being looked after from beyond . We had survived. Mabey with the help of Jesus, the seventh man who knows . But we'd survived . And they've learnt a lesson. The worst is never behind them . They must be ready for anything . You've been listening to Adrift, an Apple original podcast, produced by Blanchard House and hosted by me, Becky Milligan. Adrift is written and produced by Ben Crichton and me Becky Milligan. The series is based on the book The Last Voyage of the Lucette by Douglas Robertson. Original score by Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nankmannell and Toby Matamall. Sound design by Volcan Kizeltug and Daniel Lloyd Evans. With dialogue editing by Toby Matimoll. The lead sound engineer is Vulcan Kizeltug. The part of Dougal Robertson is played by Mark Bonner and Lynn Robertson is played by Anne-Marie Duff. Their words are adapted from Dougal and Lynn's own accounts of their story. The young Robertson Twins are played by Rocco Hamill and Dexter Hutton. Other parts are played by Mark Gillis . The managing producer is Amika Shortino Nolan. The creative director of Blanchard House is Rosie Pie . The executive producer and head of content at Blanchard House is Lawrence Grisel .