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Jim Williamson reflects on 1989’s cyclone Orson as he returns to dive the Eaglehawk wreck he bunkered down on

Darkness, deafening wind and difficulty breathing have been forever imprinted on Jim Williamson’s mind having been onboard a barge during one of the most powerful tropical cyclones to hit the WA coast. Mr Williamson worked as an electrician on the McDermott Derrick Barge No. 20, now commonly known as the Eaglehawk wreck, when severe tropical cyclone Orson hit in April 1989. A category five system, Orson crossed the coast at Cape Preston, 70km west of Karratha, with the eye of the cyclone passing over the North Rankin A gas platform where the minimum pressure recorded was 905hPa, the lowest ever in an Australian cyclone. Mr Williamson was one of the five people onboard the barge when she broke from her moorings early in the morning. About 2am on April 23, the entire 10,000-tonne DB20 heeled over accompanied by a screeching, grinding sound which Mr Williamson could only describe as “terrible”. A 400mm-diameter support pole had ripped a hole in the hull at the same time which caused the lower level of the barge to flood. Realising they were sinking, they climbed the exposed exterior stairway on all fours to the radio room where they eventually bunkered down. “The wind was so strong, there was water vapour in the air you could hardly breathe and there was heavy equipment sliding all over the deck,” Mr Williamson recalled. “We just thought it was all over, we all turned religious and were just waiting for it to happen ... I was convinced that my immediate future consisted of the barge sinking and with no possible hope of surviving in those sea conditions even with a life jacket I would drown. “There was a little lifejacket light caught on a handrail at the deck level and you could see it from the little window in the radio room and we knew as long as we could see that, we weren’t underwater completely.” After hours of gazing into blackness, Mr Williamson said he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the sunrise. “As the sun started to come up, we realised we’ve clipped the edge of Eaglehawk Island and we weren’t going to sink anymore.” He recently visited the wreck with Pilbara Dive and Tours for the first time since he was taken off the morning after. “It was just an itch I was wanting to scratch for a lot of years and it was a terrific day out there,” he said. “It was always something in the back of my mind, I wanted to go back and have a look at it.” PDT owner Natalie Callanan said being at the wreck while Mr Williamson told his story was incredible. “He explained the noise, what happened to the ship and how they made their way around the ship to a safer place to hide out,” she said. “It was one of the biggest cyclones to hit the Australian coast so the fact that all five people onboard survived is pretty amazing. “When he first left the ship, it still had all its colours and it was still all together but now it’s all rusting so it was a different experience for him, particularly to see how much it has deteriorated over the years.” The wreck, grounded near the north-east tip of Eaglehawk Island in the Dampier Archipelago, is now a shallow dive site to about 5m. Ms Callanan said she received plenty of messages from people wanting to do a dive in the area after posting Mr Williamson’s visit on Facebook.

The West Australian exclusiveJim Williamson reflects on 1989’s cyclone Orson as he returns to dive the Eaglehawk wreck he bunkered down on

exclusive
Jim Williamson reflects on 1989’s cyclone Orson as he returns to dive the Eaglehawk wreck he bunkered down on