One year later…Missing cook’s relatives still seeking closure

Jun 09, 2013 News

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-‘Miss Ellisa’ remains capsized in Demerara River

By Rehana Ashley Ahamad

The relatives of the cook who is presumed dead after the vessel that he was on capsized in the Demerara River shortly after leaving the Muneshwer’s Wharf on June 8, 2012, are yet to find any form of closure. The body of 67-year-old Gerald Fraser has never been found, and the vessel, ‘Miss Ellisa’ remains capsized. It can be seen from the Stabroek Stelling.
To date, nothing has been done to dismantle the boat and look for Fraser’s body which is believed to still be trapped in the vessel’s kitchen compartment.

In speaking with this newspaper on Friday, an emotional Jean Thompson, the man’s common law wife of 13 years, said although it is impossible for her husband to be alive, she is still desperate to find some sort of evidence which might give her comfort and peace of mind.
“Even if they find a piece of his clothes or something I would be content.”
Thompson said that her husband had been a seaman for almost all his life, and she knows for a fact that if he was not trapped in that vessel, he would have swam to safety.
In search of closure, Fraser’s wife conducted a memorial service at their Lot 2 Drysdale Street, Georgetown home that they shared for many years.
Thompson said that she last spoke to the father of their 43-year-old son, a few minutes before the vessel capsized at around 17:00hrs on the fateful day.
The woman said that her husband was on board the vessel when he called her to say “goodbye and love you” as the boat was in the process of departing.
“He called and say ‘you hear that’, so I said yes, is the engine. He said ‘yeah, I going now. This is goodbye, is gone I gone,’” a tearful Thompson recounted.
She reminisced that Fraser did not want to leave, and that by the time he had made up his mind to get off the vessel, it had already moved off, and was a good distance away from the wharf.
“By the time he really decide that he gon come off the boat, it did already been a good way in the water, so he couldn’t bother.”
The woman said that shortly after talking to Fraser, she received a frantic call from her son who related that the boat had capsized.
Thompson said she felt as though her “heart was in her hand”, so she had to sit and try to calmly inhale and exhale.
The woman said that as soon as she was able to recover from the shocking news, she repeatedly dialed her husband’s cellular phone number, but it was continuously forwarded to voicemail.
She said that she boarded a taxi and rushed down to the Stabroek Market area. A crowd had gathered aback of the Stabroek Bazaar.
Thompson recalled that while approaching the dozens of people, “my heart began to beat so loud, that I could not hear any of the comments from the people…but they look real vex”.

Those gathered were trying to convince the authorities that they should “go back for the man” whom they believed to have been trapped while in the kitchen. Her worst fears were being confirmed.
Captain of the vessel, a St. Vincent national named Justin Bynoe, had said that after he realized that the ship was leaning and had been taking in water, he made the instinctive decision to return to the wharf to adjust the cargo.
But, before he could actually turn the vessel, “it started to take in water from the starboard side. She kept going and never turned back.”
The others on board the ill-fated vessel included Ronald Saroop; first mate, Deodat; Chief Engineer, Victor Christopher; second engineer, Anthony Bowen and Sahadeo Baldeo.
Thompson said that she was told that while everyone else was running to abandon the ship, Fraser ran back into the kitchen for his bag. The woman however said that she had known her husband for many years, and that there was no way that he would’ve run back for a bag.
“He was too safety conscious. He used to always talk stories about how seamen dying stupid, stupid, and that he would never be one of them. He even get certificate for a programme that he did on safety on a boat. He was too careful. I don’t believe that he run back into that boat. That is nonsense. But, a dead man tells no tale,” Thompson reflected.
The other crew members were saved by water taxi operators.
Suggestions that Fraser could have been rescued had divers been brought to the scene promptly were dismissed by administrative officials.
About a week after the mishap, owner of the vessel, Vijai Sankar, had said that a team would be arriving from Trinidad and Tobago to at least try and salvage the toppled boat.
According to Thompson, she was told by the owner that the cost of righting the vessel would amount to several million dollars, and that he would need assistance, possibly from the government.
The woman said that it had reported in the news about a year ago that the team was contemplating the manner in which they could pull up the boat. However, nothing was done. She is still asking that efforts are made to give the man’s two children, his grandchildren, and great grandchild, the closure that they need as a family to move on.
To date, Miss Ellisa remains a sunken wreck on the western side of the Demerara channel within the Port Georgetown Harbour.
Also in the vessel at the time of the mishap were trader goods valued in the millions.

 

 

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