The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force held a memorial service to remember the survivors and the four men who died when HMBS Flamingo sank 42 years ago.

Marine Seaman David Tucker, Marine Seaman Austin Smith, Marine Seaman Edward Williams, and Able Seaman Fenrick Sturrup died in the line of duty on May 10, 1980.

The tragedy is one former Captain Whitfield Neely knows all too well. He described the ordeal as a “shocking” moment.

“We were on patrol doing our job when we saw these two fishing vessels that we knew were Cuban fishing vessels because we had experience of dealing with them previously,” former Captain Neely said.

While arresting the vessel, he remembered there was a lot of “air coverage” from Cuba in the form of helicopters and very fast torpedo planes.

He said after the arrest was made the crew was making its way back to Ragged Island, one of the Cuban aircraft broke away and flew over the Flamingo from the starboard side to the port side unleashing a a salvo of machine gun fire.

Then all of the air coverage left, but 40 plus minutes later, sirens were heard.

“I started looking around. Then I heard the explosions,” he recalled.

“They put three torpedoes in the Flamingo and then she just started to shutter. The moment was so surreal until it became very silent and still because everyone just looked at each other.

“I was on the Cuban fishing boat during the attack. Everyone just looked at each other and say ‘boy this is gonna be bad.”

“Planes came back shooting their machine guns at the boat and persons in the water.

“Everything was chaotic and all crazy. People started screaming and jumping in the water from the Flamingo. The persons on the Cuban fishing boat where I was everybody was paralysed with fear. Then somebody said somebody has to go and get the men out of the water because the machine gun is gonna kill all of them. Well, of course, everybody looked at me. I was the youngest one, so I knew what that meant being in the military.”

He went out and started to rescue people while planes continued firing. Eventually, he got all of the persons he saw out of the water and back on the Cuban fishing boat.

However, Captain Amos Rolle was still on the Flamingo, which was sinking. Mr Neely now had the task of saving the captain from the vessel.

“After I got him, I came back to the Cuban fishing boat because by then the Flamingo was about halfway submerged in the ocean. And he got us all together. We saluted the Flamingo and then we did a muster. When we did a muster we realised four persons were missing.”

Those four missing men have been remembered ever since.

Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper in his remarks yesterday said there will be “appropriate recognition and honour” will be received.

He said: “We lost blood and treasure that day, but we gained a sense of unwavering courage it takes to face tragedy as a nation and to still continue forward, upward, onward, together. For the bravery and sacrifice of the marines we lost and those who they once stood alongside, who survived, we can never say enough words of honour to them and today I am pleased to say to you that next year during our 50th anniversary on behalf of our Prime Minister I will assure families that the entire crew will receive appropriate recognition and honour.”