Adrift in Floyd 在飓风弗洛伊德中漂流

在飓风弗洛伊德中漂流：“就像是眼睁睁地看着希望漂离而去”

Adrift in Floyd: "It Was Like Watching Hope Float Away"

作者：杰拉尔德·基思(gerald Keeth)

There were eight of us aboard the 45-m Gulf Majesty, pulling a loaded barge about 500 km outside Jacksonville, Florida, our home port, heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We'd been at sea since Saturday, and we were just trying to avoid the storm.

我们八个人在 45 米长的“海湾国王”号上。这只船当时拖着一艘载有货物的驳船，航行在离我们出发的港口——佛罗里达州杰克森维尔 500 公里外的大海中，向着波多黎各的圣胡安港进发。星期六我们就已出发，我们当时在设法躲避那场风暴。

But then the hurricane took that sudden turn. The bad weather started pounding us Tuesday night. Waves were completely covering the boat. By early Wednesday, it started getting really bad. We were in seas of 15-20 meters. We began getting into real trouble about 3 in the morning, when we started taking in water faster than our pumps could handle.

但是飓风突然转变。星期二晚上，恶劣的天气开始袭击我们。海浪把整艘船都覆盖了。到星期三凌晨，情况变得真正糟糕起来。我们被浸泡在 15 至 20 米高的海浪中。到了凌晨 3 点，我们开始真正陷入麻烦：涌入船舱的水比我们用水泵往外抽的水还多。

We decided we'd have to abandon ship. Five minutes before we did, we heard over the radio that the Coast Guard had somebody on the way. We launched our life raft at about 8 in the morning in the 20-meter seas with 60-knot winds. It wasn't the easiest thing to do. Five men were able to get into it, and we tied it to the tug with a pair of lines. We wanted to pass things from the boat to the raft, and then climb in ourselves. But then the ropes broke. It was like watching hope float away.

我们决定弃船。在我们弃船之前 5 分钟，我们从收音机里听到消息说海岸警卫队派遣的救援人员已经出发。约早上 8 时，我们将救生艇放入海中，当时浪高 20 米，风速达 60 节。5 个人上了救生艇，我们用一对绳子将救生艇绑到拖船上。我们想把东西从船上递到救生艇上，然后自己再爬上去。但就在这时，绳子断了。就像是眼睁睁地看着希望漂离而去。

That left David Lytle, Tim Chambers and me on board. We knew we had to get in the water or we'd get sucked under with the boat. I was scared to death. We had life jackets and life rings, but the life rings took off when we jumped into the water. We grabbed a broomstick to stay together and tried to paddle toward the raft, which was 275m away. It was obvious that wouldn't work, and we knew we had to conserve our energy. Unlike the guys in the raft, we had an emergency locator beacon so the Coast Guard could find us.

船上就剩下戴维·莱特尔、蒂姆·钱伯斯和我三人。我们知道必须跳到海里去，否则会随下沉的船吸入海底。我被吓得魂飞魄散。我们穿上救生衣和救生圈，但救生圈在我们跳入海里时脱落了。我们抓住一个扫帚柄，以便大家不致分散，并设法向救生艇划去，救生艇当时在 275 米之外。我们显然是白费力气，我们知道必须保存体力。与呆在救生艇上的人不同的是，我们有一个紧急定位信标，所以海岸警卫队能发现我们。

The seas, wind, and tension were really high. About 15 minutes after we got in the water, we watched the tug sink. I'd been with her about two years, and my heart was really in her. The only picture I had of my father went down with the ship.

大海上风吼浪涌，我们的情绪也高度紧张。在我们弃船入海约 15 分钟后，我们看着拖船沉入大海。我与这艘拖船已经相处两年，对它充满眷念。我拥有的唯一一张父亲的照片随着拖船一同沉入海底。

We tried to keep each other's confidence up: "Don't worry...we're going to make it...there's no problem." But we were all saying our little prayers. The water wasn't that cold for the first three hours, but then we started losing our body heat.

我们一起相互鼓气：“别担心……我们会度过难关的……不会有问题。”但我们都各自小声祷告。在最初的三个小时海水还不是那么冷，但后来我们就开始失去体温。

We were listening and looking for anything. One of the other guys saw a helicopter from the J.F.K., then a second one. God, that was a beautiful sight. They came over us, and we popped orange smoke flares. It was about noon. We had floated about 37 km from where we had jumped in.

我们倾听任何一点声音，寻觅任何一点可见的东西。我们中的一位看见了肯尼迪号轮船的直升飞机，然后又看见另一架。上帝，那是一幅多美的景色。两架直升飞机飞临到我们上方，我们打出了橘黄色的烟雾弹。时间已经到了约中午时分。我们从跳海处已经漂流了 37 公里。

The helicopters came around in a circle to get better control. Navy rescue swimmer Shad Hernandez was lowered into the water by a rope. He put a harness on each of us, and we were hauled into the helicopter. I could feel the beating of the blades in my chest. I　l tell you, that was a very nice feeling. Shad rode up on the rope with me　e were the last ones out of the water. I just kept saying, "You the man! You the man!" over and over again.

直升飞机在天空盘旋了一圈，以便得到一个更好的控制位置。海军救生员谢德·赫尔南德兹用一根绳子从直升机上吊落到海水里。他在我们每个人头上套上一个套索，然后我们被拉进了直升飞机。我能够感觉到胸腔里肺叶的跳动。我要告诉你，那是一种绝妙的感觉。谢德与我一起吊上去——我们是最后离开水面的。我只是不停地重复说：“你真伟大！你真伟大！”

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adrift: (adj., adv.) not fastened, floating freely in the sea / 没有捆绑，在海上自由漂浮

barge: (n.) a flat-bottomed boat used for carrying goods / 一种宽底船，用于装载货物

to avoid: (v.) to purposely stay away from something or someone / 有意识地不与某物或某人靠近

to pound: (v.) to hit / 袭击

pump: (n.) a machine used to force liquid out of something / 一种强制液体从某物中出来的机器

to abandon: (v.) to leave or stop using something because of problems / 由于出现问题，离开或停止使用某物

raft: (n.) a small rubber boat filled with air / 一种充气的小型橡胶船

tug: (n.) a powerful small boat used for pulling ships or barges / 一种动力强劲的小型船，用于拖动轮船或驳船

broomstick: (n.) the long thin handle of a broom / 扫帚的长而细的把手

beacon: (n.) a flashing light used to guide boats, planes, etc. / 一种闪烁的灯，用于导引船只、飞机等

flare: (n.) an outdoor bright light used to show people your location / 一种室外的亮灯，用于告诉别人你所处的位置

to float: (v.) to stay on the surface of the water / 停留在水面

harness: (n.) a set of bands used to hold something / 套索，用于

控制某物

you the man!: (idiom) SLANG "You are the Man" you're the chief, you're the greatest /（俚语）口语中相当于意思是“你是至高无上者，你最伟大！”