# Turmoil



## todd (Jan 24, 2009)

Kenneth Dancy, Mate on the Turmoil during the Flying Enterprise salvage attempt has passed away at the age of 88.

The following is an brief resume and comment of that event.

It took a strong nerve and some astonishingly good ship handling by the master of the salvage tug ‘Turmoil’ to close the steeply listing cargo ship ‘Flying Enterprise’ – abandoned by all except her master in fierce Atlantic weather just after the New Year of 1952. Then, as the two ships almost touched, the tug’s mate, Kenneth Dancy, threw himself onto the deck of the freighter “on an impulse”. We were reminded of this maritime saga with the announcement of the death at the age of 88 of Kenneth Dancy, who so courageously boarded the stricken ship to assist the master Captain Kurt Carlsen. Carlsen, alone aboard his disabled command, had been unable to make fast the tow. The heroic struggle to save the ‘Flying Enterprise’, which captured imaginations and filled the pages of the newspapers and airwaves in a pre-TV world for days on end, was ultimately unsuccessful. The ship foundered just forty miles off the English coast after three days under tow. The incident began more than ten days earlier when the westbound cargo liner, heading into a severe storm, had suffered structural failure with a stress fracture forward of the accommodation. Carlsen’s crew tried hard to save their ship, attempting to reinforce the hull with wires run from the cargo winches. Even cement boxes were brought into
play. But things went from bad to worse when the ship was thrown on her beam ends by a huge wave, leaving her wallowing with a 25-degree list to port, disabled, with her cargo shifted and the rudder damaged. People didn’t give up the ship lightly. They tried unsuccessfully to rig a jury rudder, but making water through the cracks and at the mercy of the weather, Carlsen called for help. Ships in the vicinity came to the assistance and were able to take off all but nine of the crew who had volunteered to stay with the master and try and save the vessel. One passenger drowned in the hazardous abandonment. But the list was increasing and the nine seamen were eventually taken off, leaving Carlson alone to await the arrival of the salvors. When Dancy leaped aboard the steeply listing ship to join the master, the pair of them managed to make fast the tow and ‘Turmoil’ began her 400-mile haul to Falmouth at around three knots. Pictures taken by overflying aircraft and beamed to the world’s press showed the two officers clinging to their precarious perch on the rail of the vessel as she rolled in the huge Atlantic waves. The morning and evening editions of the newspapers and radio newscasts kept the public fully informed of the slow progress. But, alas, the weather worsened, the towrope parted, and it was clear that the end was very close – the ship being nearly on her beam-ends. An American destroyer reported that the ship was sinking and just before she went, the master and Dancy walked along the funnel and jumped into the Atlantic to be pulled aboard the ‘Turmoil’. The ship may have been lost, but the sheer bravery exhibited by Carlsen and Dancy filled up the columns for days afterwards. The master was given a ticker tape parade in New York and, eventually, a new ship. Dancy, meanwhile, turned out not to have been a regular salvor but a tanker master on leave, who had been “helping out” when ‘Turmoil’s’ regular mate was away. He was also hugely lauded. It is instructive to speculate on the sort of coverage that today’s mariners might receive were they to be in a similar situation. Sixty years ago, we still could contemplate the courage of sea heroes. Their bravery was inspirational and doubtless inspired large numbers of youngsters to take up a sea career in a society that had yet to become risk averse and in which such action was appreciated. Goodness, it encouraged me to fight off any school or parental pressures towards a “respectable” career on dry land! Today, if such an accident were to happen (and ships do still suffer structural failure in heavy weather), the first scrutiny from the vigilant media would be to focus intently upon any possible environmental pollution. Whatever the size or type of vessel, she would be described inevitably as a “supertanker”. Then, if the media had not moved on to other matters, the next attention would be upon the important matter of blame. Whose fault was it that hundreds of sea birds had been hazarded by the sinking of the ship? The survivors, instead of being hailed as heroes by cheering crowds, would probably be arrested, held in detention and asked searching questions by the local law enforcement authorities looking to press charges. But most likely, unless it was a ‘Costa Concordia’ scenario, the sinking would be largely ignored. Anyone doubt this? Check out the general news coverage of the ‘MOL Comfort’ casualty, when the biggest containership ever to be lost broke in half and sank with her entire cargo. There was some bravery and seamanship involved in getting the crew off safely, and in the salvors’ vain attempt to save the forward part of the severed ship which caught fire and joined the after end on the floor of the Indian Ocean. But there are no maritime heroes today like Dancy and Carlsen. Only people to blame.

A YouTube link to an American news report of the events after the failed salvage attempt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtl5ZeLMeuA

Cheers Jim


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## E.Martin (Sep 6, 2008)

*Dancys Leap*



todd said:


> Kenneth Dancy, Mate on the Turmoil during the Flying Enterprise salvage attempt has passed away at the age of 88.
> 
> The following is an brief resume and comment of that event.
> 
> ...


Remember the Flying Enterprise incident well I was on leave it was the same time as the east coast floods,there was talk of renaming the village where Dancy lived, Dancys Leap, but for some reason it never happened.
It certainly kept in the headlines of the newspapers and the british public were certainly rooting for Captain Carlsen,Mate Dancy and Captain Parker of the Turmoil.


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.

The courage shown by Dancy and Carlsen remain exemplary, particularly when set alongside the multiple nonsenses of today's world.

I do not believe that courage such as they showed will ever be forgotten. Overlooked, perhaps, but I don't believe that humanity is yet so degenerate that similar cir***stances today might not reveal similar courage. As to press coverage, let us not forget that today's newspaper, although it no longer wraps tomorrow's fish and chips, becomes waste paper pdq.


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## todd (Jan 24, 2009)

I somehow think that the Turmoil story may have been in my subconscious when I decided to make towing my chosen profession. I have never regretted a day, upset by a few but regretted none.

Jim


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## japottinger (Jun 16, 2004)

Ken was 2nd mate on Bullard King's TSS Umgeni on my first trip in MN as eng. in Dec-March 1956
Never spoke about FE episode but I knew a bit about it and could yarn with him.


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## oglebilluk (Mar 14, 2006)

japottinger said:


> Ken was 2nd mate on Bullard King's TSS Umgeni on my first trip in MN as eng. in Dec-March 1956
> Never spoke about FE episode but I knew a bit about it and could yarn with him.


....and I seem to remember Ian King Gabb, Chief Electrician on Brocklebank's Matra in 1957-8, saying he'd been on Turmoil at the time

Bill


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## Supergoods (Nov 25, 2007)

Jim,

Much truth in your posts, were you still active I would like to have had you as my tug master on some of the ocean tows I have participated in recently.
Ian


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## senior pilot (Aug 18, 2007)

i went through a fire at sea and had to take to the boats and i hate to read or see reports of another ship lost and crew missing


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## alyn (Dec 24, 2006)

todd said:


> I somehow think that the Turmoil story may have been in my subconscious when I decided to make towing my chosen profession. I have never regretted a day, upset by a few but regretted none.
> 
> Jim


the way i heard it Dancy had to jump as the turmoil touched the enterprise or go into the water. NOT PUTTING ANYONE DOWN.Regds STOCKY.


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

#9

That sounds like a gross over-simplification of the cir***stances.


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