By the fourth morning we were about 1,200 miles SSW of Perth, Australia and in that part of the Southern Ocean famous for storms and rough seas. The stiff breeze of the night before had developed into a gale and going for breakfast that morning I saw the steward had secured the chairs, removed practically everything from the tables and 'wet' the tablecloths so that the dishes would stick and not slide.

The weather worsened as the day progressed and by evening a 10 to 12 meter sea was running with a heavy cross swell from a previous storm. A forty knot wind was taking the tops off the waves and not only were we rolling heavily but as the vessel stuck her bow into the sea's she would slow with a shuddering something similar to a new driver learning to use a car's clutch. All indications pointed to a rough and uncomfortable night.

The evening watch had been particularly busy and gone well beyond the required two hours but by 11.00 PM everything was finished and I took stock of the evening's work. It included a number of personal radiotelephone calls on HF SSB via Perth Radio for expeditioners on their way home to Australia. The morning and evening HF SITOR skeds with Casey had gone well and traffic had been exchanged on ARQ and the lengthy news summary received on FEC.

An HF SITOR/Direct Telex to the owner's office in Montreal via Perth Radio reported our position and exchanged some ships business. The sea and wind state had been reported to the Australian Met service by Satellite Telex thru the Singapore earth station. And finally the CW weather forecasts from VIP, Perth and VIS, Sydney had been copied and passed to the bridge along with the latest weatherfax. All in all it had been a pretty busy evening.

Finally I turned off all the equipment except the HF weatherfax and the emergency receiver on 500 kHz and tested the auto alarm circuit. Activiation of the Automatic Alarm is mandatory when the RO is off watch and will sound a bell on the bridge and in the RO's cabin in the event of a distress signal on 500 kHz or an equipment malfunction.

After saying Good Night to the crew on the bridge I headed to the galley for a quick snack and then to my cabin where I turned my TS430 to the 20 meter ham band. I already had enough radio for one day but did make a few short contacts to check in and report my position with some ham friends in Australia and Canada who had been following our voyage and providing communications with our families in Nfld.

My life jacket was hanging on a hook by the cabin door and by watching its arc as it swung back and forth I could gauge the number of degrees the ship was rolling. The last thing I did before turning in was to place two pillows under the outside edge of my mattress, raising it for added insurance against being tossed out of my bunk during the night.

Shortly after 4.00 AM I awoke to the clanging of the automatic alarm. I turned the switch on my bedlamp but there was no light and I suddenly realized the throb and vibration of the main engine was missing. After dressing as quickly as possible with the light of a flashlight I climbed the darkened companionways to my emergency station in the radio room immediately behind the bridge.

I was advised by the Captain that there had been a total power failure; electrical and propulsion. The Chief and Second Engineer were on their way to the Engine Room to help the duty Engineer find out what had happened and fix the problem as quickly as possible. I tested the Battery powered MF Emergency transmitter and Receiver although there was little hope of being able to communicate with anyone on 500 kHz as it was unlikely there was another vessel within a thousand miles.

The autopilot was dead and a helmsman was at the wheel to keep the vessel from broaching to the seas. We had been doing 14 knots but were quickly loosing way and the rudder would soon become useless. The Chief Officer warned us all to make sure everything was as secure as possible while we still had time, because he warned "when we stop the ship will probably go broadside to the seas and then she will roll like a son of a bitch."

The crew was experienced sailors who knew their job and there was no hint of panic but there was cause for concern if we could not get underway again quickly. We were carrying a number of large containers on deck and they were secured to the hatches with cables and turnbuckles. The Chief Officer told me afterward that he and the seamen were prepared to go on the open deck with hacksaws and cut the cables holding the containers so they would go over the side quickly. If we were to go broadside the seas washing across our deck would eventually take the containers along with our hatch covers. With open hatches the vessel would quickly fill with water than that would be that.

By a miracle we did not go fully broadside to the seas and although we rolled it didn't become critical. There were a several theories put forward as to why this did not happen but most likely the effect of the wind on the superstructure at the stern of the vessel combined with the cross swell to keep the bow close to the wind and seas.

After about 20 anxious minutes electrical power was restored and shortly after the main engine was restarted. It turned out that a 'fault indicating' bulb had vibrated out of its socket and fallen across the main electrical buss shorting the power for the whole ship. This was really a "fluke" but easy to understand. The Lady Franklin had spent a good portion of the last ten years in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans and with the constant banging and pounding the bulb had slowly backed out of its socket and fallen into the wrong spot just as the vessel had rolled. The electric motors powering the pumps that provided lubrication and oil pressure to the diesels stopped and the main engine shut itself down within seconds to prevent damage.

Soon everything was back to normal. We resumed our course for Hobart, the gyro's were up and running and the satellite communications system was powered up and again tracking the Indian Ocean Satellite. All the radio equipment had been checked and the automatic alarm was again set. Within an hour from start to finish I was back in bed, but this time I didn't go back to sleep quite as fast.