| 21 de janeiro de 1967, sábado
21/01/2026 01:33:25
"Kuboyama and the Saga of the ´Lucky Dragon´" (1) recounts the story ofthe crew of a Japanese fishing boat which was in the vicinity of Bikini Atollwhen the first Hydrogen Bomb was exploded on March 1, 1954. Kuboyamawas radio operator on board the "Lucky Dragon". Neither he nor his crewmates realized the nature of the apocalyptic spectacle they had witnessed.But the people of Japan and the entire world were soon to learn of thefate that awaited Kuboyama.Text and drawings ©. Reproduction prohibitedK UBOYAMA´S last jour¬ney to sea got under way on FridayJanuary 22, 1954, shortly before noon,when the Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dra¬gon) headed out from Yaizu.The crew had been told they weregoing south into seas near the Solo¬mon Islands. But Fishing Master Misaki and the vessel´s owner, Nishikawa, had decided that the Lucky Dra¬gon would fish near Midway Island,over 2,500 miles to the east of Japan.They had pored over the carefullykept records of Japanese fishing boatsand had been favorably impressedby the good catches of albacore, or"American tuna" as they called themin that area. They were reluctant totell the crew, however, since theyknew there would be strong objectionsto fishing in those notoriously stormywaters.According to custom, Captain Tsutsui, Chief Engineer Yamamoto andRadioman Kuboyama should all havebeen consulted in selecting the fishinggrounds. Kuboyama voiced angrydoubts as to whether the Lucky Dra¬gon was sturdy enough to withstandthe battering that she might run intoin storms around Midway. Yamamoto expressed fears that his enginemight break down, which in rough seascould be disastrous. Tsutsui objectedtoo, but he could not overrule his fish¬ing master. The real boss aboard aJapanese tuna boat is the fishing mas¬ter. The Lucky Dragon continued onIts course toward Midway.Long before dawn on February 7,some two hundred miles south-westof Midway, Misaki climbed to thebridge, rang the ship´s bell, and order¬ed the waiting deck hands: "Beginto throw out the linesl"The Lucky Dragon moved ahead ather top speed of seven. knots. Work¬ing under electric lights, the crewmenlaboured to pay out the line fastenough. Other crewmen rapidly bait¬ed big steel hooks with eight-inch-longfrozen mackerel that had been storedin the hold since they sailed fromYaizu. A lighted buoy attached toone end of the long line went out firstand then, after every three hundredyards of line, a green glass buoy witha bamboo pole and flag on it followed.After nineteen of the green buoyshad been dropped, a second lightedbuoy went down. Then more greenbuoys, another lighted buoy and soon. Almost four hours later the onelong line was out, extending away fromthe Lucky Dragon about thirty miles.It hung in a series of festoons abouttwo hundred feet below the surface,suspended by float lines from threehundred buoys. More than fifteenhundred baited hooks waited for pass¬ing tuna with appetites.The crewmen ate their breakfast ofrice, soup, and tea with savour, spe¬culating on how the first throwing ofthe lines would come out. Four hoursafter the last buoy had been dumpedover, they began to retrace their pre¬vious course to haul in their catch.The fishermen watched the buoyswith intense interest as they recoveredtheir lines. The men worked thirteenhours, until after midnight, before thelines were all in. The catch totaledfifteen fish weighing altogether onlya few hundred pounds. They had putout more than that in bait. The crewgrumbled, blaming Misakl for bring¬ing them to Midway rather than to theSolomons.IHE following day windscaused a rough sea, so that lines couldnot be thrown. The day after that, longbefore daylight, the lines went out forthe second time. Two hours beforesundown it was discovered that themain line had parted. Had the linesbecome caught on coral that sometimesjuts sharply toward the surface in theseseas? Or had currents sucked thelines into entanglements on the oceanbottom itself? Whatever the explana¬tion, the breaking of the main line wasa disaster. The fishermen cursedtheir luck and, especially, they cursedMisaki for bringing them here. Buttheir bitterness did not detract fromthe diligence of their search for thebuoys that might mean recovery ofthe lines.The Lucky Dragon searched thatnight and the following two days, find¬ing only a few buoys with short lengthsof line attached. The day after that,Misaki gave up the search. Withalmost half his line lost, he calledtogether the captain, chief engineer,radioman, boatswain, and chief deckman to determine their course ofaction. They would of course continuefishing, for they still had enough lineand fuel to make a respectable catch."I believe we should go north,"Misaki said. "There are high-pricedfish there.""This old ship could not stand therough seas of the north," Kuboyamaobjected."The main bearing of the engine hasalready burned out once," Yamamotosaid. "It would be very dangerous ifthis should happen again In a stormsuch as is common in the north."The others sided with Kuboyama andYamamoto, who proposed instead thatthey go south to the calmer seas ofthe Marshall Islands. There shouldbe big-eyed tuna there, they argued.At length Misaki agreed.
(1) This text is reproduced from "Kuboyamaand the Saga of the ´Lucky Dragon" byRichard Hudson, published in New York andLondon by Thomas Yoseloff and copyrighted© 1965 by A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc., NewYork (S5.95; 42¡-stg.). Mr Hudson´s story isbased on an earlier book entitled "The Voya¬ge of the ´Lucky Dragon´", by Ralph E. Lapp(Harper and Row, New York). |
