On the evening of Friday August 26, 1988, the Peruvian Submarine B.A.P. PACOCHA was returning to the port of CALLAO; a city that borders LIMA and is the home of the NAVAL BASE in Peru. At 6:40 pm, with only 3. 5 miles to go, her coordinates were 12deg 1min 69Sec south, 77deg 12min 50sec West; About a mile from SAN LORENZO ISLAND, a mountain that looks like it's been cast into the sea. But the former US WW-II attack sub (USS ATULE) would not make it home that night ............ because at 6:40 pm, the position of a 612-Ton Japanese fishing trawler named the KIOWA MARU was exactly the SAME. In the desperate minutes following the collision, the crew battled unsuccessfully against one unfortunate event after another as the Pacocha SANK in 140 FEET of water. Undoubtedly some mistakes were made, but there were also profound acts of courage and heroism........ Captain DANIEL NIEVA gave his life securing the MAIN BRIDGE HATCH as water poured in over the sail. Sea-men ORE, ROCA, and GONZALES successfully sealed the forward and rear ENGINE ROOM water-tight-doors and with them, their own fates.
But these ACTS bought precious TIME...... time that some believe would make possible another ACT ..... an act which itself would later be deemed HUMANLY-IMPOSSIBLE and would hold back death from 21 men trapped in a sunken ship.....
As rescuers worked feverishly against the clock, conditions inside quickly deteriorated so that the ORIGINAL rescue plan had to be SCRAPPED in favor of a NEW PLAN ........ bold, dangerous, and barely within the limits of endurance of the human body.
When the story ended 8 people had died and one more would follow more than a year later.......
But in this tragic event, THREE people would be DECORATED.........
A Lieutenant, a Chief Technical Officer ......... And fifteen years later ....... A CROATIAN NUN ...........
My pen name is billy, and it brings me great joy to bring YOU
into an amazing story I have chosen to call
"The Miracle Of The Pacocha" ..... I hope you like it .....