91
SVN Solovelanet Global
Wolfgang knew that all the jackets were stowed
under the forward bed, where Roswitha was slee-
ping, and they would not resurface, just as the
woman who had been his companion during most
of his life.
The hours passed: one, two, three... and then
eight, nine, ten hours in the middle of a sea where
there was nobody. As time elapsed, the man had
assessed his situation and was close to accep-
ting the fact that the clock of his life was stop-
ping. Wolfgang knew that the moment he accep-
ted that his time had come, he would die in no
time, but when he no longer had any hope, he
saw a boat pointing at him. Someone forward
was shouting and pointing him to the helmsman.
They reached him in a flash and rescued him.
The investigation
The German federal police intervened at once
and began to investigate in an attempt to deter-
mine what happened exactly and which ship
had hit them. In their final report they explained
that Wolfgang only managed to survive that long
thanks to the unusual weather conditions that
evening and his excellent physical shape.
The Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Inve-
stigation immediately got to work. Within a few
days, with two ships and a helicopter they found
the wreck and sent divers. They confirmed that
the wreck was indeed that of Deern, and that in
the forward area there was the body of a woman,
Below, Deern sailing on a
foggy day in the North Sea
The Deern
wreck as it was
reassembled by
the Federal Bure-
au men. It is clear
that the boat was
cut in half. Once
cut, she had no
longer any reser-
ve of buoyancy.
The sinking was
immediate.
