Vietnam's "Jack Sparrow" Captain tells the story of Truong Sa

Claiming that his face resembles Captain Jack Sparrow of the Caribbean, Mr. Thach happily talks about his job of riding the waves to bring fresh water to Da Tay Island (Truong Sa) to serve fishermen and soldiers on the island for free.

As one of 28 new typical advanced individuals and collectives in developing the marine economy recently honored by the Central Propaganda Department in Da Nang, Captain Truong Ngoc Thach (East Sea Seafood Exploitation Service Company Limited) impressed with his sharp eyes and the demeanor of a person who has experienced storms, even though he is 50 years old.

Carefully taking out the pictures and the map of the Da Tay Island fishing logistics service area from his briefcase, the man with salt and pepper hair thrust them into the interviewer's hand: "I prepared a lot of pictures and maps, but to be honest, I was bold and joking with my brothers when I was on the island, but when I got to the mainland, I was shy and couldn't show off to anyone about the island. Here, I give it to you so that when you have the chance, you can introduce Da Tay Island to everyone!"

Originally from Tinh Gia district (Thanh Hoa), Mr. Thach and his family settled in Ho Chi Minh City from the early days of the country's liberation. Studying the fisheries profession, upon graduation he became a captain. His love for the profession is expressed by his clear memory of the time he spent at sea for 29 years and 6 months, including 13 years as captain of fishing and fishing service vessels. In 2005, his company was assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide logistics services for fisheries combined with national defense and security in the Truong Sa sea area and the Economic - Science - Service Cluster (DK1) by raising aquatic products at sea, supplying fuel, food, purchasing seafood and especially rescuing, transporting fresh water, and repairing boats for free for fishermen.

Captain Truong Ngoc Thach introduces images of Da Tay Island, where he and his crew are providing fresh water and repairing boats for free to fishermen. Photo: Nguyen Dong

The first day he arrived at Da Tay Island, the place was deserted with concrete blocks, and the only fresh water was clear in the sky. When he started building the fishing logistics area, Mr. Thach and his colleagues thought of a way to design a water trough from the roof and build a 3,000 m2 floating tank to store fresh water. "In the last 10 months alone, 1,400 ships have visited the island to get fresh water," he boasted.

It sounds simple, but each ship transporting one ton of fresh water to an island more than 600 km from the mainland is not simple. Many times the ship swayed in the big waves, taking a whole day to safely reach the island. Once, fresh water was transported from the mainland but encountered big waves, the ship could not reach the back area to pump water into the tank. Mr. Thach commanded other crew members to connect the pipeline from the island to the ship, sitting on small boats to hold it tight so that the pipeline would not be broken up by the waves and using an additional pump to provide power.

Da Tay Island has now become a familiar destination for fishermen to get fresh water. To save time and fuel for the people, the logistics ship still runs out to the open sea to get fresh water. Between the depth of 3,000-4,000 m, the boats cannot anchor, the water cans are transferred to smaller ships to go to the fishermen. Or sometimes big waves force the logistics ship to pump water through pipes directly to the fishing boats.

Mr. Thach's logistics ship supplies fresh water to fishermen at sea. Photo: NVCC

During the dry season, the water tanker from the mainland had not yet arrived when the distant islands ran out of water. “The fishermen’s boats came to the island to ask for fresh water. We happily saved water for daily use. Sometimes we bathed in salt water and then dipped towels in fresh water to wipe ourselves,” Mr. Thach said, excitedly showing off that the State would soon invest in technology to separate fresh water from salt water, at which time the fishermen and the logistics team would have less trouble. In addition to providing fresh water for fishermen, Mr. Thach’s company also repaired fishing boats for fishermen. Mr. Thach remembers most the trip when the repair team was brought to the fishing boat, when suddenly the fishing boat lost its propeller. Water poured out from below. In the midst of danger, a young crew member turned to him and asked, “So we’re going to die here, man?”

Mr. Thach smiled encouragingly and assigned divers to dive into the sea to find the hole in the ship and use tools to plug it. After struggling for 6 hours to bail out water in the dark, the ship finally floated to the surface. From that, he concluded: "Nothing in life is more important than faith!"

The captain recounted that there were dark nights when he went on patrol and was stunned to see fishermen sitting motionless on their fragile basket boats fishing for squid, risking their lives to get fish to sell for money to bring home to their wives and children. “Perhaps family love is the reason why fishermen play their cards face up with the sea. They are the sovereignty markers in the East Sea,” Mr. Thach reflected.

Each logistics ship has 10 crew members who undertake all tasks from aquaculture at sea, to refueling and rescuing fishermen. Photo: NVCC

Sitting pensively, Mr. Thach said that his job was no less difficult than that of the island soldiers, and that his allowances were not given due attention. Among the brothers he managed, there was a young man named Nguyen Van Hoai who stayed on the island for 26 months, claiming that he had taken leave to visit his family and wife for a longer period of time. Recently, a crew member named Dinh Lam Bao Sang decided to "break the record" by asking to stay on the island for 27 months. The island was full of young people, and there were often times when there was a lack of vegetables, so the brothers ate fish caught from the coral reefs, until they peed white powder.

There was a ship that took 188 days to return to the mainland. The sun and wind of Truong Sa could not overcome the love of the sea. “Many brothers confided that they did not dare to feel sorry for their girlfriends because they had to go to sea for a long time before they could come home for leave and meet their lovers. Life is giving, giving, borrowing/Love is bearing sorrow and suffering,” the captain sighed.

Mr. Thach confided to him that the ship is his home. As a captain, holding the lives of his crew members in his hands, he must treat them as if they were his own body. “In addition to lending money to my crew members to buy houses so that their wives and children can have a stable place to live, I often organize family outings to personally thank the wives for creating a solid rear so that we can confidently stick to the sea.”

Captain Thach receiving a certificate of merit from the Central Propaganda Department for his work in developing the marine and island economy. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Talking about his family, Mr. Thach briefly and humorously introduced: “When I was a student, standing on a Navy ship, I saw some pretty female medical students wearing white shirts. I secretly thought that I would be able to marry one of them, so I thought of a way to slip and hit my ear to get into the hospital. The nurse who took good care of me is now my wife. Happy family, the youngest son received a full scholarship and is now studying abroad.Australia".

According to Vpchinhphu-M