Former Michigander, Pamela Bitterman shared her story previously. Her life and many others were spared when their ship sank at sea.
She discussed further, “Once our bedraggled crew had made it safely into the life rafts, many disturbing realities became quickly apparent. We had lost our home. We had lost a crewmember. We hadn’t time for any abandon ship preparations, consequently leaving us with no emergency position indicating radio by which we might be located and no food or water. The storm raged on, the rafts were marginalized; we were being blown on our way to nowhere with virtually no realistic hope of being saved. We were wet, cold, sick, scared, confused and determined to survive. Our nearly weeklong ordeal adrift was filled with emotion. But in terms of sheer will and humanity we persevered, and we were miraculously rescued. As a result, today we are able to remember each other and ourselves as brave and unselfish.
This tragedy marked her life.
Pamela explained, “The recover process was grueling; it ultimately fell eons short of the emotional anguish I felt at the loss of a life.We attended the funeral of the single lost crew-member. Her family had not known that she had even come aboard the ship. While delivering our condolences at the memorial service, we were confronted with the excruciating irony that that we had all been there with her, and we had survived. Why were we still here? This is something I am still learning how to live with.
She continued, “After the sailing disaster, it has taken a while for me to feel confident in a position of responsibility for the lives of others. The obvious exception to this was my husband - fellow sailor and life raft survivor - and my decision to start a family shortly after returning to the United States following our ordeal. The sea had spit us out. We were given back our lives. It was difficult to feel worthy, certainly to feel more worthy than the young girl who was lost in the sinking. Yet the decision to start a family, to create life in the wake of loss, seemed almost visceral at the time. We lost everything when the ship went down, financially and conceptually. Giving birth to my children is the proudest thing I have ever done!”
Click here to learn how she memorialized and honored her experience.
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