Central Somerset Gazette
April 1, 1999
Hawaiian Escape for Arabella
By Rachel Humphries
The grand-daughter of one of the most famous men of the century was shipwrecked and nearly drowned recently on a holiday in Hawaii.
Arabella Churchill, grand-daughter of Sir Winston Churchill and director of the Glastonbury-based charity Children's World, was with a party of seven friends.
They set of into the sunset in an outrigger canoe on their last night of a camping holiday on the island after attending a juggling convention.
The group planned to take the short trip to see hump- backed whales but when the canoe was only 500 meters out to sea a strong wind suddenly blew up, sweeping them further out and demolishing most of the tents in the camping ground.
Arabella's husband Haggis McLeod, who teaches juggling skills at Circomedia in Bristol, was on the beach and saw at once that the canoe was in trouble.
He summoned the coast guard and rounded up a crew of six paddlers in a smaller canoe, which reached the beleaguered craft and three strong paddlers managed to transfer to it in an attempt to get the larger canoe back to shore.
Both crews battle to reach land but were separated by strong winds and waves with dusk fast approaching.
The smaller canoe rowers were picked up by a catamaran sailing boat which then searched for the larger canoe until their engine failed and then they were adrift all night.
Even with the new stronger paddlers the large canoe could make no headway against the violence of the winds and waves and was being swept even further out to sea.
As darkness fell they paddled on to no avail with the waves again coming up strongly.
Arabella recalls: "The canoe broke up pretty soon but we were fortunate in having lots of bits of wreckage to hold on to.
"There were periods when the sea became very rough and at those times we swallowed a lot of water.
"But for much of the time it was calmer and really all you had to do was hang on. Fortunately there were enough life jackets but unfortunely no torch or flare."
One of the worst moments for the shipwrecked group was when around 11:00pm a coast guard boat passed close by without seeing or hearing them.
"That was a horrible moment and we realized we were unlikely to be saved until morning. "Everyone behaved impeccably. Nobody said 'Oh God we are going to die' but most of us thought it at different moments," Arabella recalled.
The group's job now was to keep everyone awake and ensure that no one slipped away. They were assisted in that by the cold of the Pacific, the discomfort of their situation and bobbing wreckage which caused Arabella alone to suffer 65 separate bruises. And then there was the danger of sharks and the knowledge that the way they were drifting meant landfall was 2,500 miles away.
"It was a long, long night. My husband Haggis was on the other canoe when I last saw him and I didn't know if they had reached shore safely and I was very concerned for my daughter Jessica who was on shore by safe with family and friends."
As dawn broke and sun warmed their faces they were glad to be alive but it was to be another hour before a large navy boat and a white catamaran appeared on the horizon but on the wrong tack.
People took off their life jackets and threw them into the air to attract attention and then they saw and heard a helicopter heading straight for them.
Arabella said" It was a truly wonderful moment. Once the helicopter circled us the catamaran realized where we were and headed towards us. I had imagined Haggis was either drowned or safe on shore with my daughter, but there he was on the catamaran coming to our rescue. A marine version of a knight on a white charger."
After surviving in the water for 11 hours, the American Navy boat SS Fredrick took them on board and treated them royally.
But their ordeal was not over yet. They returned to harbor to see Jessica and 100 jugglers waiting to greet them but the SS Fredrick's landing gear had been damaged in the storms of the previous nights and they were marooned on the boat for three hours.
"It was so frustrating. I longed to wrap my arms around Jessica. Eventually we disembarked and received such a welcome from our friends."
Arabella does not regret her near-death experience and feels it has been a life-changing experience.
She explained: "Life seems very precious and not to be wasted I am far more positive and am so happy to be back in my lovely house in Bovetown, Glastonbury, safe with my husband and daughter. It really has helped me to appreciate life and living more and for that I am truly grateful."