The Gear That Saved His Life
The Arctic weather was at its worst. The air temperature was thirty degrees below zero, and the entire ship was caked with ice. Gale force winds had dispersed the convoy after leaving Murmansk, leaving the SS Puerto Rican steaming alone, under radio silence. At 10:00 p.m. on March 9, 1943, a violent explosion rocked the ship.
August Wallenhaupt was awakened in his bunk and knew immediately what had happened. He had experienced being torpedoed before. He didn’t panic. He had the gear on hand for this disaster, and he knew how to use it. One journalist recounted his actions: “Wallenhaupt took time to dress warmly; he slipped on his rubber lifesaving suit, put on his life jacket over the suit and then put on a knee-length woolen seaman’s coat with a hood to protect his head. This is the gear that saved his life.”112
Due to the heavy ice, the Puerto Rican ’s lifeboats couldn’t be launched. Wallenhaupt found himself in the water and, unable to swim, managed to stay afloat just long enough to find a small doughnut shaped raft. After getting into the raft, he helped seven others aboard. On the morning of the third day a destroyer discovered the tiny raft. All were frozen to death except August Wallenhaupt. The young seaman survived because he was able, in the chaos of a sinking ship, to calmly prepare for the worst. By doing the right thing first, all his subsequent actions paid off in his survival.
This story dramatically illustrates the importance of taking care of life’s most important tasks first. Our relationship to God should be at the top of the list. When this relationship is solid, every other part of our lives will make sense. This spiritual preparation will ensure our ultimate and eternal survival and should be our first priority in normal times, before we come face to face with a crisis.
He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
—Luke 6:48