Up Close … with seaman Rolly Tambara |17 July 2018

‘I will be sick if I stop fishing’

One incident at sea may be considered as random, but two, many will say it is destiny and the sea is not where they belong.

For 75-year-old Rolly Tambara none of the above mentioned will ever cross his mind, despite being involved in two major incidents.

I caught up with the rather timid, but very polite gentleman at his residence at Belvédère on Saturday afternoon where he shared some of his life stories which are mostly sea-related.

Born on September 28, 1942, Rolly Tambara better known as ‘Ti Rolly’, comes from a family of four siblings and grew up at Copolia.

After starting his primary school at Plaisance, he left in primary five and started to work in the local cinnamon industry at the time.

Not satisfied with his income, Ti Rolly’s next move was to go and work on the outer islands, where he ended up on Aldabra, a place where he spent quite some time.

Cosmoledo and Assomption were also in his journeys during those days.

It was while working on one of the outer islands that he met his first wife and together they have four children.

He then decided to come back and settle on the main island.

“Things were not rosy and unfortunately we separated,” Ti Rolly said.

Despite the break-up, he proudly told me that all his kids stayed and grew up with him.

He then met his present wife Agnette and another son joined the family.

Love for the sea

It was while on Aldabra that Ti Rolly started to get acquainted to the sea and fishing and from then on, an endless love story began.

Upon returning back from Aldabra, Ti Rolly started fishing until he joined Agnette who was already working on a cruise ship.

After spending five long years on the cruise ship, he found himself coming back home and back to his fishing, the love of his life.

He spent some time working as a normal fisherman, until he decided to step up his game and became a skipper.

A position he took, only after the skipper on the fishing boat he was working on at that time got sick.

He still recalls his first trip in charge of the fishing boat.

“The boat owner laughed when I told him to provision the boat and let me go as skipper,” Ti Rolly recalled.

“I came back with two full boxes of fish and from then on I carved my name as one of the most reliable and experienced fishermen,” he added.

Disaster strikes for the first time

While working on MTS Oceanos – a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship – Ti Rolly had to abandon ship as the boat sank in 1991 due to uncontrolled flooding.

While off the Wild Coast of the Transkei, a muffled explosion was heard and the Oceanos lost her power following a leak in the engine room's sea chest. The chief engineer reported to Captain Avranas that water was entering the hull and flooding the generator room.

The generators were shut down because the rising water would have short circuited them. The ship was left adrift.

The water steadily rose, flowing through the 10cm (3.9in) hole in the bulkhead and into the sewage waste disposal tank. Because there were no check valves to stop it, the water flowed through the main drainage pipes and rose through the ship, spilling out of showers, toilets, and waste disposal units.

Realising that the ship was going to sink, the crew fled in panic, neglecting the standard procedure of closing the lower deck portholes.

Her captain and some of the crew were convicted of negligence for fleeing the ship without helping the passengers.

On his way back home after the accident, Ti Rolly shared a joke about almost missing the plane in Durban.

“I was too busy shopping and I did not realise that the plane was about to leave,” he said laughing.

“I started to panic, but luckily, the captain agreed to wait for me and everybody was clapping the minute I set foot on the plane,” he added.

One of his friends who was on the flight that day always jokes about it whenever they meet.

“Sanmenm zonm fer avyon ‘delay’ sa!”

Disaster strikes a second time

On October 30, 2011 Ti Rolly was on one of his routine fishing trips with his colleague Marc Songoire when at around 11pm, a strange noise caught their attention.

“Suddenly some armed guys jumped onboard and they started asking for passport,” he recalled.

“They did not believe me when I told them I was a Seychellois,” Ti Rolly said.

Comparing his complexion to Marc’s, they gave him various nationalities, including Australian, British, Israelite and even French.

Soon, it was the beginning of a one-year ordeal which we all know about.

A sad story, carrying a lot of scars and tears which I decided not to bring up again.

New-found friendship

While being a captive of the Somali pirates in various locations across the Somalian cities of Galkacyo and Hobyo, Ti Rolly met American author and novelist Michael Scott Moore who was also being held by the pirates.

“I remember telling him about the big mango tree up at Belvédère where we used to have some drinks and chat,” Ti Rolly said.

Michael promised him that one day they will sit there together.

After his release in 2014, Michael did keep his promise and came to visit Ti Rolly at Belvédère.

Recently back in Seychelles, this time he came with his latest work – ‘The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast’.

A book about his ordeal and conditions that will break even the strongest of spirits, with stories on his physical injury, starvation and isolation.

To Ti Rolly’s surprise, the ‘Prologue’ of the book is all about him.

It is about an incident when Ti Rolly was being insulted by one of the pirates for reading his Bible.

Talking about the incident, Ti Rolly said the pirate was later punished by his leader for the act.

“Captain Ally, who was one of the leaders, asked me to identify him and I later learned that he was severely punished for what he did,” Ti Rolly explained.

Not planning to abandon the sea anytime soon

Despite his age and the sea-related incidents, Ti Rolly said he is not planning to stop fishing anytime soon. Apart from an occasional pain in one of his arm, he said he feels well and healthy.

“I think I will be sick if I stop fishing,” he said.

Ti Rolly can be described as an ‘all-rounder” in the fishing field, ranging from scuba diver, line fisherman and free diver.

Despite everything, he said he is never afraid to step on a boat and set out.

Rolly Tambara, who will be 76 years old in September, said he owes his good health to his style of living.

Apart from cinema and dominoes, Ti Rolly’s interests lie around his home, doing chores and minor maintenance.

By Roland Duval