'I named my daughter for the ship that saved me when 17 others died'

A man who survived the sinking of a fishing vessel in the Antarctic has shared his harrowing experience, revealing what went through his mind as he faced death. Aged 23, Matt Lewis was working as a scientist aboard the South African fishing trawler Sudur Havid.

The ship was on a mission to catch toothfish deep in the Antarctic Ocean - also known as the Southern Ocean - during the summer of 1998, specifically in an area ominously referred to as the 'Furious Fifties'. This was Matt's first assignment as a marine biologist, and his role was to oversee the crew's catch.

Little did he know that out of the 38 men on board, 17 would tragically lose their lives in a violent storm that ultimately sank the Sudur Havid. Constructed in 1964, the vessel measured 44m in length and 8m in width, and had undergone numerous modifications over the years to meet the demands of global fishing. However, by 1998, the ship was showing signs of wear and tear, with poor design and malfunctioning equipment playing a significant part in the catastrophe.

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After a slow start, the crew, primarily made up of South Africans and Namibians, began to haul in a substantial amount of fish. But on June 6, disaster struck when a colossal storm hit the vessel. Amid the chaos of being thrown around in the tempestuous seas, Matt realised the Sudur Havid was struggling to right itself between enormous waves, and was beginning to tilt dangerously.

"I think we were 120 miles from the nearest bit of dry land, 200 miles from the nearest people, 700 miles from the nearest helicopter or airforce base - which was miles out of their range - and the weather was so bad," he said. "I just thought, 'how are we going to make it out of this? Maybe this is it'."

The skipper of the boat refused to cease fishing despite the dreadful conditions, and basic pumps designed to clear seawater from the vessel had become blocked and stopped functioning. Matt frantically attempted to locate one of the engineers to repair the issue, but inadequate training and communication problems prevented them from doing so.

Slowly, the ship tilted further and further until it became apparent to everyone she was going to go down. The crew put on lifejackets and thick survival suits, and hurled the vessel's three liferafts into the furious seas.

"I grabbed a lifejacket and then I went outside and there were all the other crew, all lined up like they were waiting for a bus," Matt said. "I turned to Trevor, who I had been working with that morning, and I just said, 'what's happening? Are we abandoning, or what?'"

"And he just said, 'Yes, Matt, this is it'. And I just felt this welling up of panic," he continued. "I just thought, 'what am I going to do?', so I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm myself."

They threw the ship's three liferafts into the water: "At that point, I just had a moment of dread because I looked out at the waves and all you could see was grey water being torn to pieces by the wind. There were snow showers coming through too - it was awful conditions.

"All you could see for miles around us was the sea churning, and snow. I just thought, 'I don't see how we're going to get out of this'. There were no boats near us and we were about to board liferafts and there is no land for miles.

"I just had a moment where I thought, 'I don't know what we're going to do'. But then this cheesy bit of a film came into my head. I'd watched Robinson Crusoe just before I'd gone away and there was a bit where Man Friday was arguing and they were talking about the fact they were about to fight somebody, and he turned to him and said, 'All mean die, but it's how you die that matters'.

"I just thought, if I die, I don't want to be a coward or fall to pieces, so let's go down and get off this boat and give everybody the best chance I can."

Matt descended and assisted as many people as possible, making sure their lifejackets were secured and rallying the crew. Passengers began climbing into the liferafts, but Matt conducted a final sweep and discovered one of the crew members who, astonishingly, had only just stirred after snoozing through the entire ordeal.

Two crew members clambered into one of the three rafts - which could have accommodated many more people - before releasing the rope connecting them to the vessel. They were never seen again.

That left two rafts designed to accommodate 24 people combined, with 36 men still aboard. They scrambled into the rafts, but the turbulent weather meant they were already half-full of -1C water and it was nearly impossible to empty them out. Hypothermia became a genuine threat.

"I was the last man off the Sudur Havid. I landed in the middle of all the crew in the liferaft and it was exhilarating. It should have been this moment of terror but it just felt like we were free. I hit the middle of the crew - brilliant," Matt said.

The storm meant water kept crashing into the raft and all they had to empty the boat out were Wellington boots and an empty Nescafe jar. Initially, morale among the 17 survivors in the raft was high, but gradually the shock of the situation and the freezing conditions took their toll.

Water gathered in the middle of the rubber raft, so Matt discovered that if he wrapped his hands around a rope that went around the inside wall, he could just about stay out of it. It was still bitterly cold though.

Gradually, as night fell, the raft became quieter and quieter, and Matt felt himself gradually succumbing to the cold. "There was no more talk in the raft, nobody was asking questions," Matt said. "Everybody had gone quiet.

"People settled into their own battle to survive. You start thinking about home. I can remember thinking, 'Maybe I'll never see my girlfriend again, maybe I'll never have sex again'. I distinctly remember thinking that and it's bizarre to think that when you're adrift in the middle of the Southern Ocean."

Matt recalled scrambling over bodies in the life raft, many of which belonged to people who were no longer moving. He spotted one of the crew members floating in his lifejacket and thinking how serene he appeared after he had lost his fight against the freezing conditions.

Just when it seemed like all hope was gone, Matt was attempting to secure the door to the raft when he believed he glimpsed a light at sea. Not wanting to create false hope, he remained silent for a few moments until he spotted it once more.

It was the hull of a fishing vessel that had raced to their rescue. Matt was dragged aboard, stripped naked, thrown into a warm shower, dressed in dry clothes, and given hot food and drink. He had made it through - but 10 of the 17 people in his raft had not been so fortunate.

In the second raft, containing 14 people, everyone survived, while the raft that drifted off with just two people was found capsized and empty the next day. In total, of the 38 crew, 17 died and 21 survived.

The situation could have been worse if not for the Isla Camila, a Chilean fishing boat, which responded to their distress signal. The captain of the vessel used his exceptional seafaring skills to predict the direction the storm would have taken the life rafts in the three hours following the sinking, and accurately located them.

In honour of their rescue, Matt vowed to name his daughter after the ship. In 2009, his wife Corinne gave birth to a girl, whom they fittingly named Camila after the ship that saved him.