Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch7 Part 21

Peter Klopp

March 13

Biene writes:

Rescue in the Knick of Time

Time seems to stand still like in a bad dream. Increasing panic is gripping my heart when I look at my brother's white horrified face. I keep on stammering in my heart, "Please, God help us, please, dear God help us….". Almost paralyzed by augmenting fear we suddenly see a big motorboat approaching. Almost instantly our fear turns into joy. Help is on the way!!!! But our relief and joy are short-lived. The big motorized yacht moves by us at great speed without stopping. Didn't they see us? The waves are high and our overturned boat is blue. They must have missed us. This time our desperation is almost overwhelming. What shall we do? What can we do?

Numbed by cold and fear I am unable to make a decision. I am worried about my brother who looks ghastly white and is very quiet. After what seems like an eternity, we see another (or is it the same?} boat approaching from the direction it had vanished. A small flicker of hope revives us enough to start screaming at the top of our lungs for help. The big boat slowly approaches and then starts circling us. It stops! Two men climb down a ladder and grab our hands to pull us out of the water onto the deck. Two ladies wrap us in blankets and help us move into a cozy cabin to warm up and rest while the two men manage to retrieve our boat from the lake. Our rescuers were American tourists who had not seen us in the water initially. One of the men, however, had spotted our paddle floating on the water. This miraculously prompted their search for us. Apparently, we were hardly visible in the high waves and they had almost missed us again.

Luckily our parents only found out about our near drowning after we were rescued and safely returned to them. Contrary to our expectations our father did not scold us or get upset over the loss of equipment and damage to the boat. He loved adventures and was happy and proud that we survived. He commended us for staying with the boat and not trying to swim ashore.