Storm

All day the storm howled along the Portuguese coast. But that night, as usual, the 20-ship fishing fleet put out from the villages of Leixoes, Matosinhos, Francelos, and the others. Fishing was good, but as the wind steadily increased, ship after ship put back to port. Only four remained at sea. The storm became a hurricane.

Too late the men of the Dom Miguel, Rosa Faustina, Salvador and Maria Manuel realized it. Weighed down in their heavy rubber boots, with the waves crashing over them, they tried to haul in their nets. But the nets wrapped themselves around the rudders. Men were swept overboard. The boats drifted about helplessly, within sight of shore. In hundreds of cottages along the coast, people cried out in distress. Women huddled in shawls ran down to the sea. Hours later, the first bodies were washed ashore.

There were only six survivors. One hundred and sixty-five fishermen were lost. The whole coast mourned them, but the greatest sorrow was in the village of Matosinhos, nearly all of whose men were drowned. The Rola family lost four men, who between them left 21 children. Old Mother Cunha sat rocking back & forth: "Belmiro, Chico, my beloved ones, come back to me." In a corner, silent and white-faced, sat Chico's bride of five months.

Next day the storm still raged, but the fishing fleet wanted to put to sea again; the authorities forbade it. One boy, orphaned with five sisters and brothers, was asked by a social worker what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said: "A fisherman, like father, of course."

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