Hapag-Lloyd master Florian Bottger describes himself as a passionate seafarer who has been sailing with the German line for 16 years, five of them as a captain.
But when his vessel, the 7,510-teu containership Yantian Express (built 2002), suffered a serious fire off Canada in 2019, he was tested like never before.
Bottger, who lives in Bremen with wife Adriana and children Ben and Nick, told the liner operator's in-house magazine that he was woken with the news of the blaze on 2 January at about midnight by the second officer.
"As I made my way to the bridge, I could already see the glow at the front of the ship," he said.
The fire began in a bay where no dangerous goods had been declared.
"I raised the general alarm and called for all hands on deck," the captain said.
The crew did what they had practised many times in routine drills, only now it was not a drill, but a perilous situation.
The seafarers hacked at and pierced holes in containers, unrolled fire hoses and attempted to flood the burning boxes.
"But we had the weather against us, force seven to eight winds that kept reigniting the fire. It seemed hopeless; the flames were simply jumping to the nearest containers," Bottger added.
For three days and nights, the crew battled the fire without interruption, pushing constantly towards the flames.
"We liaised closely with the emergency team on land. I was in continuous phone contact with the human-resources manager, Arnold Lipinski, and his team," the master said.
'You need to sleep'
Lipinski warned him: "Mr Bottger, you also need to sleep."
The master said he attempted to rest, but was up again in 10 minutes. "When your ship is on fire, you can't just go to bed!" he said.
A blast later occurred when flames spread to the next bay and ignited a dangerous-goods container.
"We adjusted the nozzles to create a wall of water so that the fire would at least not spread further towards the stern," Bottger explained.
A tug was brought in to combat the fire and the crew was evacuated, with Bottger the last to leave.
Dangerous disembarkation
"Leaving the ship was the worst moment of my career. However, I had no choice, so I put on my survival suit and climbed onto the pilot ladder," Bottger said.
But the exhausted master was confronted by four-metre waves.
"The line was thrown to me from the rescue boat, but I grabbed at the air and crashed backwards with the ladder against the side of the ship. The 72 hours without sleep were showing their effect; I was able to just catch myself," he revealed.
It was only when he was safely on the tug that he saw the full extent of the fire, with containers burning and a plume of smoke that stretched for kilometres up into the sky.
After a debriefing that included high praise for his exhausted crew, Florian Bottger finally fell into a deep and dreamless sleep for 10 hours.
Two days later he was back on board with a salvage master.
"That was the most beautiful moment for us. We were finally able to get back to work," he said.
He and four other colleagues remained on the Yantian Express to bring the ship into the Bahamas, with small fires continuing to flare up.
Not deterred from a seafaring career
"Not for a second" did he think of giving up his career as a result of the accident, the master said.
"If anything, the experience made me stronger. What could possibly blow me away now?"
Bottger remembers being promoted to master by Hapag-Lloyd managing director Richard von Berlepsch.
"At some point, something is going to happen to you, Bottger. At the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of your career," von Berlepsch said to the master.
"Regardless of when it happens, we must be able to count on you. If we lose communication with you, we lose the ship — and that cannot happen under any circumstances."
The Yantian Express continues to sail.
