A trip to the Blue Mountain Peak turned into an even bigger adventure for five Jamaica College boys. The boys lost their way after trying to find water. After realising they were lost, they strategised and managed to keep themselves well enough for two days till they were found.

Published, Wednesday, December 27, 1967

After intensive two-day search

-5 boys rescued from Blue Mtns. ravine

-Spotted by light plane, taken out by copters

Anxiety for the five schoolboys from Jamaica College who were feared lost in the Blue Mountains when they did not return from a hiking trip to the peak that was due to end last Wednesday was relieved on Sunday morning when they were found, safe and sound, in a ravine in the mountains, and were brought out by helicopter.

Climaxing an intensive two-day search of the mountains by the army and the police, the missing five - Gordon Cooper, George Hussey, Cecil Ward, Roger Bates, and Geoffrey Haddad - were found by a private plane piloted by Jack Tyndale-Briscoe, well-known amateur pilot and aerial photographer.

They were in a defile in the mountains, about five miles down the Swift River, north of Portland Gap. The time was 9:25 a.m. and in the plane was Leslie Ward, father of one of the boys. Smoke from a fire built by the boys in a clearing, which they had made in the heavy bush, attracted the attention of the circling plane and brought about their rescue.

Two 'copters

Two helicopters, one military, the other private, were used to take the boys out of the mountains. They were flown to Ken Jones Airport, in Portland, and from there to Kingston. The two helicopters brought three of the boys to the Jamaica Defence Force headquarters at Up Park Camp, and the other two were flown to Palisadoes Airport in Tyndale Biscoe's plane and driven from there to Up Park Camp, where they joined their comrades-in-distress and were welcomed by their anxiously waiting families.

By noon on Sunday, the near-tragedy, which had gripped the island and created national concern, was over. The boys were in reasonably good shape. They were cold and wet and thirsty but none the worse for their adventure. They said almost in unison, in answer to the inevitable question, that they would "do it again".

Telling the story of their adventure, the boys said that after leaving Clydesdale last Saturday, they climbed Sir John's Peak and were on their way to Blue Mountain Peak on Tuesday when they ran short of water. They started to search for a stream and found the Swift River. They decided to follow the river course, but because of foggy conditions, took the wrong direction and headed north instead of south.

Wrong direction

When they realised, from the flow of the river, that they were headed in the wrong direction, they also discovered that they were in a "bad country". The terrain was rugged, with dense bush and grass through which they had to hack their way. So they decided to remain where they were, in a ravine, and wait for rescue.

There was a tall tree in the clearing, and they climbed to the top of this, clearing its leaves and top limbs so they could be seen from the air. They took turns as lookout, and by Friday, heard the planes and helicopters circling overhead. They were not spotted until Sunday morning, however, when the smoke from their fire, lit that morning, caught the watching eyes of Ward and Biscoe.

One of the boys, Hussey, had a transistor radio, but he said he could hear nothing on it at first, "only screeches." Later, he was able to hear music being broadcast but no news or any announcements concerning his colleagues and him.

Food ran out on them. "We were down to our last two packs of rice, and we were unable to cook it because of the damp conditions," they said. But hunger had not yet become a serious problem.

Visibility

Climatic conditions in the mountains made visibility difficult from the ground as well as from the air. Just as the boys were unable to see the aircraft that were searching for them, so were the aricraft unable to see the boys. A low cloud ceiling in the area, especially in the afternoons, reduced visibility considerably.

A combined army and police operation conducted the search for the boys. Also sharing in the search was Tyndale Biscoe and "Tinker" Rerrie, whose helicopter was one of those used in the rescue operation. Foresters from the Forestry Department also took part in the search.

Attention was concentrated on the south side of Sir John's Peak, where an army patrol was stationed to maintain contact with other army and police patrols, which were out on the search along the various tracks in the area. These patrols concentrated on the ridges while the Forestry Department concentrated their efforts among the foothills.

Intensified search

Following abortive searches on Friday and again on Saturday, the search was intensified on Sunday morning when a planned 90-minute search from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. was carried out.

It was this intensified search, in which the light aircraft and the two helicopters were engaged, that brought success at 9:25 a.m. when the boys were spotted.

When the discovery was made, the plane signalled to the helicopter, which had been concentrating on the south side of Sir John's Peak. The helicopter flew to the spot, located the boys, returned to base for refuelling and then flew back with the other helicopter. Both helicopters picked up the boys and flew them to Ken Jones Airport.

Meanwhile, at the Air Wing section of Camp, the anxious families of the boys waited, keeping vigil there from early in the morning. As the two helicopters flew in and came to rest on the ground, a subdued cheer rose from the tense gathering. Then there was the joy and poignancy of reunion with parents, sisters, and girlfriends. There were even a few unashamed tears of joy.

For the waiting parents, it was the end of a long ordeal of agony and uncertainty. Perhaps the parents who showed the greatest emotion were the Haddads. It was Mr Haddad who on Wednesday when the boys did not report, took steps to find out what had happened to them and who contacted the other parents, the police, and eventually, the military, leading to the big search.

Mrs Haddad put it graphically: "We have had three sleepless nights."

Charles Cooper, the father of Gordon, was not at Camp. He was over at Swift River, in Portland, organising a search of the area, working along with the foresters. "I felt certain that the Swift River area was where we were to look for them," he said. He heard by radio the news of the discovery of the boys and returned to Kingston later that Sunday, a happy man.

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