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MiG vs. Shrimp Boat - a 1963 Incident

2/20/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
February 20th, 1963.  Sixty miles off of the Cuban coast the shrimp boat, "Ala", which had left Ft. Myers, Florida on February 10th was disabled and drifting.  Three days prior not only had its engines failed but also its bilge pump and radio.   On board were two men, Skipper Paris Jackson, 44, and Benjamin Washington, 27.   The loss of the 800 pounds of shrimp they had caught was now probably the least of their concerns.  

That evening around 5:30 Skipper Jackson sighted a jet and frantically waved for attention with a rag and a pair of coveralls.  Per Jackson the jet circled the lighthouse at Elbow Key and returned.  However, the attention they received soon caused the two men to be in fear for their lives.  A Cuban MiG jet began firing at the boat and was then joined by 3 more.   Wisely, Jackson and Washington avoided any action that would make them appear to be armed.  They decided not to try entering the pilot house and stayed as low as they could.  There was a second round of firing and the MiGs then continued to circle for about 15 minutes until a U.S. jet appeared followed by 2 more U.S. jets.  “We hit the deck and lay there… It really scared me.  God!  I was really scared.  We just lay there because there wasn’t anywhere else to go” Jackson told reporters after they were escorted back to Key West on a Navy destroyer.

The event prompted President Kennedy to issue orders two days later that the military could retaliate against any Cuban attack on U.S. sea or aircraft.  Already a touchy time, the Russian Defense Minister responded that any attack against Cuba would prompt a third world war. 

Initially reported as rocket fire, a later clarification and accounts by the fishermen maintain that it was machine gun fire.  Either way it was a highly volatile situation at the time but has not left much of a trace in the searchable history of the Cold War.  Even the The Cold War Museum site has no mention of it.  However, to Jackson and Washington we’re sure it made a lasting impression and a great story to hand down!

10 Comments
caro ness link
2/26/2014 06:51:36 pm

Good grief! The perils of being a shrimp fisherman!

Reply
Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA @ Cerebrations.biz link
2/26/2014 09:37:24 pm

Hmm. This is something about which I have never heard. I fear this sort of situation prevails in those seas around Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and the Phillipines, where each country is declaring different boundaries in the seas they share.

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Ann Mullen link
2/27/2014 05:24:30 am

This is despicable, both what happened and that it has slipped through the cracks of history. What gets me the most is that I am sure there are stories like this in every war torn area where the helpless or innocents are being "fired upon." I also have no doubts that we have done some of the same.

Reply
Muriel link
2/27/2014 09:49:04 pm

I didn't know that this had happened. I hadn't realised that being a fisherman could be such a dangerous job. I find it hard to believe that the they couldn't see that the guys were just fishing. I suppose that I will never understand such things.

Reply
Carol Tomany link
3/2/2014 08:33:10 pm

This is fascinating. So glad they were rescued!!

Reply
Toni Nelson link
3/12/2014 10:08:18 am

I can only imagine how terrified they must have been. I'm so glad they were rescued.

Reply
John Thompson
2/20/2017 02:56:47 pm

This story reminds me of an incident that happened back in the 70's to a DESCO boat. Seems that Honduras and Guatemala did not always play well together, especially over territorial fishing rights. One of our 75' fiberglass shrimpers had inadvertently (so the story went) strayed into Guatemalan waters and was pursued and attacked by a Guatemalan gun boat as it was running at top speed back into it's home waters. They ended up hitting the shrimper with several dozen .50 caliber machine gun rounds that stopped her. The gunboat then rammed the shrimper from the stern, pushing out the two lazarette fuel tanks and demolishing the aft 6 or so feet of the boat. The boat DID NOT SINK (held afloat by the fuel tanks) and was towed back to port. Our field service tech, Ed Long went over to Honduras and surveyed the damage and called back to DESCO to have us layup a mold of the stern of a nearly finished 75' Fiberglass boat and the materials that he needed. We shipped everything down to him in Honduras where he aligned and fitted the molds to the damaged hull. He rebuilt the damaged stern section and repaired the bullet holes. He had her back afloat and shrimping in seven (7) weeks. He took before/after pics that our sales team used to sell a BUNCH of new boats....True story....!!

Reply
The Salty Shrimper link
2/21/2017 05:30:02 am

Amazing story John. Thanks for sharing!

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Scott Davis link
10/10/2022 09:58:06 am

Main administration no attention front. Oil idea environmental perhaps.

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Jeffery Clark link
10/13/2022 04:00:59 am

Boy subject animal no degree western always. Kitchen push summer defense budget admit.
Catch stay seat about. Yes PM between student.

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