Mike Harker tells of mugging in St Martin

by Mike Harker on 18 Jul 2010 Many readers will know the inspirational story of Mike Harker, the champion hang glider who had a near death experience, lay recovering for six years as a paraplegic, then became a long range cruising sailor, making popular documentaries while he sailed the world. Recently, as we reported earlier, the charismatic sailor was mugged on his sailing boat in St Martin, and here is his latest account:

I have been released from the hospital in French St. Martin after undergoing a small surgery to remove a bone splinter around my right eye socket.

I was in the Lagoon below the Mt. Fortune ('Witches Tit') as the nearest boat to the channel along the French / Dutch border and no other boats to my South, West or North. The two moored boats next to me to the NE are empty. My closest live-aboards are 2 and 3 boats over to the NE. They each responded to my 'Danger' air-horn (5 short blasts).

While I was in Germany last month, invited to the World Hang Gliding Championships, I met two younger women from northern Germany near the Dutch border. I invited them for a week aboard WanderLust during their last week of holidays. The two young women flew non-stop from Amsterdam to St. Martin and hopped an island shuttle south to my location on St. Lucia where I had sailed from the anchorage in Beguines where I had my boat looked after while I was in Germany.

I sailed with the 2 young women from St. Lucia to Martinique, Dominica, Antigua, St Barth and finally back to their departure point in St. Martin. When they flew out back to Amsterdam, I was waiting for a weather window to sail alone back towards Grenada.

Then this happened.

I have to stay here in St. Martin until the doctors can remove the stitches and do a final X-Ray, then I will head back to an anchorage in Grenada or stop in some of the islands in the Grenadines.

I am on a borrowed laptop, but I can go in to get Internet twice a day.

My spirits are high and the doctors did a great job with my wounds. I have a cracked rib and most wounds have healed very well. The chief surgeon told me that the cracked cheek bone is back in it's place and will heal without an operation 'As long as you don't get hit like that again'. The doctors and nurses were all very kind and considerate and the local magazine 'Pelican' wrote a whole page article on my experience.

On the second day in the Gendarme interview, they showed me some photos taken from the video security camera showing two men arriving at the FKG dock in the early morning. The next photo showed two men, exactly as I described; smaller man with longer straight hair waving back and a 'Latin' looking nose carrying 2 pair of long swim fins. Second big man 4 steps back, not as dark as an African but with short 'squashed' nose and short black hair with a slight 'belly' carrying a big black bag. The third photo showed the smaller 'Latin' looking man running back to the dingy to untie it and remove the spear they forgot. The police said the spear looked bent near the tip.

I explained again the skirmish. When the men pulled me from my bed to the floor, it was completely dark and I could only see shadows. The little man was kneeling next to my right ear and said 'I know you are rich, where is your money'. When I explained 2 or 3 different times that I don't carry money, it is in the bank, he ordered the big man to 'Stick him!' with a spear the big man was holding with the point about 6 - 8 inches from my eyes. The man was straddled on either side of my bent legs. I noticed that the spear was the kind from a spear gun, without the gun, so it was shorter than the Hawaiian spears with the elastic at the end. It was being held so that the other end was near his right hand and as he pushed the spear point into my forehead I pulled my right arm, which was across my chest, and the hand near my left shoulder, across my face and grabbed the spear point at the little 'dongle' as I moved my head back. I felt the point scratch my forehead but I kept pushing the spear point to the right.

I then grabbed the spear just in front of the big man's right hand with my left hand and jerked the spear out of his hands. At the same time I kicked as hard as I could with my free right leg into the big man's balls which brought him to his knees at either side of my hips. I got my right knee back and was able to pound the spear between my hands onto my knee twice before the smaller man got one arm free. I was able to jam my right elbow into his throat and then one good fist into his face. I think his nose was bleeding because the Gendarme found blood where I was not, including in the dingy!

The big man grabbed for my arms and held them at my hips with his strong legs. The little man was able to get his right wrist and arm at my throat and his other hand pulled as hard as he could from behind me. He yelled at the big man to 'Knock Him OUT!' and began beating me. I knew I would soon pass out because I was getting dizzy and could not breath. My final thought before I went out was 'Someone finally killed me'.

The Gendarme took the samples from the smaller man's skin ( I remembered a CSI show where you get DNA from under finger nails) that I was able to get from scratching him and the blood drops from where I was not. They took my DNA from inside my cheek and blood samples and sent it all to a special lab in Paris. The Gendarme said 'If they are in our records, we will get them!!!'

I am still very weak and I can not chew food because of the damaged jaw, but I feel much better, the swelling is down and I am looking forward to no more pain, and a beautiful, safe anchorage on some remote island to continue the healing process. The highs and lows of being in Paradise!

Mike has now left St Maartin and is sailing in the direction of the Grenadines and Bequia in the Windward Islands. 'I need to rest and heal,' he said before he sailed away.