World Of Secrets - Finding Mr Fox: 2. In the doldrums

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Daniel and Rodrigo’s dream voyage soon becomes a nightmare. Days into their Atlantic crossing, the boat’s motor stops working, one of their crewmates becomes too sick to get out of bed and cabin fever sets in. They’re forced to make an emergency stop in Cape Verde, the archipelago of islands off the coast of West Africa known for its natural beauty and its beaches. But they don't get the welcome they’re hoping for.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Before we begin, just to remind you, many of the people we've interviewed for this season of World of Secrets speak Portuguese, so their words are spoken by actors and members of our BBC team. The day we set out to cross the Atlantic was really exciting. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, sun. I felt really emotional, but I also had this great sense of responsibility. As the coast of Brazil fades behind him, Daniel posts on Facebook. Life gives us opportunities and brothers.

He feels indebted to the boat's owner, the British man who calls himself Fox, who's giving Daniel this big chance, employing him to deliver his boat to Europe. Fox, I'm really grateful for this chance to learn and for our bonds that has made me stronger. Thanks, mate. On board the rich harvest, Daniel has just begun the voyage he hopes will change his life. We fished, we swam, had fun, told stories, rested, stress-free, worry-free.

They even celebrate his fresh-faced crewmate Rodrigo's 25th birthday at sea. The crew bought a bottle of wine so we could have a toast. In the middle of the planet. I never imagined I would have a birthday like that. It was really special. He's allowed one quick call on the satellite phone to his parents back in Brazil. They had been following our progress using the boat's GPS signal, but it was a real comfort to hear each other's voices.

My mom singing happy birthday. A few days into their Atlantic crossing, they reach the equator. It's quite a moment to be crossing this famous line of latitude around the globe, leaving the southern hemisphere behind. As they get closer, Rodrigo gets out his phone to film. Above the hum and rattle of the boat's equipment, you can just counting down. Looking at the GPS seeing that it is zero zero zero zero latitude and how you're in the middle of the world that's an incredible feeling. It was nighttime I was in command of the boat the rest of the crew was asleep so I celebrated alone and I started pressing the boat's horn

and screaming, woo, woo, it's the equator. It sounds idyllic, but this is the part of the Atlantic which sailors call the doldrums, where the winds of the North Hemisphere collide with the winds of the South, effectively cancelling each other out. This can be a problem for sailing boats like the Rich Harvest, but it has a motor to fall back on. At least that was the idea. On the fifth day at sea, the engine breaks. When we left, there was this wonderful feeling.

The first days of our journey go by without any difficulties, without problems. But it was only the beginning of a nightmare. This is World of Secrets. Season 5, Finding Mr. Fox. A BBC World Service investigation. With me, Colin Freeman. And me, Yemi Siadigake. Travelling across the Atlantic is seen as one of the biggest adventures in sailing.

A huge challenge. It's a badge of honour for those who've done it. In the weeks you spend at sea, things can, and nearly always do, go wrong. But that's all part of the experience. The crew, the kit, the boat itself, they'll all be tested. It's no different on the rich harvest. They'll all be tested. It's no different on the rich harvest. Already on the third or fourth day, a lot of problems begin to appear.

As well as Rodrigo, Daniel and their French captain, there's the fourth crew member, another Brazilian who they call Steve. He's fairly new to sailing and the smell of the fuel, of the engine, the swaying of the boat. It's all too much for him. Soon, he's too sick to eat and retreats to his cabin where he'll spend the rest of the trip. With the man down, the French captain quickly reassigns his duties. So, the first stress was because of food, you know. Only Steve, the captain, and I knew how to cook.

Steve wasn't able to cook, so it was always left to me and the captain. So there they are, in the middle of the ocean, already bickering over who's going to cook dinner. They're getting nowhere, literally. The motor's broken, so they're stuck waiting for the wind to pick up so they can sail on. They wait and they pray, and after a couple of days it finally does. They use the weight to rig a diesel-powered generator to charge their electronics in place of the now useless

motor. The captain was really our salvation. He was very experienced and knew how to fix a lot of problems. But there's one problem he can't fix. The autopilot, which is basically the system that keeps the boat on the course you choose. You have to keep an eye out. You can't go to sleep, but with autopilot you can look around, go to the kitchen, have a snack. It's okay to leave it for a few minutes. But instead it means someone has to be in charge of the boat at all times. The trip became a very tiring trip,

which ended up leaving people stressed, anxious. Then there's the problems of living together on board. When you get stressed, you start fighting each other. We're living in a confined space, living with people we barely know. One morning, the captain is struggling to fix an issue with the sails. Daniel's helping. Rodrigo isn't.

I was in my bedroom, sleeping. I didn't get up, but I knew there was a problem, because I could hear the noise of the sail. But I thought, they're there, the rest of the crew is fixing it. But at the end of it all, Daniel came to my room and started screaming at me, saying all I did was sleep, and I wasn't there to help. So I said to the guy, if you needed help, you could have called me. And his argument was that he shouldn't have to call. I should have just taken action. It was a horrible atmosphere.

So many arguments. A sick crew member, broken engine. Everyone was stressed. But we had to carry on working together. Rodrigo, he's a good sailor. He's a good sailor, of course But living together was complicated It was a lot of pressure

He lives like he's in a movie In a movie? Because he's always filming, says Daniel They're only ten days into the trip Not even halfway there And he's already pretty fed up Why is he having to do so many of the chores? Why can't everyone else pull their weight?

I just finished making dinner, and I said, oh, Rodrigo, can you lay the table? And nothing. He went downstairs and lay there on the couch. So I say, go and set the table, man. Daniel asks a third time. And he pulled out a knife and threatened me. I lost my mind.

I pulled out the knife and I ran after him. Not to kill him, not to kill him, but like to, I don't know, run the blade across him. Yeah, I was really scared. All of a sudden, something as ordinary as setting the dinner table has descended into chaos. Rodrigo runs upstairs to find the captain. Daniel follows, still chasing him with the knife. I get up there and he almost jumps off the boat. And I'm there with the knife and I'm saying,

I'm going to leave a mark on you to make sure you remember to work. I was out of control. Out of control. Eventually, Daniel calms down and he apologizes to Rodrigo and to the captain. What did the captain say? He said, we already have one sick crew member and you want to kill another one? Normally, you argue with a colleague and you can say, right, I'm going for a walk to clear my head. But on a boat, you can't go out for a quick walk. They struggle on, but things are bad. Steve is still sick.

He's getting weaker and weaker and weaker. So as well as looking after the boat, we had to look after him. And the engine still won't work. Daniel and Rodrigo are now barely talking. They exchange just enough words to get the job done, to get through the storms and find a workaround for the endless problems the ageing boat throws at them. They're all exhausted. Daniel says they call Fox and tell him the boat's in no state to reach Europe. He shares a set of coordinates with them to head to, where they should be able to pick up some wind and reach the safety of the shore sooner. But the captain is confused. It seems to be in the wrong direction, and without an engine,

they'd struggle to get there anyway. So he ignores Fox's advice and heads for Cape Verde, the small nation of islands off the coast of West Africa. Look on a map and it makes sense. With your finger on Brazil, draw a straight line to Europe and there's Cape Verde, slap bang in the middle. After three weeks on the ocean, we see land. It's amazing. We are saved. There are mechanics there, a hospital for Steve. There's everything.

It's in sight, but they're not quite there yet. The wind changes, and without a motor to propel them along the final mile or so, they get stuck. We spent the day looking at Cape Verde and not being able to get to Cape Verde. It was total desperation. They drop anchor late one night. They raise a yellow flag to signal to local authorities they've just arrived from international waters. And on August 22nd, 2017, Daniel posts on Facebook again. We've arrived in African lands,

at last safely anchored in Cape Verde, exhausted. It's too late to go ashore now. Instead, they get some much-needed sleep. Next day, they find a towboat to pull them into the harbour. And finally, finally, dry land. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Cape Verde each year. A group of islands about 600 miles off the coast of West Africa. It's got pristine white beaches, crystal blue waters and year-round sun.

It's also popular with transatlantic sailors as a stop-off point to relax and recharge. And after more than three weeks at sea, that's exactly what Daniel and Rodrigo need. By the captain's estimate, they're going to need weeks to fix the boat anyway. Daniel says they call Fox, who says he'll send some money so they can enjoy the islands. There are also some staffing issues to sort out. The captain told me he was going to fire Rodrigo and Steve. And he says, you and I will stay alone from here. And he told me, when I go to talk to them, I don't want you to be there. So Daniel makes himself scarce. I went for a walk around the city. And just as I came back, maybe an hour later, I see them with their bags, leaving.

They start cursing me, laughing. Like, did you set us up to get us out of here? I said, man, you didn't do any work. Rodrigo has failed to reach Europe and gain the sea miles he dreamed of, but he tries to put a brave face on being fired. It was a relief for me. After all the stress we had on board, I didn't want to be a part of the rest of the trip anymore. I knew I should, because I committed to take the boat to its final destination. It was my job. But since it was the captain's decision, I couldn't argue.

That same day, we went to the beach. We met a local guide who showed us some places. It's fine. I'll catch my plane and go home. While Rodrigo is off to book his flight, Daniel has work to do. He'll help fix the boat and together he and the captain will carry on alone. We slept on the boat and the next morning my plan was to go surfing that day after I'd done my chores. But when we were having breakfast on the deck, two women and a man showed up, police officers. They asked me if I was the captain and during the conversation I noticed that one of them picked up the knives from our table and put them out of reach. They said they had a warrant to search the boat.

Here we go again. Brazilian police had already searched the boat weeks earlier. They didn't find anything in Brazil. They won't find anything in Cape Verde either. But it was just their manner. The way they kept hinting something was wrong. I started to find the whole situation a bit strange. At least this time he's been able to put a T-shirt on.

At about 8am, the search begins. On board are a mixture of judicial police, maritime police and representatives from the port authority. They follow standard procedure. They start at the top and work their way down. They check the mast, the area around the anchor, the little shaded seating area at the back of the boat. The cushioned benches look like a good place to hide something,

but they're empty. All the while, Daniel is trying to be as helpful as he can. When they ask if it's OK to cut into a piece of tubing, he says yes, of course, and runs to get a spare to replace it. I was super helpful. I wanted to help speed up their work, because the sooner it's done, the more time I'll have to serve. He offers the police tea and coffee.

But they just went on and on, and I started to get fed up. I remember asking one of the police if I could get off the boat and get a beer. Obviously not. Can one of you go and get one for me? No. Slowly, methodically, the officers move inside, working their way through the cockpit, the kitchen, the bedrooms, lifting each mattress to see what it might be covering. The search moves into a second, more thorough, more meticulous stage. The captain asks Daniel to send Fox a message to let him know what's going on. I think they must have taken his phone or something like that. Mine was charging, so I went downstairs and sent a Facebook message,

saying, oh, Fox, this is going to slow things down here. The police are here, looking for something. He replied something along the lines of, they won't find anything. I thought, beautiful, perfect. But Vox is about to be proved wrong. What do Tiger Woods, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift all have in common? Well, their lives and fortunes are all being discussed on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and the money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. I'm Zing Zing and each week my co-presenter Simon

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And click follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode. One of the police officers asks for blueprints of the boat to identify areas that they haven't searched so far. Then we made lunch and after the captain went for a lie down. I had a lie down too. But as the hours drag on, Daniel becomes more anxious. One of the officers notices the numerous water and fuel tanks that the boat has been fitted with, including one under a bed. They drain and remove it, revealing a freshly painted section of floor. Beneath that, there's more tanks, which Daniel says appear to be sealed shut using bolts that can't be unscrewed. The police send for specialist equipment to cut through the metal.

It took hours to cut because they were very big screws, but eventually they cut through them. I was outside on the deck reading a book when they announced we are about to do it, we are going to open it. There was always a police officer watching over me and I was like I'm curious, let's go and see. And I stood at the top of the hatch looking down as they took off the lid. And inside what looked like a pile of coloured bricks. The French captain walks over and picks one up. Maybe there's some kind of flotation device? But Daniel thinks he knows what they really are.

I said, my God in heaven, it can't be. I was so angry, not with the police, but angry about the trap I had fallen into. An officer takes out a knife and slices open one of the packages. Delicately, he lifts up some of the white powder that's inside and places it into a Ziploc bag that's full of clear liquid, a drug testing kit. Everyone watches and waits. Wisps of blue appear, getting darker and thicker as they spread through the bag. I couldn't believe what was happening. Half a ton of cocaine, hidden under one of the beds, below a false floor in an old fuel tank. Obviously, it's no joke. Half a ton of cocaine being found under your bed. I felt betrayed. I felt cheated. Like I'd been fooled by someone. I just wanted to run away. I felt that all my freedom was going down the drain. And it crossed my mind to jump into the water and dive under any boat. I said, I don't deserve this. I was furious. Couldn't accept what was happening, you know? I had been really fooled.

Daniel and the captain are handcuffed, taken off the boat and driven to a police station. But what about Rodrigo? To leave the island, I think there was only one flight a week, and that flight was already full. So I thought, well, I'll get to know the island, I'll go sightseeing. So for me, it was calm. I didn't even want to leave quickly. I'd just arrived in a new country.

Rodrigo has decided to make the most of being sacked. His crewmate Steve is feeling better and they're staying in a hotel near the harbour. I wanted to get to know the place. A beautiful place. That wonderful blue sea. I mean, I wanted to get to know the beaches, the people, especially after all the problems we'd had.

It's his first night on dry land in weeks. Rodrigo has dinner. He samples the Cape Verde national drink, a kind of sugarcane rum called groggy, and then goes to bed. I was just waking up when the police knocked on the bedroom door. Beleri eyed and confused.

He doesn't know what's happening. About 10 policemen came into the room and started looking through my things. I'm like, what's going on? They showed us a search warrant and started to look through all of our bags. I was scared. The officers arrest Rodrigo and Steve and drive them to the police station. They're put in an empty cell. No bed, no chairs, no toilet. There was a hole in the

floor that was the bathroom. Whatever we needed to do, it was in front of the other crew member. Not exactly the Cape Verde hospitality he was hoping for. They wouldn't even let us contact our family. It's only after a whole day in the cell that Rodrigo is told why he's there, about the drugs on the rich harvest. At that moment, it was like the floor fell away from beneath me. I really couldn't believe it. I was in shock, lost for words. How is that possible? The Brazilian police searched the boat, didn't they?

Daniel's being held in the same police station, but kept away from Rodrigo. He's running through everything that's happened in his mind. He says he remembers how Fox had given them some coordinates and asked them to make their way there, supposedly to find some good wind for sailing. He says it hadn't made any sense because it would have taken them in the wrong direction. Then, just as they were coming into Cape Verde, the sailors say they spotted another boat arriving. Daniel says he tried to befriend the crew, calling out to say hello, but they ignored him. He remembers how one of the police officers had also mentioned a boat acting strangely just before the rich harvest arrived, sailing back and forth in front of the police officers had also mentioned a boat acting strangely just before the rich

harvest arrived sailing back and forth in front of the island after many hours stewing in his cell daniel's mind is racing he wonders whether that strange boat was coming for them maybe the plan was to sink our boat take the drugs so they could change boats, sink the crew and arrive in Europe with a boat that no one is looking for. One by one, the crew is interviewed. Rodrigo is determined to show he has nothing to do with the drugs. I tried to pass on as much information as I had to the police. I said, look, I'm here through this company. Here's my contract. I have my emails.

I have a way to prove how I got here. This will all be resolved. From the beginning, I was sure that it would all be resolved. But it's only getting worse. The search on the rich harvest continues. At some point, the police move the yacht from the marina to the port and start to tear it apart. They find another secret compartment, another stash of coloured bricks, another half a tonne of cocaine. In total, police find drugs that could be sold for more than US$100 million on the streets of Europe.

for more than US$100 million on the streets of Europe. After three days, Rodrigo is led out of his cell and brought into a garage area where the rest of the crew is already standing. In front of them is a pile of plastic-wrapped blocks. It's the cocaine from the rich harvest. A small mountain. That first moment when I saw all that, I was just scared. It was a test. They were all watching us while we were looking at it, watching us to see our reaction. The French

captain walked over to inspect it. Steve congratulated the police for finding what the Brazilians didn't. I just stayed quiet. Then they took photos, took our fingerprints. Rodrigo says he's handed a form to sign, something about drug trafficking. At first he's adamant he's not signing anything without a lawyer. But then, he says, an officer pays a visit to his cell. He opens the door, forcefully. You didn't want to sign the document? Are you going to sign now? Of course I signed after the way he came into the

cell. I didn't want to do anything without a lawyer, without my parents. We've all watched the films, right? Meanwhile, our parents were going crazy, trying to get in touch with us. As far as I knew, he went to sleep in the hotel. The next morning, he didn't call me. Okay, he must have gone to the beach. Aniette has no idea what's happened to her son, Rodrigo. But that evening, he still didn't call. So I started to get worried. And yet has no idea what's happened to her son Rodrigo. But that evening he still didn't call. So I started to get worried.

Only one thing is clear. He's disappeared. So I called Daniel, but he didn't answer. I called the hotel. And the receptionist said, Rodrigo is not here anymore. He took his luggage. I spent that night really distressed, really worried. You know that feeling like your heart is going to burst out of your chest? I didn't understand why he hadn't called.

Aniette starts calling around. She speaks to other hotels, but no one has heard of him. She calls the marina, only to be told the rich harvest has been seized. Alarmed, she calls the police. I said, look, I'm worried. I need to know where he is. You don't understand, I'm his mother. When she learns what's happened, it feels like a punch to the stomach. And a black hole opened up inside of me.

And I started to ask, how are we going to unravel this all? She gets hold of Fox. We called him and said, look, our son is in prison. What's going on? And he says, I don't know what's happening. I don't know what they put on my boat. I haven't been able to contact them either. I don't understand what's happening. I don't know what they put on my boat. I haven't been able to contact them either. I don't understand what's going on.

When she does finally manage to speak to Rodrigo, he's distraught. It sounds like he's crying. What can she do? He's halfway around the world. So she does what any parent would do when their child is upset. She tells him everything will be OK. She knows he's innocent, but how can they prove it? That's next time on World of Secrets from the BBC World Service

We hope you've enjoyed it To make sure you get episodes as soon as they're available Make sure you subscribe or follow World of Secrets. And please do let others know what you think. I'm Colin Freeman. And I'm Yemi Siadikake. The producer is Charlotte MacDonald. The executive producer is Joe Kent. The series editor is Matt Willis. Production coordinator, Gemma Ashman. And the sound design and mix are by Tom Brignall. Gemma Ashman and the sound design and mix

are by Tom Brignall Additional production is by Iam Leroy Christine Kist Nick Norman Butler and Chiara Francovilla Rodrigo is voiced

by Edison Okaija Daniel by Antonio Fernandes and Agnet voiced by Monica Vasconcelos At the World Service Kat Collins

is the Senior Producer and John Monal, the commissioning editor. For just as long as Hollywood has been Tinseltown, there have been suspicions about what lurks behind the glitz and glamour. Concerns about radical propaganda in the motion pictures. And for a while, those suspicions grew into something much bigger and much darker. Are you a member of the Communist Party? Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? I'm Una Chaplin,

and this is Hollywood Exiles. It's about a battle for the political soul of America, and the battlefield was Hollywood. All episodes of Hollywood Exiles from the BBC World Service and CBC are available now. Search for Hollywood Exiles wherever you get your podcasts.