Those of you living on in the real world would have been vaguely aware of a Japanese fishing vessel, the Eihatsu Maru, parked on South Africa’s fair shores in the last two weeks.What you might not have thought about in the ensuing drama was the incredible job that the crew of the SMIT Amandla tug boat did to yank that vessel from our shores.

Read to the bottom to see how Butlers and 2oceansvibe thanked Captain Merriman and his crew!

But the vessel wasn’t there by choice. No, sir. They had run aground, and while the vessel was lucky not to have struck rocks as it made it’s way onto the sands of Clifton 1st beach, it was very definitely wedged tightly into the sand.

When the second attempt to pull the vessel off the beach failed, 2oceansvibe sent Butlers Pizza into the fray to delivery what were very obviously desperately needed supplies to the stricken fisherman, and salvage crew – not forgetting the captain’s dog. That act of kindness garnered international press attention.

(Click here for a picture gallery of the delivery)

Days later, with the aesthetic integrity of one of South Africa’s most popular beaches – directly below South Africa’s most expensive stretch of real estate – the crew of the SMIT Amandla tug boat successfully hauled the Eihatsu Maru off of Clifton 1st beach. Cape Town exhaled in relief, but where was our thanks for the crew? Our silence was embarrassing, and not-so-friendly.

Hence, 2oceansvibe and Butlers Pizza took it upon themselves to launch a two-pronged thank-attack, in order to express the gratitude of the people of Cape Town to the Consul of Japan for their ongoing cooperation in salvage operations, and to Captain Merriman and his crew aboard the SMIT Amandla, for successfully completing a tense and difficult operation.

Japanese Consul Yumiko Fujiwara Receiving Seth Rotherham’s commendation and thank you on behalf of the citizens of the vibe from Butler BigLuke and Big Cheeser Bob at the Japanese Embassy of Japan office in Cape Town.

All that was left to do  was to get out there to the tug, shake the Captain’s hand, and put a special edition Clifton Trawler tuna pizza pie in his palm.

So we did it.