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The plan almost worked. Shortly before midnight, less than an hour after the frogmen had planted dynamite in the engine room, Disc Jockey West announced: "Flames are approaching the studio, we are abandoning the ship. Goodbye and God bless . . ." Everyone but the captain, the chief engineer and one sailor clambered overboard into lifeboats. But a Dutch tugboat, a firefighting ship from Rotterdam's Europort, a Dutch navy frigate carrying 250 battle-dressed marines, a navy Neptune reconnaissance plane and a helicopter all converged on the scene and put the fire out before it could damage the transmitter.
Radio Northsea was back on the air by 4 a.m. That same morning, Dutch police in Scheveningen rounded up the three frogmen, who had been promised more than $7,000 apiece for the job, and charged them with robbery in international waters. The following day they collared one of the men accused of organizing the plot—Dutch Businessman Norbert Jurgens, 48, a large stockholder and employee of Veronica's. At week's end they also arrested and indicted as an accomplice Hendrik ("Bull") Verwey, one of three Dutch brothers who are the principal owners of Veronica. "We never wanted it that way," said Verwey. "No violence—oh, no. You know, the thing got out of hand."