I AM enjoying a book titled “Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History” by Kalee Thompson. Although it is a page turner, one passage which details lifting a man from the ocean into a Coast Guard helicopter deserves mention. I include an abridged portion of it here for your enjoyment and suspense:
“The survivor is in the basket,” Musgrave reported into the ICS. “The basket is out of the water. The basket is above the water.”
Halfway up, Musgrave saw that Byron seemed to have lifted himself onto the rail. He looked like he was actually sitting on the shorter edge of the rectangular basket; his butt was on one corner and his feet were hanging over the adjacent side. Byron had his arms wrapped around the bales. He wasn’t where he should be, but he still looked relatively stable.
But with the basket moving up, more than halfway there, Byron slipped. From above, it now looked like the lower part of his body was now outside the compartment. Musgrave was the only one to see the basket reach the cabin door [of the helicopter] with Byron hanging by his armpits from its side. He tried to pull Byron inside the helicopter, but he was too heavy. He had never been in a situation where he could not manage someone inside, but he could barely budge Byron’s legs.
Musgrave looked into Byron’s eyes and saw that his face was frozen with terror. All Byron had to do was move his legs a little, but he wasn’t helping at all. Musgrave realized his survival suit had filled with water. He probably weighed 500 pounds. Musgrave reached for a knife. He would slice open the neoprene legs of the survival suit to let the water drain out, then he would be able to pull him in.
The knife was just a couple feet away, but in the moment that Musgrave moved to grab it, Byron slipped again. When he turned back toward the door, the fisherman was hanging by his elbows from the edge of the basket. Musgrave grabbed him and pulled as hard as he could. But it was only two or three seconds before Byron let go.
He slipped from Musgrave’s arms, plunging into the sea forty feet below. Moments later, the pilot heard the report.
“We lost him. We lost him.” Musgrave repeated.
“We lost who?” At first, the pilot thought he meant he lost the others still in the water. But although he could not see what was going on behind him, the pilot knew from Musgrave’s tone that the rescue was not going according to plan.
“The survivor,” Musgrave said. “He’s gone.”
The pilot could see the man’s blinking rescue light in the water below, and for an instant he thought he saw him move his arms in the waves.
“He’s okay, he’s moving!” the pilot shouted. But seconds later the reality set in.
“Never mind. He is face down.”
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for over 30 years. He is a director and historian at Sealark Exploration.
BC Cook
