HORRIBLE FISHING ACCIDENT

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Captain Ahab

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
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Location
Bucks Co., PA
HORRIBLE FISHING ACCIDENT
Lost a Good Man


Sunday November 30. 2008 - Jim and myself drove to Montauk, NY (the very tip of Long Island and fabled fishing grounds) to meet Marty McMillan ("Ironwoodtuna")and his 16 year old son Cody. Plan was to meet at the boat around 6 a.m. and then head out for blackfish, sea bass and stripers. We arrived early that morning; getting to the boat before 5 a.m. Jim had been in contact with Marty via email and a few short phone calls all week and Marty’s instructions were to call him when we got close. Well, we found the boat right away and it appeared that Marty was sleeping on board. We waited until around 5:30 a.m. and then I made Jim call and wake Marty up.

This was teh 1st time that either Jim or I had met Marty or Cody. I did exchange some PM's with Marty through TinBoats asking about Montauk fishing - Marty then invited Jim and I to fish with him.

Marty answered and soon thereafter popped out of the cabin with a smile and hearty handshake for us both. His son Cody followed and gave us a warm greeting as well. Marty then explained he fished the two days prior (Friday and Saturday) and was catching lots of Blackfish, Sea Bass and Stripers. He said the Stripers were so easy that you could only fish for a short while before everyone caught their limit. Jim and I were excited.

After we watched Marty and Cody tie rigs on the rods and prepare the boat we took a short ride to grab breakfast sandwiches. Returning to the boat Marty gave us a brief safety drill showing us where the life vests, survival suits, life raft and EPIRBs where located. Marty then started his powerful diesel engine and cast off. We headed past Montauk Point Lighthouse under steely gray skies into a light chop. With the cabin door shut the engine was a distant rumble and we shared fishing stories with Marty and Cody. I was excited to fish in this wonderful aluminum boat - completely custom and well set up. Marty regaled us with stories of fishing with Tred Barta (the TV show guy) and told us that he filmed four shows with Tred.

Marty then explained that he received a great report yesterday from a neighbor boat that there were big Blackfish, Sea Bass and some Cod on a wreck called the Appletree. It was an 18 mile jog out from the inlet and on the fast boat we would be there in about 30 minutes or so. We arrived to find a 2-3 foot sea and East Northeast winds about 10 mph. Marty set the anchor and showed us how he liked to fish with the green crabs he had on board for bait. We were not quite on the wreck but almost immediately Jim hauls up a jumbo bergall – into the fish box that goes.

During the whole process of setting the anchor and retrieving the anchor Jim and myself stayed out of the way – Marty was instructing Cody on what he wanted done and told us to just stay clear. For the most part I just stayed on the far side of the deck and Jim stayed in the cabin to allow Marty and Cody plenty of room.

While we were fishing Marty kept asking Cody what the bottom felt like and whether we were on sand or structure. Cody said sand so he pulled anchor and made several attempts to reposition the boat over the wreck – each time Marty could not get it where he wanted. After about 45 minutes of this Marty made the call to move to a new spot about 5 miles closer to Montauk – and area called the Southwest Ledge.

The 1918 U.S Coast Guard Pilot Book describes the Southwest ledge as a: rocky area 31/2 miles west-southwest of Block Island marked with a spar buoy and a bell buoy. Depths there are 4 to 41/2 fathoms (24 feet to a depth of over 10 fathoms (60 feet).

After a brief steam we reached the Southwest Ledge and Marty deploys the anchor. Initially the anchor did not hold but it then caught and we started fishing. Again, he asks Cody about the bottom and Cody replies ‘sand.” Jim and Cody both hook small bergalls. I get a few taps but no hook ups.

Marty then says he wants to move the boat and re-anchor over better structure. He begins the process of retrieving the anchor. He was using an anchor ball to free the anchor. When you do this you are retrieving the anchor from the aft quarter of the boat – not the bow. The anchor line is deployed from the bow with the anchor ball on a slide. When you want to pull anchor you simply run the boat past the anchor point causing the anchor to reverse and the anchor ball then lifts the anchor to the surface using the momentum of the boat to pull the anchor line through the slide on the anchor ball. The anchor line is being pulled along side the boat from bow to stern - once the anchor is up Marty or Cody would just retrieve the line (standing in the rear of the boat) with the anchor floating under the anchor ball.

This time, when Marty attempted to use the anchor ball to lift the anchor it did not work. He ran the boat past the anchor but the anchor held fast and the anchor ball submerged. We then noticed a lobster pot marker about 50 yards from the boat and Marty told us that the anchor was caught in the pot lines. He tried pulling it with the boat from a number of angles and then told Cody to pull as much slack out of the anchor line as he could. Marty would run the boat up the line and Cody would pull slack and retie to the port side amidships cleat.

As he was pulling slack Cody would pile the anchor line on the port side of the cockpit. (On this boat the anchor locker was in the stern of the boat). Marty kept running up the line and Cody would pull as much slack as he could. The anchor would not come up. After about 45 minutes Marty directed Cody to take the helm and he tied the anchor off to the stern cleat.

By this time the boat was pretty tight to the anchor line which was running out the port side because Marty had grabbed the line from the stern. Also, there is a pile of line on the port side where Marty is standing. Marty direct Cody to pull forward and to the left (port). Cody begins maneuvering the boat and Marty releases the line from the cleat and begins heaving on the line to get more line into the boat.

I turn away and hear Marty make a sharp “ummph” sound. As I turn back I see Marty go over the port side aft and he is immediately about 20 to 30 yards from the boat next to the anchor ball. I scream “man overboard” several times. I then scream for Jim or Cody to get the throwable (life ring) and I grab that and toss it toward where I last saw Marty.

Marty and the anchor ball are not visible. In a matter of a few second Marty went down. I run into the helm and grab the radio and punch the red channel 16 button. I call out “mayday mayday mayday” three times and then call out “we need assistance.” Cody starts screaming “get my dad, get my dad” and leaves the helm. Because Marty was still not visible and grab the wheel and bring the boat towards where we last saw him – at this time I was under the belief that Marty grabbed the anchor ball but with his heavy clothes he was unable to maintain buoyancy. I told Cody and Jim to get a boat hook and if we can spot him to grab for him with that. I hear Cody scream” I cannot lift him and run to the stern to see Jim hook Marty’s jacket – but there is no Marty in the jacket – if must have pulled off.

Cody runs to the helm and attempt to move the boat back to where he saw Marty - as he reverses the propeller wraps in the anchor line stalling the engine. I tell him to get on the radio and respond to the Coast Guard with our position. He grabs the transmitter and starts screaming “My dad is in the water” over the radio so, in my calmest voice I can manage again say “Cody, you need to give the name of the vessel and our GPS location. Keep your mouth away from the transmitter so they can understand you.” Cody stares at me for a second and then is a super calm voice, does exactly what I tell him to do. He then relays that his father is overboard and under water.

There is another boat a few hundred yards to our stern and I scream “get a flare.” Jim and I are both standing on the stern of the boat waving our arms and screaming – the other boat must not have understood because they were still fishing. Jim finally finds the flares and I tell him to shoot the flare gun at the other boat to get there attention. He fires off 4 or 5 shots and I take a hand held flare and ignite that. Jim then ignites a second hand held flare and we finally get the other boat’s attention.

That boat pulls anchor and heads towards us. Cody is screaming at them to get his dad, get his dad. I yell out that we have a man overboard we are unsure of his exact location. That captain motors around us looking. We are disabled with the anchor line in our props and the anchor still stuck on the lobster pots.

Cody then yells that his dad is caught in the anchor line. I get the other boat to use there gaffs to lift the anchor line and have them pull it over a stern cleat to hold it up. I tell the captain to motor away from our stern so as to lift the line - they gun the engine and about 100 yards out manage to pull the line up with the anchor ball. We can see the crew at the stern and they lift Marty up and began trying to free him from the line. We are all screaming for them to just cut the line - which they finally do. We contact the Coast Guard an inform them that Marty is out of the water on board the other vessel – and ask them to send help. The other boat motors up to our stern and I scream at them to head for the Coast Guard at top speed – we cannot do anything we are disabled. The Captain hears me and motors off towards Montauk harbor.

We are still disabled and Cody is in shock – he is still functioning but flips between hysterics and a weird calm. I tell him we need to clear off the deck – stow all the fishing rods and other crap so that we can get help. I also order Jim and Cody to put on their life vests. I get Cody into a life vest immediately and then assist Jim who is having problems - the life vest is too small for him. After much tugging and pulling I get the vest on Jim and strap him in. I then don a life vest and we get back to clearing the gear. I also contact the Coast Guard and remind them that we are completely disabled and need assistance – they respond by telling us a boat is on the way.

The weather is now getting worse – wind has picked up dramatically and the waves are building, Cody is back and forth between trying to clear the propeller, putting away gear and calling out on the radio. I get him to change frequencies at least so we could monitor channel 16 with one radio and still find out about a tow or rescue ship on the other channel.

The Coast Guard is initially unable to give us an ETA on a rescue ship so I start the process of getting Jim and Cody into survival suits. Cody is resistant to this saying the boat is not going to sink. I have my fears and was very concerned that things could get much worse for us. As I am trying to squeeze Jim into his survival suit we finally hear the Coast Guard tell us that their ship has a 10 minute ETA to our location. I make the decision that we would be able to survive for that short a time if the ship did go down without a suit (and because we just could not get Jim into the suit any way) so we stop working on the suits.

About 10 minutes later we start hearing an engine but cannot get a visual on the Coast Guard due to the now heavy rain and sleet. We spot a ship a few minutes a later and I get out on the deck with a flare to make sure they could see us. The ship arrives and the Coast Guard tells us that they have another ship on the way to take us off the boat. They were going to tow our boat once the second Coast Guard vessel took us off.

I tell Cody that he is going off 1st, then Jim and I would follow once they were safe on the Coast Guard boat. The 2nd Coast guard boat arrives and we are all safely put on board.

During the entire time we are waiting on our disabled boat, Cody kept his head and listened to my instructions. He calmly put the fishing gear away in the proper place and assisted with the life gear. My idea was to keep him as busy as possible because we could see he was very close to hysterics and we were still in a tight spot. I figured that he could not think if he had to do stuff so I tried my best to get him working. He did everything he needed to do as did Jim.

After reflection it became clear that Marty was tangled in the anchor line well below the surface. By constantly taking slack out of the line he was lifting the anchor and the lobster pots – so the whole mess was off the bottom when he became ensnared. The line connecting the lobster pots acted like a giant rubber band – stretching up from the ocean floor from the point where the anchor was caught – Marty was lifting everything up with the boat and when he got tangled it just pulled him and the anchor ball under the water. By the time we got him out of the water he had been submerged at least 5 to 10 minutes. He shot straight down and never resurfaced as he was pulled by the heavy string of lobster pots.

You can see what I mean in the illustration – the lobster pots are off the bottom and the anchor is caught on the line holding the pots together.

lob.JPG


Once we got back to the Coast Guard station (and the ride back was nasty – the Coast Guard boat had waves break right over it) they took out statements and told Cody that his father was dead. He was crying as was Jim and I was in complete shock. It was a horrible situation and one that will haunt Jim and me forever.

Jim will likely add some more details
 
Some of you might read some newspaper articles - they are inaccurate. Specifically, he was not deploying the anchor when this happened
 
This is definitely the worst thing that has ever happened to me. This was the first time I have ever "met" Captain Ahab too.

Ahab,
You kept Cody and myself inline and focused. There were a couple of times in this ordeal that Captain had to raise his voice and make us refocus. Thank you! :beer:
 
My God what a horrible, horrible ordeal for you to have gone through. I am so very saddened about the loss of your new friend and so gratefull that the three of you are all safe now. What a tragic experience to suffer though. I wish you all the best as you continue to recover from this terribly sad accident.
 
My God, Dave. I'm so sorry to hear about this. My prayers go out to young Cody and his family. I hope they will be okay. What a horrible tradgedy. I'm glad you were there and managed to keep everyone together, but this one really hit home for me. Things can happen so incredibly fast out there, and it's almost impossible to be prepared for every possibility, but we all need to keep these things in mind whenever we're anywhere near the water or a boat.
Brent
 
Wow. I can't even fathom what it was like being on that boat helpless. I've been in combat several times, so I kinda know the feeling, but it really hits home when you have to keep everyone's wits about them, even your own, especially when you have his bravest follower on board. Words can never show the remorse that is due, but if any of you guys need ANYTHING, please don't hesitate to contact me... even if you just need someone to talk to, I'm available 24-7.

I pray that Cody will be able to overcome this ordeal, as the rest of his family, but he's going to need our support and prayers.

Cody became a man that day, and I can only imagine the hurt going through his young heart as he see his fearless leader become helpless against God's creation.

Capt - you definitely showed your "military" bearing out there, even though you were hurting as much as they were. You saved more lives than you are aware of.

Jim - I feel for ya man, I really do.
 
My heart aches for the McMillan family and you guys as well, i know if something like that were to happen to me it would haunt me for a long time. Please If you guys need anything and I can help don't be afraid to ask.
 
I can't find words adequate at this time, so I'll just say my prayers go out to everyone touched by this tragedy. [-o<

Mark
 
Takes a lot to make me cry but this is truely one of them times .. God Bless you Cody and Thank God you 3 are alive and well . May God take Marty home .
Dave thanks so much for keeping your head .
 
Wow what a horrible ordeal. I don't know what to say other than my thoughts and prayers are with you guys and especially Cody and his family.

Way to stay calm and collective Captain. You definitely kept a bad situation from becoming much worse.
 
I'll send prayers out to Marty and his family. Dave and Jim, I can only hope that I would react half as well as you did. My prayers are also with you guys.
 
Guys, words could never do this tragedy justice... May God keep both of you and the entire McMillan family. Prayers sent out for each of you!
 
What an awful tragedy !!! My heart goes out to Cody and his family. Their loss is incomprehensible. I have no words that can adequately express my thoughts.

Dave, I know now why I always felt comfortable with you on the water.
 
I'm speechless. That was such a horrible event. I am very sorry. Everyone is in my prayers. [-o<
 
Im at a loss for words, thats just awful. I cant imagine being in that situation, and hope im never faced with it. My prayers and condolences to everyone involved.
 

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