ISLESFORD SURVIVORS

Good luck played a part, but safety training and equipment were decisive in saving the lives of two Islesford lobstermen when their boat caught fire in the open Atlantic.

Fortunately, Jack Merrill and his sternman, Les Ricker of Mount Desert, were not alone out between Duck Islands and Mount Desert Rock. Several other Cranberry Isles lobstermen were also fishing those deep waters where lobsters are plentiful in late fall and winter. The visibility was excellent, so others could see the smoke and flames when Bottom Dollar’s engine caught fire. And wind and chop were mild for a change. If it had been stormy, and if the snow shower and whiteout over near Jonesport had spread west, it could have been a different story.

The flames had disabled the radio and ruled out a call of help. Another crew saw the trouble and summoned the Coast Guard, which had a vessel there within a half hour to help in an unsuccessful effort to save the sinking lobster boat.

So the two men were on their own. But they had their survival suits handy, stowed with shock cord under the wheelhouse roof. When their fire extinguishers and buckets of sea water couldn’t put out the blaze, they fashioned a makeshift life raft out of buoys stuffed into a lobster crate, quickly donned their survival suits, and jumped overboard.

Joey Wedge of Great Cranberry saw the burning boat from a mile and a half away and his Austin Marie was the first to reach the scene. They had been bobbing in the 46-degree water only about five minutes when he hauled them aboard.

Members of the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-Op on Islesford had arranged last year with McMillan Offshore Survival Training in Belfast for a training course and drill in firefighting, flooding, man overboard, and abandon ship. They practiced climbing into their survival suits quickly and jumping off the dock.

John McMillan, who trained them, says the rubber suits, with closed feet and sleeves and closely fitted around the face, can keep a person afloat, dry and relatively warm for a minimum of six hours and probably as long as a day or more. Without a survival suit, he said a person might last no more than 15 minutes in the cold water.

He and the fishermen praise the Coast Guard for its periodic drills and its frequent boarding of commercial vessels to see that safety gear is on hand and up to date.

Several Cranberry Isles lobstermen had been keeping their survival suits in the cabin or engine room. They have quickly made a change and now stow them on deck.

The episode is a good lesson for all fishermen – and for everyone else who sails the sea – to carry the proper safety gear and practice how to use it.

The Cranberry Isles lobster fleet sets a good example for the industry. And another advantage is the readiness of these local fishermen to help one other in time of trouble and to prepare for unexpected emergencies.