What happened on that boat?

You know, this isn’t adding up for me.

Now clearly if you turn your boat over 40 miles out you’re in deep, deep shit.  However, according to Nick Schuyler, the only one to be rescued, they were able to swim underneath, retrieve life jackets, and put them on.

uscgrescueOK, now you’ve got four guys in excellent physical condition (football players, after all) wearing life jackets and hanging onto the edge of a 21-foot capsized boat.  Then they “became separated.”

How?!?

Why the hell would anyone let go of the boat?  Wouldn’t it occur to them fairly quickly that the boat a) greatly increased their visibility; and b) afforded a possible mechanism for delaying hypothermia a bit?  Moreover, if the boat finally did sink, wouldn’t it occur to them that four bright orange life jackets would be easier to see from the air than one?

Mind, I’ve never been stranded 40 miles out in the ocean, and I rather doubt I’d react well to it.  I would guess that linear thinking would be scarce for a minute or five.  But after I have a life jacket on, isn’t it “all right, we’re OK for the moment.  Let’s work the problem.”

Right?  What am I missing?

According to the news story, Schuyler is having trouble speaking because of dehydration and hypothermia.  I hope he recovers soon.  We can’t possibly have all of this story.

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11 thoughts on “What happened on that boat?”

  1. My Navy experience tells me that most black kids can’t swim, and given that those guys were top athletes, their body fat %’s were likely very low which decreases their natural bouyancy and increases the rate at which they lose body heat. Chances are they succumbed to hypothermia, lost consciousness, lost their grip on the boat, drifted off and drowned.

    Reply
  2. Well, if Schuyler is retelling it correctly, it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t swim because they all successfully donned life jackets.

    But, OK. The water was warm. I haven’t seen anything definite, but poking around online leads me to believe it was probably 75 or 76 ºF. However, that’s not quite warm enough to make hypothermia a non-factor. (That number seems to be 80.)

    So maybe they didn’t think (or didn’t know) it would happen to them–i.e. didn’t grasp the importance of taking shifts on top of the boat now and again–and it happened the way you describe. But would you retell that as “became separated”?

    I really doubt this is over.

    Reply
  3. Depending on your size and density, a life jacket may not necessarily keep your head above water but I was thinking the water and air temps were cooler than what you mentioned.

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  4. Given that initially the men were able to retrieve self-preservation items from the over-turned boat it seems odd that they wouldn’t have made it another 30 hours like Schuyler. Guessing gets me no where fast so I’m interested to hear the first-hand account from Schuyler.

    Take the elements, fear, confusion, exhaustion, and random luck – there could be an infinite number of ways to have lost grip on the boat.

    Reply
  5. I read another article earlier that stated that after the boat rolled in the 7 to 15 ft swells, William Bleakley swam under and retrieved 3 life vests and one seat cushion. Schuyler and the two black guys ( Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith) took the life vests and Bleakley took the cushion. Cooper and Smith drifted off first and then Bleakley sometime later.

    Reply
  6. In 7 to 15 ft swells they could have been knocked unconscious by debris. It would be pretty easy to become disoriented under those conditions. Especially if alcohol was a factor.

    Reply

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