I cannot recall just how many times my pager had sounded just as my wife said that dinner was nearly ready. It almost seemed it went with the job as a search and rescue crew with the Port Colborne Marine Auxiliary Unit based at Sugarloaf Marina.
This was one of my early taskings and as my crew was on call, dinner was forgotten as I changed into sea going gear then drove down to the marina. When I arrived, our Coxswain was already aboard ‘POCOMAR 1’ receiving information from Prescot Coastguard Radio regarding this Mayday call. A fellow crew member arrived very soon after and we began the engine checks and preparations to prepare to sail.
Once the Coxswain had received the briefing from Prescot Radio, and accepted the mission, he briefed us, his crew (as a volunteer unit, Canadian Coast Guard never directs our SAR vessels to sail but offers our Coxswains the choice of accepting a tasking or not, depending on the Coxswain's assessment of local weather conditions and any other factors that may come under consideration).
There is a shallow reef adjacent to Nickel Beach, to the east of the access to Lake Erie via the Welland Canal. It extends out from Cassidy Point to the 2 Mile Buoy. There was a small boat, without power, anchored on the far side of this reef and taking on water, with three people onboard. Weather conditions were not good—not a gale, but a good strong wind with 4-to-5-foot waves. Nothing that ‘POCOMAR 1’ couldn’t handle, but not the best conditions to be out on the water.
So off we set. Although our usual duty crew was eight strong, on this occasion as no one else had had time to respond the Coxswain was content to leave with just a crew of three, not unusual, and because of the safety concerns of those on the small boat, the right decision to make.
Once we cleared the canal and were on Lake Erie we could actually see and feel the weather conditions and what we were dealing with. Not very nice at all.
‘POCOMAR 1’ had a draft of about three feet, so we could not sail directly towards the distress vessel but had to head out towards the 2 Mile Buoy to clear the shallow reef then head back inshore to our target.
Each time our bow went under we had waves breaking over the wheelhouse and when the stern dropped, we had Lake Erie coming in over the stern, then streaming out as the stern lifted.
It makes no rational sense, but these are the times when those who really love being at sea can only wonder and be totally awed by it all.
Once we had cleared the reef and turned and ran with the weather it became easier, and we were soon close to our distress vessel.
Our Coxswain stopped clear of the distress vessel to assess the situation, then decide what to do and brief his crew, before we moved to assist them, a normal and necessary standard operating procedure.
The weather conditions made it impractical, even dangerous, to get close enough to actually make contact with the distress vessel and physically pass over a towline to them or even get close enough to offer advice and directions as to what we intended to do and what we expected from them.
This compounded by the fact that their marine VHF radio was not working, so cellphones were how our Coxswain was communicating with them, complicated by the fact that those on the distress vessel were, quite understandably, wanting to keep family and friends informed of their situation, so cellphone communications were a bit spotty.
To pass a towline was pretty simple. We were close enough to toss a throw bag with a line attached, which they received easily, so they were able to haul in a towline and secure it.
So we began the tow, understanding that all three aboard the distress vessel were okay, one of them operating a manual bilge pump, whilst another was baling water over the side.
The tow was very short lived. As our Coxswain received a call, telling him they could not keep up with the water coming in, us two crew members, focused on watching the tow from ‘POCOMAR 1’, saw three folks, and a dog, all jump into the water as the distress vessel all too quickly disappeared below the waves.
We immediately cut the towline, as we didn’t really fancy having ‘POCOMAR 1’ pulled under by the sinking vessel. The rest was easy.
The Coxswain took us back to those in the water and we recovered them without incident. And the dog. All were wearing their PFDs, including the dog, and we were able to safely deliver them to the EMS services, who had been alerted by Prescot Coastguard Radio, when we arrived back in Sugarloaf Marina.
This is just one example of what these lovely volunteers do, and continue to do, mostly without our communities even being aware of it.
