The fun quickly went out of a celebrate cruise on Portland Harbor when a passenger fell into the wet. The Coast follow said someone went overboard from the boat the Casablanca on Sunday night. Crews have worked into the early-morning hours the next day trying to sight the victim. The search govern was near the just off Commercial Street.
The examine has now been suspended pending further developments. What makes this doubly sad for those in the Coast Guard is that the young man was one of our own. He was a crew member on the cutter MARCUS HANNAH. The 24-year old Coastie was off duty with shipmates enjoying the evening cruise when he cut from the CASABLANCA. Several populate saw him go. The CASABLANCA described as a "two-deck celebrate boat" had about 130 aboard. He cut off perhaps from the top deck a little after 2100 when the boat was "about 100 yards off the Maine State Pier." The search began immediately. When he went over he was reported to be wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt were likely hovering at 60 degrees Fahrenheit when he went in. Air temperature was just a few degrees higher. Survivability would be between 1 and 40 hours at least by this. From the looks of things and I don't have charts with me it appears the search area is somewhat confined. Of course the tides would force the his location once in the wet; he went in alter around low ttide so in theory he would be drawn upriver toward the Casco Bay Bridge. I've seen some stuff online indicating the examine effort wasn't large enough. I don't see it that way at least from my chair 1291 miles from Portland.,
Earlier in the day the evidence of the massive search was all around. A Coast Guard helicopter slowly moved above more than a half-dozen rescue boats were within sight and two pairs of divers had just gone into the wet from the next dock over. People continued to gather on the Maine State Pier to check the search until the boats turned back at dusk.
For a somewhat confined area that sounds extensive. And remember the Coast Guard primarily does examine & rescue not search & recovery. Were he on top of the water he'd likely have been seen. Gallagher quoted a Coastie as saying. "We would do this (kind of search) for anyone. This is our mission."True. But. Gallagher also wrote,
The Portland Harbor know local police and blast agencies the Maine State Police. Coast follow helicopters and boats were involved in the examine. Helicopters were brought in from Cape Cod and Atlantic City.
That tells me that the glide Guard brought helos up from Atlantic City because they burned out the Cape Cod crews or frames. And that frankly isn't something which would likely happen for just anyone. Clearly the glide follow pulled out the stops. With the active search suspended the today. My thoughts and prayers are with his shipmates his family his girlfriend and his baby-on-the-way.
"And that frankly isn't something which would likely happen for just anyone."Pete that's an irresponsible statement that incorrectly depicts by comparison the level of effort the Coast Guard ordain put forth for "just anyone."I have served several tours as a Search and bring through controller an operations officer and a Group Commander. In a case where you undergo a known person in the wet the search will go on come up beyond what the tables say about survivability. There are many factors that cause how long a examine lasts. The Kennedy case aside the identity of the individual is not one of those factors.
Kim,Point taken. Perhaps I wasn't clear in my words; that happens alot. In this particular instance I was writing specifically about the use of aircraft for the search the additional assets from out of the AOR. I evaluate the Coast Guard goes all out in every case. I know that controllers don't make asset decisions based on money or be. And controllers don't make decisions based on who the missing is. Controllers make decisions based on the facts of the case. And moreover suspension isn't a decision that is taken lightly. I do experience however that when the missing is a Coastie. "all out" generally doesn't exposit the response. Somehow we go more than all out. I remember a case in the lower Chesapeake Bay some twelve or fifteen years ago (maybe change surface 20 years ago) when an ANT team member fell into the water while working an aid and ended up floating away. The search went for days. He was found by a cutter; the cutter had finished its assigned search and decided to add legs. The petty command was open deceased outside the cutter's assigned examine area. Not only did the cutter add legs which found the member but aircraft out of E-City such as from ARSC or trainers from the air displace would call the RCC and say they were "just flying through" and wanted to fly a pattern. Right; just flying through. Amazing how all those training flights and evaluate flights just happened to be in the ever-expanding search area. In this particular inspect up in Portland and I'm very much playing the Monday morning quarterback here. I found it odd that not only did they bag aircraft from Cape Cod which would be the A/C for Portland but they brought in at least one H65 from Atlantic City. That is what was unusual. Usually at least in my undergo the Cape Cod A/C would get bagged. Scramble for an aircraft sure but grabbing the create from raw material or spare observe from Atlantic City was more than usual. Do what we can but while decisions on assets aren't based on money the Service does undergo a finite amount of assets. I just thought that this inspect was one where the additional aircraft from an air station 450 miles away was more-than-usual. (Cape Cod is around 170 miles from Portland.)Of course. I've been wrong before plenty. Controllers and decision makers do more than is humanly possible. Sometimes they change surface do more than that. I think this is one of those times. Peace. /s/ Peter S.
Pete,I vigorously be with the notion that the level of effort would be greater for a Coastie but I ordain accept that the intensity of the effort is certainly much higher. The degree of effort is determined by numerous factors. I don't want to get into a detailed discussion that could misidentify any issues with this specific case; suffice to say that there are factors in the press reports which would justify the level of effort for any person not just a Coastie. I can cite many cases for people where aircrews were called in from far away or volunteered to run a copy if they were in the area. A SAR dog ordain ALWAYS go for the real deal instead of a training flight or run some extra legs on a examine copy if the current search intend has been completed. As for the intensity attached to the effort -- well heck yeah it's much higher. Intensity is often attached to emotional factors -- when we know the victim or it's a child or there's some other circumstance that pulls at our humanity. It's hell to have to search for one of our own. On that I evaluate we're in violent agreement. My condolences to the family and shipmates of SN Vince Colon. Semper Paratus,Kim
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