EDITOR'S NOTE: Twenty-five years ago, a tragedy at sea claimed the lives of 31 mariners, giving birth to the Coast Guard's well-known Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Program. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Evanson provides a look back.
The storm was massive, pummeling the small Eastern Shore community of Chincoteague, Va. with gale force winds and mountainous waves. By day's end, the winter storm would claim the lives of 31 mariners, all lost at sea when the S.S. Marine Electric, a 24,000-ton merchant ship, capsized en route to Brayton Point, Mass.
The tragedy, which played out 25 years ago, served as a humbling blow for the U.S. Coast Guard, which was not prepared to respond to the catastrophe. But in the years that followed, the Coast Guard would respond in kind, establishing a helicopter swimmer rescue program that is credited with saving the lives of thousands of men and women left to the mercy of the sea.
Now more than two decades old, the program now has more than 200 swimmers standing ready at every Coast Guard air station in the country. Their work – dropping from a helicopter into some of nature's most terrifying conditions – has become the stuff of legend. Glorified in movies such as "The Perfect Storm" and "The Guardian," they have become the very symbol of marine rescue.
Coast GuardThe 587-foot motor vessel S.S. Marine Electric.
TRAGEDY AT SEA
The program was born of the tragedy aboard the S.S. Marine Electric.
Thirty-four merchant mariners were aboard the 587-foot motor vessel transporting coal, when it left port on Feb. 10, 1983 from Norfolk, Va. The seas awaiting the vessel in the open ocean were in excess of 40 feet. It would have been considered a moderate storm for a vessel in better condition.
But not for the Marine Electric. Built in 1945 as a "liberty ship" tanker, the vessel was later expanded into a bulk carrier twice her former length. Over time the hull had become age-worn and rusted. Less than two days after leaving port, a Coast Guard watch stander in Ocean City, Md., was contacted by the master of the Marine Electric. The vessel was taking on water near the ship's bow.
By 3 a.m., on Feb. 12, the crew was gathered on deck. But as they prepared to abandon ship, the Marine Electric capsized. Thirty-miles from the coast of Chincoteague, the crew was thrown into the frigid Mid-Atlantic waters.
Coast Guard PA1 Donnie BrzuskaCoast Guard Petty Officer 1st class Tony Ariola on a training mission.
At the time, Coast Guard flight crews didn't have the ability to deploy rescue swimmers into the sea to recover people. Rather, a rescue basket was lowered from a helicopter in the vicinity of the victim. The rescue relied almost entirely on the victim mustering the strength to get in the basket. In cold temperatures, where shock and hypothermia were commonplace, this practice often proved futile."¨
When a Coast Guard helicopter crew based at Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived on-scene of the Marine Electric shortly after 5 a.m., the water was flush with strobe lights, yet there were few signs of life.
It was after 6 a.m. when was a Navy rescue swimmer was able to assist with the recovery. The Navy dispatched a helicopter crew from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., which had swimmers trained for search and rescue. One-by-one, with the help of the crew of the 82-foot Coast Guard Cutter Point Highland, the Navy recovered the bodies of the Marine Electric crew from the surface.
A Coast Guard officer who dangled in the dark from a rescue helicopter as he searched the frigid seas for survivors was later recognized for his heroism with a meritorious service award. While he pulled two crewmen from the wrecked ship into the helicopter's rescue basket, both died later."¨
"¨Of the 34-crewmembers aboard the Marine Electric, 27 bodies were recovered; only three survived. The victims were pronounced dead by medical examiners who indicated the many of the sailors survived the initial capsizing only to die of hypothermia in the cold water.
