Fishing lines sink boat
HK wrote:
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
4 men rescued from Chesapeake Bay
No serious injuries suffered after boat sank off Anne Arundel County
coast
By a Baltimore Sun reporter
7:58 AM EDT, August 6, 2007
Rescuers from federal, state and local agencies pulled four men to
safety early today from the Chesapeake Bay after their boat sank in
choppy waters in southern Anne Arundel County, officials said.
Three of the men were in the water for about three hours and another
was rescued about an hour after a 25-foot Bayliner sank off
Herrington Harbor in Deale. All four were treated at a hospital, but
none suffered serious injuries, officials said.
The first call came in to the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources Police about 10:30 p.m., and crews from that agency and the
U.S. Coast Guard stationed in Annapolis responded. Fire boats from a
volunteer station in Anne Arundel County also headed out.
Petty Officer Joshua Rihm with the U.S. Coast Guard said this morning
that crews had difficulty finding the boat. "It went down pretty
quick," he said, when its propellers got caught in fishing lines that
"pulled the boat down." He said it was raining and waves were one to
two feet.
After about 90 minutes, Rihm said a Coast Guard vessel fired off a
flare to light up the area. "We then heard a voice," Rihm said. "We
heard one guy who stayed next to the boat yelling." He said Anne
Arundel County firefighters rescued that man.
More than an hour later, other crews rescued the three other men who
were in the water, and wearing life jackets.
The name of the boat and identities of the victims were not
immediately available this morning.
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No, *I* won't say it.
What the hell kind of fishing line would do that?
I think it more likely that the boat's prop got tangled in some damned
tangle of crab pot lines, and the boat kept running forward, pulling the
stern down so that waves could flood aboard.
The only nearly serious boating mishap I've had in the last 20 years
involved something similar. I was heading seaward in the St. John's
River in Jax near the riverbank (a huge freighter was heading out, not
too far away) when the lower unit got snagged by some unseen lines under
the water. We could not accelerate away, and the damned freighter was
bearing down on us. At first, I could not figure out what the hell was
wrong, but then I stopped the motor and saw that the lower unit was
caught. The lines were NOT wrapped around the prop. The lines were
damned tight. Fortunately, I had my very sharp fishing knife handy. If I
hadn't been able to free us, the freighter would have.
You are a legend in your own mind.
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