Sounds like a story there... What kind of boat? What happened? You must have been wearing rubber?
It was October and Karen and I planned to do some scuba diving. Karen was a fairly new diver and this was to be her first dive from a boat. The plan was to leave out of Waukegan harbor and do the wrecks out in Lake Michigan that were sitting in 60-80feet of water.
A few days before the dive the original charter canceled on us due to boat problems. Another person who had booked with us knew another boat and got us on it. The plan was now to leave out of the Evanston marina and dive the Wells Burt, a ship that had sunk about a 100 years earlier, just three miles offshore in 50 feet of water. The night before the dive was a windy, raining, October storm. We felt for sure the dive would be canceled but the WX cleared about 4 am. Dive departure was 7am. We packed up and headed to Evanston.
The boat was a small single engine open boat and as we checked in we inquired to the conditions. The capt indicated that it was 3-4 footers out there and it would be fine. To be fair I had been diving to 8-10 footers off of West Palm Beach plenty of times. While not being comfortable 3-4 footers did not bother me. So we loaded up and off we went.
It was a bit rougher than 3-4 it was more like 5-7. In Lake Michigan they are short period waves, not rollers and it was a rough ride. The sky was overcast and it was gloomy. I was looking forward to getting under the water so that I could be less queasy. There was no horizon at all to be seen but I could see the Chicago skyline just to our south.
We got to the dive site and set the anchor. I started getting geared up and helping Karen, all was pretty normal until I was handed a life preserver. That is not a normal event and I noticed then that I was ankle deep in water. I put on my life preserver and made sure Karen was set. I started paying close attention to all that was happening. The capt was on the radio giving our position. We dropped the anchor to get going ASAP and turned west and headed in at high speed. Shortly thereafter the engine died.
By this time there was a lot of water on the deck, the capt tried to start the engine, twice, then picked up the radio mic and called "MAYDAY, MAYDAY...." a wave then hit the boat and we went over. I heard someone say "here we go", I looked down as the edge of the boat dipped into the water and I kinda of leaped away for fear that the other side of the boat would hit me.
As the boat completely capsized my left leg got caught in the gunwale and I was dragged under. My head kept going under as I tried to free myself and I swallowed some water, I got free but by this time my life preserver had come off of my head. I started to swim to it but it was going away from the wreckage and everyone else. So I decided to swim back to the wreckage and other people.
As I swam back I started counting heads in the water, 1,2,3,4,5... One was missing. So I started calling people's names, all but Karen answered. I started calling for her but she did not answer. I could not see very far as the waves blocked my view. In fact they blocked my view of the Chicago skyline. From about four miles away I could not even see the John Hancock building. It was like being in IMC without a compass there was no way to figure out what direction to go in. But at that time I was more worried about Karen.
Maybe 45 seconds later she appeared, she had been trapped under some of the wreckage. She did not know how to get out and she decided to 'swim to the light'. So now we were all accounted for. The water was cold, 4 of us were in 7mm wetsuits, 2 in drysuits and the capt in street clothes. I had no hood or gloves on and neither did Karen.
The wreckage was breaking up and there were cables tangling around our legs, we dodged pieces of the wreck that would break apart and sink. We tried to stay together in hopes that when the Coast Guard arrived we would be easy to spot.
It was about 45 minutes later that the first Coast Guard boat arrived. They had a difficult approach do to the waves and bits of flotsam from us all about. But the got close and started pulling people out based on how badly hypothermic they were. I was the third from the last to get out.
By that time my hands refused to work and I was having a hard time thinking. It was 1.5 hours since our Mayday call, I would find out later.
There is some shore stuff that followed our safe return. The owner of the boat refused to give anyone his insurance info, he told us to contact our homeowners insurance and his apology was "SH%^ Happens", I decided right then I was getting lawyer. We had lost a lot of gear and our car keys. We had no way to even get home and this smuck of owner was not even offering rides.
Another boat had heard our mayday and had also responded to the spot, on that boat was a friend of mine and he saw my BCD that had the car keys in it. So he recovered it and brought me my keys so we were able to get home. Sometimes it is a small world.
The Coast Guard cited the capt for taking the charter out during a small craft advisory and for not having a safe boat. The boat, it turns out, was a flat bottom surf boat. It was also not the first encounter the CG had with this owner. The previous year he had a charter and a storm blew up while he had divers down. So he left the diver site and notified the CG to come out and pick up his divers, NICE GUY HUH? His reason was the boat was not safe in the rough conditions. The year before that he had killed an employee of his when he ran over them with the dive boat. I knew none of this at the time of our charter and only learned it through our lawyer.
The reason the boat owner did not want to give out his insurance was because he had "fraudulently obtained" his insurance. He had told his insurer it was a recreational vessel, not a commercial one. The insurance company denied all claims. We drafted a lawsuit. I went to deliver it to him with an ultimatum, "Lawsuit or store credit for my lost equipment", his choice.
He balked on this for a while but I had showed up at his store 30 minutes before he had a class starting and stood there as his students arrived talking loudly about how he had almost killed me, Karen, and others. He finally let me take store credit, I just started picking stuff up of the walls until it added up to what I had lost and then left.
I then made it my mission in life to get this guy out of business. I visited every dive shop in the Chicago and Milwaukee area telling them of the story, handing out literature about this guy, I even took the time to attend a scuba show he was at to educate the public that were coming into his booth. I went to the regional mangers of the scuba equipment he carried and told them the story and asked them why they wanted to be associated with such a criminal.
He did go out of business in less than a year later, I like to think I helped and in the process saved a few people. He is now a High School principal at a Kenosha school, SIGH!
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) and sinking on another one in Lake Michigan and spending almost an hour and half in 50 degree water hoping our mayday was heard.
