A Trainee Puts Cold-Water Survival Training to Work
On August 26, 2016, the fishing vessel Tyler began taking on water approximately 60 miles off the coast of Maine with four people on board, including a fisheries observer who had completed our Offshore Marine Safety Training just weeks earlier.
As the captain contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, the observer put that training into action—gathering survival suits, the flare kit, and the life raft at the muster station, then helping operate a dewatering pump delivered by a Coast Guard helicopter. Their efforts bought the crew the time they needed to slow the flooding and safely return to Gloucester.
The account below is their firsthand description of the incident. In our line of work, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing skills practiced during training become the actions that help keep a crew safe when it matters most.
