Squid boat crew's salvation at sea

David Lund felt the heat bleeding from his body. An "internal cold," he called it. Bone-numbing. And getting worse by the minute.

The second-generation fishing boat captain lay in a wind-whipped life raft, the spray of 15-foot seas pooling at his feet. Around him sat his crew of six, shivering in survival suits as they bailed the 38-degree Atlantic from their tiny craft.

There have been some nasty seas this winter. Glad to see they were prepared. I hope they follow up on this story, I'd like to see what happened to the boat.

They were probably fishing the 50-500 fathom slope. The long wreck trips out of Brielle fish the shallow edge this time of year for sea bass.

God bless the USCG. Those guys do damned fine work.

A dive instructor of mine once told of being on a ratty old boat that started taking on water. The pumps were shot, and the boar was sinking, so they called the Coast Guard.

Not too long after, a C-130 flew by, and performed a pinpoint drop of a spotlessly clean pump, which kept them afloat until a cutter could show up.

Stuff like this is what they do, day in and day out, and we never pay much attention to it.

When I was in college myself and friend took his boat out of Manasquan Inlet and down to Barnegat. We hit some really rough seas coming back at dark and just south of Point Pleasant we hit a floating piece of timber which compromised the hull of our vessel. We were taking on water but managed to get back into Manasquan where his vessel sank that night.

Looking back on it now, I realized just how close we had come to disaster. Carelessness combined with stupid youthful bravado almost dunked us in the cold Atlantic, at night with a very long swim to shore. If it hadn't been for a little timely good luck, we would have been praying for help from the Coast Guard.

I always respect the Coast Guard and the hard work they do, often with little publicity or acclaim. They are the last line of defense between being lost at sea and getting back to landlubber status.

They have saved countless mariners from certain death and a whole bunch of careless dummies like us too.

Also want to throw a shout out to our fishermen, lobstermen and clammers. They work like dogs in often dangerous conditions and keep coming back for more. They are a hearty breed and keep the old New Jersey coastal traditions alive in a modern world that too often forgets them.

Nice post.

If you haven't seen it yet, you may want to stop at the Manasquan inlet on the Point Pleasant Beach side and visit the Fishermen's Memorial which was built a couple of years ago to honor the memory of those lost at sea from this area. It is quite touching and list the names of each of the men who died over the years.

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