The crew aboard Crowley Maritime Corporation’s tugboat Guard recently rescued a man who was struggling to stay afloat in the waters outside of San Francisco Bay.
BC Staff Report
Published: December, 2012
The crew aboard Crowley Maritime Corporation’s tugboat Guard recently rescued a man who was struggling to stay afloat in the waters outside of San Francisco Bay.
The rescue took place during the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 31, while the tugboat was standing by outside the Golden Gate Bridge, waiting to escort a tanker into San Francisco Bay’s anchorage. Crowley’s Perry Overton, captain of the Guard, noticed the man treading water a little more than a mile and a half from the bridge.
Working quickly, the crew first tossed the man a life ring. Then, Crowley’s Chief Engineer Keith Madding donned a survival suit and entered the 55-degree waters to help the fatigued man climb the Guard’s emergency ladder. Realizing the man was likely suffering from hypothermia, the crew removed the man’s wet clothing once he was on board and wrapped him in warm blankets until the Coast Guard arrived and could perform other life-saving treatments.
Following the rescue, the Guard resumed escort duties on the tanker, bringing it to its destination as scheduled.
Ranger Shannon Jay, of the National Park Service at Golden Gate National Parks in the San Francisco Bay area, who is assisting the San Francisco Police Department in the investigation of this incident, said of the Crowley crew: "These guys are heroes and without a doubt saved that man’s life. In the 20-plus years of my career, I have never seen such a professional rescue by non-professional-rescuers." He added that the event should be considered "a tribute to the training they received and also to the crew for quickly and diligently using their training. They are true heroes."
The Guard’s crew has been nominated by the National Park Service for a Citizen’s Award for Bravery, which is an honor awarded by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
"On behalf of everyone here at Crowley, I want to congratulate this brave crew for putting their training to good use to perform the vital measures needed to save this man’s life," said Crowley Senior Vice President Rocky Smith.
In addition to meeting defined regulatory training requirements, Crowley’s crewmembers participate annually in the Crowley Safety Program, a custom training event designed exclusively for mariners. The program provides training in cold-water survival tactics, shipboard firefighting, medical incident handling and other relevant topics, giving the mariners the skills and confidence they need to survive in emergency situations. Within the past year, the Guard’s crew members participated in an additional in-water training that required the use of immersion suits to understand techniques for man-overboard and other water rescues.
In 2006, another Crowley crew aboard the Guard was also recognized for responding to a remote house fire on Vashon Island, Washington. The Guard is one of two Crowley tugs equipped with emergency response capabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1906, Crowley has providing tug services in U.S. West Coast waterways, and today the company serves the entire Bay Area.
