7 Scouts, 2 Adults Rescued as Boat Sinks Off Santa Catalina

Seven Explorer Sea Scouts and two adults were rescued after the 72-foot ketch Mariner they were aboard began taking on water and quickly sank eight miles off Santa Catalina Island, authorities said Saturday.

Los Angeles County Lifeguard Lt. Paul McIlroy said four boys and three girls, ranging in age from 15 to 18, and two adults were rescued shortly after 7:30 p.m. Friday after the crew aboard the Mariner broadcast a distress call.

McIlroy said no one was injured.

Their adult adviser, Robert Fagnant, came from a below-deck inspection about 7:30 p.m. and calmly told Shawn Wehan, 15, that the sailboat was leaking badly and sinking.

Wehan was trained in Sea Scout radio skills and Fagnant told him to put out a “Mayday call” for help and prepare to leave the rapidly sinking vessel.

“I didn’t have time to be scared,” said Wehan, who was standing in the water that flooded the boat as he made the radio calls. “You can’t panic in that kind of situation. And I knew what to do.”

Fagnant said the leak apparently was caused when the caulking that sealed the hull’s wooden planks failed. He said the boat, built in the 1940s on the East Coast and originally used as an oyster fishing boat on Chesapeake Bay, received $9,000 worth of repairs and was overhauled only two months ago. The Mariner had been extensively water tested after the maintenance, and no problems were evident, he said.

The boat was donated to the Sea Scouts for training cruises about nine years ago, Fagnant said. He estimated the value at about $30,000.

The Sea Scouts are a branch of the Boy Scouts of America designed to train boys and girls from ages 14 to 21 in seamanship and safety, Hunter said.

Mickey Hunter, director of the Sea Scout base in Newport Beach, said the the Mariner, which is owned by the Boys Scouts’ Orange County Council in Santa Ana, was headed from Dana Point for an overnight trip to Catalina.