Daring Swim Saves 18 From Capsized Boat : Rescue: After five hours clinging to vessel off L.A. Harbor, man goes for help. A boy, 3, dies in the tragedy.

After five hours in the ocean clinging to his capsized boat and fearing his family and friends would die in the cold nighttime waters just outside Los Angeles Harbor, a 32-year-old father of six decided to swim through the choppy seas for help.

But by the time rescuers arrived, a 3-year-old boy was dead and three other youngsters required hospitalization for hypothermia.

The terror began four hours after 19 people from three families crammed onto a pleasure boat for a Sunday afternoon fishing jaunt. Perhaps because too many people were on board or perhaps for some other reason, the 24-foot craft overturned 1 1/2 miles outside the harbor.

Seeing the lights on shore but unable to get the attention of other boaters, the five adults in the fishing party desperately clutched 13 of the 14 children, all of them hanging onto the crippled craft. Rafael Pacheco held his 10-month-old daughter, Ashley, to his chest, trying to keep her warm in the 65-degree water.

“We went down so fast, we couldn’t grab anything but our kids,” said Pacheco, who was a varsity swimmer in high school.

With his weeping wife, Karen, begging him not to leave her and the children, the La Puente man dived from the overturned hull when it became clear that no passing vessels would see the boat and the people bobbing in two-foot swells. He believed they could not survive the night in the cold water.

After swimming less than a mile, Pacheco reached the fishing vessel Fish Tank. Within 20 minutes, the Coast Guard found the group, still holding onto the floating remains of the boat.

It was then they discovered that 3-year-old Adam Romero was trapped in the submerged cabin, clad in a red T-shirt, shorts, one sandal and a helmet--his life vest still strapped to his chest. The boy could not be revived and was pronounced dead at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach.

Three other children remained hospitalized, 10-month-old Ashley Pacheco in critical condition.

Coast Guard officials were investigating the cause of the accident, Petty Officer Trent Jones said. They will examine whether the boat was overloaded, the possible use of alcohol, construction of the vessel, and the experience of the ship’s captain, Anthony Romero of La Puente, who had owned the craft for more than a year.

Romero and Pacheco had been planning the outing for several weeks. Each man would bring his entire family, they had decided. They would spend a leisurely afternoon at sea, fishing and letting their kids dip their hands in the water.

About 6 p.m., feeling content with the day, they decided to call it quits and return to shore. Romero started putting away the fishing poles and clearing gear from the cluttered deck of the 21-year-old Sabrecraft.

But before Romero could turn on the motor, the craft was slammed by a wave from a larger vessel passing by, Rafael Pacheco said. Squealing, all those aboard ran to one side of the boat, hoping to avoid a drenching.

With all the weight on one side, the boat tipped over, tumbling its passengers into the sea. There was no time to grab flares, radios or flashlights, Pacheco said.

“We were all terrified,” said Karen Pacheco, 29. She had only one thought: “I’ve got to save the kids; I’ve got to save my family.”

Each adult tried to make sure their young charges were safe. The Pachecos quickly found their six youngsters--from 10-year-old Breann to tiny Ashley.

Romero’s friend Jim Laing, 30, grabbed his nephew and cousin. Romero and his wife, Caroline, searched the waters but could only find five of their six children. Panic washed over them when they realized that 3-year-old Adam had disappeared.

The families grasped the sides of the overturned boat, not realizing that Adam was still trapped beneath it. They could see other boats in the distance, said Rafael Pacheco, and several times he thought he spotted Coast Guard vessels, but they never came close enough to see the group.

“There were a lot of boats out there, but they were too far to hear our screams,” he said.

Cold, wet and scared, the children began to weep, asking their parents the impossible. “Take me home,” each pleaded, Pacheco said. “They were screaming, crying, saying, ‘I want to go home.’ ”

Karen Pacheco held onto several children while Rafael hugged the 10-month-old to his chest, trying to keep her warm as the sun set and the water started to feel colder and colder.

“They cried themselves to sleep,” Rafael Pacheco said. “But they woke up each time a current hit the boat.”

Finally, Pacheco decided he had to swim for help or they would all die. But his wife thought his mission would end only with his death.

“Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!” she screamed.

Pacheco was adamant.

“I have to. I have to,” he told her. “It’s our only chance.

“I secured my babies. I said, ‘You guys hold onto each other and don’t let go. I’ll be back,’ ” Pacheco said.

“I can’t stay here, Karen,” he told his wife.

With that, he swam off into the night in the direction of a small fishing boat he had spotted about three-fourths of a mile away.

Stroking through the choppy waters, Pacheco felt numb with cold and fear.

“I had to make it. My babies, my friends, my kids’ friends--they were all out there. I had to make it,” he said. “I didn’t feel nothing. Swim. Get out of there. Get some help.”

Exhausted, he finally reached the fishing boat and was pulled aboard.

“My boat went over! Just call the Coast Guard! Everybody is freezing,” he told his rescuers.

Pacheco wanted to let his wife know that help was on the way. He asked for a flashlight and signaled to her--hoping she would realize what the flashing light meant. At 11:20 p.m., the Coast Guard received the radio call for help.

Within 20 minutes, boats from the Coast Guard, Long Beach Fire Department and Los Angeles City Fire Department reached the families.

When all the survivors had been pulled from the water, Los Angeles Firefighter John Burgan donned scuba gear and dived beneath the ill-fated boat. There, he saw Adam Romero, pinned against the inside of a storage area, floating in about three feet of water.

“I grabbed him and brought him to the surface, and gave him mouth-to-mouth,” Burgan said. “I thought he may have been underwater less than 30 minutes. I assumed there was every chance that we could revive him.”

At Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, a 4-year-old girl was listed in fair condition Monday with hypothermia but was expected to be released today or Wednesday, said hospital spokesman Ron Yukelson. Initially in critical condition, she was being treated in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit after suffering seizures.

At St. Mary’s Medical Center, two other children, 10-month-old Ashley and a 4-year-old girl, remained in intensive care in the pediatrics unit, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Despite his harrowing swim, Pacheco declined treatment.