Coast Guard Braves a ‘Perfect Storm’ to Save 34 Sailors

The winds blew harder and the waves soared higher as the Coast Guard helicopter crew flew toward a ship in trouble off the Virginia coast.

When they neared the pitching deck of the cruise ship SeaBreeze I, they peered through driving rain to find dozens of crew members soaked and terrified, huddling on the stern deck as waves as high as a four-story building pounded the ship.

During the next 45 minutes, one of the most dramatic rescues in Coast Guard history unfolded, as Coast Guard crew plucked 34 people off the deck Sunday afternoon in a situation that verged on chaos. The Coast Guard’s orderly plan to ferry 17 crewmen in each of two helicopters soon collapsed as panicked sailors wrestled each other to get into a rescue basket dangling over the deck.

In the end, the Coast Guard jammed 26 crew members inside a single helicopter designed to carry six. Things were so cramped that some survivors screamed in pain on the way to shore, rescuers said. Eight other survivors, including the ship’s captain, were flown to safety aboard a second helicopter that arrived as the first left the scene.

“We were saying prayers before, during and afterwards,” said Lt. j.g. Craig Neubecker, 31, co-pilot of the first helicopter. “We were just thanking the Lord that we were able to save all 34 people and bring them home for the holidays.”

The rescue operation aboard the SeaBreeze I, a decommissioned ship owned by the creditors of a bankrupt company, took place in 70-knot winds. Even Coast Guard officers are describing it as a real-life version of “The Perfect Storm.”

The service confirmed Monday that the SeaBreeze I sank after the rescue mission. A trail of debris floating on the swells was all that remained.

The call from the distressed ship to the Coast Guard command center in Portsmouth, Va., came in about 11:30 a.m. during what was a routine day, despite the rough weather offshore. With a skeleton crew, the SeaBreeze I was headed to Charleston, S.C., when a line that pumps seawater into the boat to cool the engines ruptured, filling the engine compartment with water, said Coast Guard spokesman James B. McPherson.

Neubecker and three other crew members prepared a helicopter to fly to the ship, 200 miles east of Cape Henry, Va. The helicopters have a range of 300 miles in normal conditions. Sunday, however, was not normal. A band of thunderstorms and fog reduced visibility; the high waves obscured the vessel until rescuers were nearly upon it.

What they saw was dire: Waves occasionally crashing over the bow of the SeaBreeze I, which was listing 15 degrees. Without power, the vessel wallowed helplessly.

The helicopter tried to hover 30 feet above the ship, but “the winds were just kicking us like crazy,” Neubecker said, and the helicopter struggled to stay aloft, anywhere from 15 to 50 feet above the heaving deck.

That was when Petty Officer Darren Reeves swung into action. His job was to board the vessel and help crew members get in the basket that would hoist them to safety.

Reeves, 40, said that once he and his rescue basket were lowered to the deck, pandemonium broke out among the panicked crew--an international group from Central America, Greece, the Philippines and elsewhere.

The basket, designed to carry one person, can safely but uncomfortably accommodate two.

“Everybody started to try to jump in at once,” Reeves said. “They were arguing and pushing and shoving each other. I had to pull them off. If I hadn’t been there, five or six of them would have been hanging on.”

Reeves said he took a large kitchen knife one crew member had tucked in his belt and threw it away. He said everyone had luggage, but he only allowed them to bring one or two small bags.

Intending to hoist just 17 people into the helicopter, Reeves said he lost count in the chaos. The pilot kept radioing him “two more,” and Reeves kept them coming, even as the shuddering ship threw him flat on his back.

Only much later, when they had almost reached land, did the anxiety subside. “A lot of them squeezed my hand,” Reeves said. “It was like we’d spent time bonding, and everyone was smiling at each other.”