Close call: Fishing vessel sinks, all hands safe

By Sarah Jane Perry

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Transcontinental Media

LEWISPORTE, N.L. – Newfoundland is a province built around the economics of the sea and with that comes a history riddled with many tragedies on the water. In mid-August, another one was narrowly avoided.

Captain Bobby Noble of Lewisporte and his crew members Harry Pride, Earl Regular, Gary England and Tejay England were on their way home after a haul of shrimp off the coast of Cape Freels. In the early hours of Aug. 16, they discovered their vessel, the Lynette Marie, was taking on water. Not long after they found themselves in the Atlantic Ocean.

The crew had come through some rough weather the previous night, but believed to the best of their knowledge that they had emerged unscathed. That was until Noble was awakened at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of one his crewmembers saying, “We’re sinking.”

Noble had only left the deck at 5 a.m. and was in disbelief that his boat could be sinking, but when he came back up on deck the boat was tipped up and a section of it was already under water.

Still, at this point the idea that he and the crew would have to jump ship did not seem likely. Noble directed the crew to begin pumping out the water.

It was not until water began to come in through the door that Noble realized the pumping was not working and his ship was going down. Now the men worked to get into their survival suits, which are designed to act as both an insulation and floatation device. There was not much time.

Noble had sent out a distress call and a vessel from Fogo Island, the Melissa Lori, led by Captain Rollins Cobb and his crew, were already in sight when the men entered the water. Although that was reassuring, the struggle was not over.

One of the Lynette Marie’s crewmembers, Harry Pride, was unable to get his survival suit on and jumped into the water completely unprotected. Noble and Tejay England supported him in the water until he was pulled aboard the Melissa Lori. Pride had swallowed a lot of water and was later airlifted to James Paton Memorial Health Centre in Gander.

During the ordeal Noble realized that another crewmember, Gary England, was actually swimming away from the boat, perhaps disoriented due to panic. So he and Tejay swam on their backs - connected foot to head - out to where England was. Upon reaching him it was discovered that his survival suit was not completely done up and therefore it was filling with water, causing him to sink.

Noble, with the help of Tejay connected to him, hoisted Gary on top of him in the water to keep him afloat and began asking him questions to keep him calm and make sure he wasn’t going into shock.

“I kept asking him was he okay, was he cold and even what time did he think it was,” said Noble, who went on to say that even though Gary was responding to his questions, it was difficult to decipher whether or not he was actually alright because he could not see his face the crewmember was floating on top of him face up.

Like a true captain, Noble was concerned about the lives of his crew before his own. He was the last to be rescued and tended to his men in the water. Amazingly, he did not show even the slightest signs of fear or panic throughout the whole ordeal, and, as his wife Jillian pointed out, that would not be easy for many people to do.

“It would have been really easy to be selfish and just save yourself,” said Jillian, who added that when the crew stood on dry land after leaving the Melissa Lori, they credited Noble’s bravery and calmness for saving their lives.

But he says it wasn’t about being brave, it was about doing his job, a job for which his crew will be forever thankful.

Noble adds the crew of the Melissa Lori was great and that they showed much bravery, as one of the crewmembers actually fell into the water trying to get a crew member from the Lynette Marie on board.

The Melissa Lori had not even planned to go out at that particular time, because of an undesirable weather forecast, but ultimately decided to go anyway. Had they stuck with their original plan the sinking of the Lynette Marie could have been a different and much more tragic story.

Although they were on the way, the next closest boat run by Noble’s uncle and cousin was two hours away and that might have been too long for most of the men.

The Lynette Marie was Noble’s own boat, which he had skippered for seven years. His wife says it was his home in the summer and with its sinking he lost many material possessions. The only item he went back to get before jumping into the water was his wedding picture. He broke the frame, removed the picture, folded it and placed it in his pocket.

“He told me he took it because he wanted me to know I was the last thing he thought about,” said Mrs. Noble still chocking back tears at the extremely emotional ordeal.

Forty-five minutes from the time Noble advised the Coast Guard in St. John’s that they were going down, the crew was on the Melissa Lori and the Lynette Marie had disappeared beneath the water. Days later, the life ring from the vessel was found 26 miles from where it went under.

Although the loss of the boat is undeniably a sad reality - which stills seems surreal to all those involved - it is a small price to pay for the safety of all the crewmembers.

“Everyone is okay, that’s all that matters,” said Noble.

The event has not deterred the captain from his life as fisherman. He is done for the season but has no doubts that he will back on the water next year doing what he loves. His crew said they would take to the water again in a heartbeat with him as their captain.

The Lynette Marie may be lost but her crew is not and through the ordeal the kindness of others and the bravery of a young captain has shone through.

(This story appeared in Transcontinental Media’s Pilot newspaper, which is a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)