Cheating death

A few minutes ago I made a post on facebook that might have sounded a little more dramatic than what was intended, at least it could be interpreted that way by folks who don't know me all that well. What I wrote was "it appears i have cheated death one more time," and referred to a bit of oral surgery yesterday. No big deal just a bit of exaggeration over the fact that I survived it.

So, here is the background. When I drove tour boats every day, when I returned to the harbor and the boat had been tied to the dock and I finally turned off the engines, I would turn to the people who were left in the wheelhouse, and say "Well, cheated death one more time." That usually got a laugh, and it was said with a smile and good humor. But underneath the surface was a sort of spiritual acknowledgement that we had returned safely from the sea, survived what dangers are out there had been delivered from whatever and by whatever forces are out there, the weather, the waves the unseen dangers, and by whatever power a person happens to believe in, an angel, a god, nature, your own skill... All of it is acknowledged in the phrase, Cheated death one more time.

A young fellow who crewed on that boat, also named Tim, picked up on that phrase. He joined the Army and the vessel service, I'm not sure what it's called, and told me as a helmsman on his first return from a voyage, to Panama, once the ship was docked he said "Cheated death one more time." For his quip he said he was almost laughed out of the wheelhouse. Today he is a chief warrant officer in that same service just returned from Haiti.

As if to drive the point home, this story popped up on the Daily news website today. A friend's boat went down. I first met the captain, Tom Sr., in the early 80s when he would put his bowpicking gillnetter into the water at Whitter to fish Prince William Sound. It had a catchy name. From his home in Kenai he had to take the boat on trailers to where he wanted to launch. It was bigger than the usual trailered boat so he was forced to put on one of those signs. That was until, he simply named the boat "WIDE LOAD."

Years after that I met his daughter and we worked at the same organization for several years. When I first read that article I stopped on the boat name and thought that sounded familiar. Then I got to the names of the crew, and a cold chill ran through my body. They were saved. But that chill, knowing what they must have gone through lingers.

If you take the time to read the news article, read down through the comments too. I am guessing there will be several thanking the Coast Guard. The number of rescues the Coast Guard makes in Alaska waters and in what outrageous weather is simply amazing. A couple of weeks ago another boat went down not too far from where the Cape Spencer did today. Within 10 minutes of hearing the Mayday, the Coast Guard had a Jayhawk helicopter and C-130 rescue aircraft in the air. The C-130 was on scene within about an hour and was able to drop a raft to the crew. When the helicopter arrived a rescue swimmer helped the crew who were in cold northern ocean water and all but one were saved. I am betting the same thing happened with Tom Tomrdle today. Go see the movie "The Guardian" sometime. It is much closer to the truth than you would believe.

At any rate, that is what "cheated death one more time" is all about. And today the crew of the Cape Spencer cheated death one more time. And, for that I am very relieved and happy.