Feeling the Spring

For the first time in five years, spring surrounds me.  Brilliant white flowers of the American dogwood tree peek from mid story of tree lined roadsides.  Purple, yellow, white and pink irises decorate flowerbeds.  Azaleas and other spring shrubbery promise that winter has packed its bags.   Pink lady slippers pop up from the loamy soil of a high story pine oak forest.  May apples found in roadside ditches peek from under umbrella like leaves.  Yep, I’m feeling the spring.

While the beauty of lush greenery of new leaves and grass pleases both the eyes and the senses, there is a price to play. The damp, cold, and cloudy days have given me a perpetual chill that only cranking up the furnace can warm.

Imagine and crew left sunny, warm Great Exuma, Bahamas in late April heading for Beaufort, NC.  After motoring for three days with no wind to fill the sails we would not make Beaufort as scheduled.  We would arrive at night in the middle of a vicious front.

The pending front with potential 50-knot winds and severe thunderstorms resulted in a course change that landed Imagine in Georgetown, SC for three cool and cloudy days. We weren’t alone.  Several other boats anchored or docked near us looking for shelter from the weather.

The skies remained gray the day we left and periodic rain cells pelted Imagine on the overnight passage.  We looked as if we were going skiing.  Bibbed foul weather pants, thermal underwear, parkas and gloves kept us dry for the most part.  Morning brought the first glimpse of sunshine in several days as Imagine made its way to Moorhead City 

 For 24 hours, we stripped down to sweatshirts as we moved through the Neuse and Pamlico rivers.  The following day covered just 35 miles before having to stop at a marina to get relief from the cold weather that seems to be following us north.

Across the Albamarle Sound, through Portsmith and Norfolk the gray skies shadowed Imagine.  From the Great Wicomoco River to Annapolis, things did not change.   Finally, as we crossed the Bay Bridge connecting the Chesapeake’s eastern and western shores the sun began to burn through the gray.  A bit of sun lingered in the sky as we anchored on the Magothy River. 

It was a Saturday when we began the last leg of most recent voyage.  The wind picked up as we maneuvered the curves of the Sassafras toward Greg Neck Boat Yard.   Overall Imagine logged 3,200 miles on this latest voyage.  Grandchildren and spring greeted us.

It was 16 days since Imagine and crew left Great Exuma.  Six of those days were weather related layover days.  Overall it took10 traveling days and 1,409 miles to make it back to our homeport.  

Kaboom!

News photo shortly after blast.

The deafening early morning bang from the explosion stopped us in our tracks.  The resulting concussion rocked the floating docks and boats berthed in nearby slips.  Debris shot skyward before raining down on the water, docks and boats.

For the young captain, who had just bought a new fishing boat, and expected a great fishing trip from Morehead City Yacht Basin, North Carolina to his home in Charleston, South Carolina, it would become a nightmare. Both he and his friend would receive extensive second and third degree burns as a result of the blast.

Only moments before, Ed had finished talking to the new owner of the 28-foot Carolina Classic fishing boat. He discovered that the young man originally hailed from Northeast, Maryland.  He grinned as he told Ed about his new purchase and his plans for the offshore trip towards home.

The blast rocked the marina just after Ed climbed back onboard Imagine. We watched our friend Vicky, off the catamaran Options, walk back to her boat berthed directly across from the ill-fated fishing boat.  The explosion occurred as Vicky approached her boat.

She quickly raced up the dock.  Her husband, Joe, standing on the deck of his boat was separated from the blast by only 12 feet of dock.   He said later that he could feel the heat and ensuing concussion of the blast. “It rocked me backwards,” he said.

From Imagine, I saw one injured man, wearing a light green-shirt, curl his arms over his head and leap from the cockpit of the white sport fishing boat.  Immediately he turned and ran back to the boat and into the cabin to rescue his friend who was caught inside. 

As he pulled his friend from the boat to the dock, dockhand Andrew Newton, who was working on the fuel dock, ran over with a fire extinguisher and began working to snuff the ensuing fire. Anguishing cries of pain erupted from the badly burned crewmember as he began to suffer the effects of the explosion. 

A nearby boater had already dialed 911.  Ed grabbed another extinguisher from an emergency dock station, shaking it as he ran to assist.  Ed arrived just as the young Newton had exhausted the first extinguisher.

Seconds later U S Army Reserve 824^th personnel, attending a dedication ceremony in the harbor, arrived in a dinghy with five more fire extinguishers and emergency boom equipment to contain any possible environmental spill.  Local firefighters in protective gear next arrived on the scene moments later.

It didn’t take long for the docks to spill over with people, Morehead City Fire/EMS units, Morehead City Police Department, US Coast Guard, US Army Reserve 824^th, Towboat US, Atlantic Beach Fire Department, North Carolina Department of Natural Resource Wildlife and Fisheries, marina personnel, news media personnel, and of course those wanting to see what was happening.

The boat was totaled, suffering heavy damage lifting the deck from the hull. The weight of a tuna tower might have kept if from lifting more. The anchor locker cover was blown away.  The cockpit seat snapped off and rested crookedly on the deck.  A broken pole from a dip net remained stationary in its holder.  Pieces of burned rubber and teak trim floated in the water and dusted the docks.  

Vicky held onto her left ear as she picked up small bits of teak; white painted splinters and rivets from the deck of her boat.   The shock of the blast numbed her ear for the remainder of the day.  She was lucky.

The two unfortunate men, both wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts, had extensive burns on their arms and legs.  The young captain was able to sit and make calls to family as he waited for emergency workers to arrive.  His friend, in great pain, suffered the worse of the injuries.  Inside the cabin he took the full blast of the explosion.  Ed said that he kept asking, “What happened?” 

According to the marina personnel, both men were transferred to Carteret General Hospital.  The man inside the salon when the blast occurred was listed in critical condition was later transferred via helicopter to a burn unit at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. 

No one knows exactly what caused the explosion.  Apparently, the boat had just been fueled. After several attempts it would not start.   The investigation will probably be ongoing, according to North Carolina Department of Wildlife and Fisheries personnel who were interviewing witnesses later in the afternoon.

One theory about what caused the explosion is that the boat did not have a marine starter to prevent sparking action and at some point in the boat’s history the starter was replaced with an automotive one.  Another theory is that the bellows that blow the fumes out of a gasoline-powered boat didn’t work.  Until the final investigation is completed, it will remain a mystery.

When Newton instinctively grabbed the fire extinguisher he might have done more than just put out a boat fire.  If the full fuel tanks had ignited following the blast, a major fire could have occurred causing an unprecedented disaster.  It could have quickly spread other boats or even the marina fuel pumps located next to the destroyed boat.

An emergency is never planned.  It happens when no one expects other than a normal day.  The young dockhand, without thought for his safety, did what needed to be done.  The new boat owner disregarded his own injuries to run inside the boat and pull his friend out, preventing him from suffering more extensive burns.   I would call them both heroes.

Imagine has moved on and we will probably never know the end of the story.  We may never know the names of the victims of that tragic blast. Nether the less, our thoughts and prayers go out to the two young men as they go through the process of healing and recovery.  As we sail away, we count our blessings.