Coast Guard Finds Life Raft in Gulf; No Sign of Missing Boaters

AP ^ | Feb. 28, 2004

[nuconvert]

Coast Guard Finds Life Raft in Gulf; No Sign of Missing Boaters

Feb 29, 2004

The Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - The Coast Guard recovered a life raft Saturday from a missing fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico but found no sign of the two boaters who departed from the Florida Panhandle and have been missing for days. Capt. Don Jones and a crew member, identified by friends as Pensacola resident Ida Fitzgerald, last made contact with the Coast Guard on Monday when their 37-foot fishing boat, the Sara B, was caught in a storm about 40 miles south of Orange Beach, Ala.

The 18-foot seas set off the boat's emergency-locator beacon, but Jones told the Coast Guard that his boat was not in distress.

When the beacon had not turned off by Tuesday evening, a jet crew searched and found the signaler adrift in the water. The Coast Guard launched a rescue effort for the Sara B.

The life raft was spotted Friday and recovered Saturday about 70 miles south of Orange Beach, Ala. The manufacturer's numbers printed on the raft confirmed that it belonged to the missing ship.

"It doesn't necessarily mean the boat sank," Mike Parker, who owns the Sara B, told the Pensacola News Journal. "There is still a full-press search out there, and we're not giving up here at all."

He said the raft would have automatically inflated had the boat capsized. It also could have been ripped from the boat and inflated during the storm that had winds estimated at 80 mph, he said.

The boat was due back at its home port of Perdido Key on Friday.

[orlop9]

Thanks for the post. Its been too rough for me to get out lately

[Check6]

Could be an insurance scam.

[Quilla]

Eighty mile per hour winds and 18 foot seas? There's got to be an easier way to scam their insurance carrier. ;-)

[nuconvert]

18ft seas.....that's rough alright.

[nuconvert]

Who goes out in weather like that?
It sounds suspicious to me...........

[Ditter]

Storms can build up quickly in the Gulf.

[nuconvert]

yes,....that's what weather reports are for.

[nuconvert]

"Jones told the Coast Guard that his boat was not in distress.."

18ft seas...80mph winds....

[Ditter]

Fishing boats stay out for weeks at a time. Storms in the Gulf are often sudden.

[nuconvert]

This sounded like it was just the capt. and a lady friend

[Ditter]

If you are thinking insurance scam, maybe. But an insurance scam would more likely be a sudden fire in the engine room on a calm day with boats nearby to rescue you. I know people whom I suspect of this.

[nuconvert]

Yeah. That's what would make going out to sea and getting "caught in bad weather" a little more believable.
I have no idea. Just playing around with the possiblities...... : )