Posted on 03/04/2009 10:46:36 AM PST by Zakeet
As the Coast Guard ended its search for three missing football players whose boat tipped over in high Florida seas, the lone survivor said two of those lost gave up after hours in the frigid water and the third tried to swim to safety.
South Florida player Nick Schuyler told investigators that all four of the friends on a fishing excursion were initially wearing life vests and clinging to the 21-foot boat belonging to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper.
But two to four hours after the boat capsized, one of the NFL players removed his life jacket and let himself be swept out to sea, the St. Petersburg Times reported. A few hours later, the other one followed suit.
"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will Bleakley, 25, is also still missing.
After Cooper, 26, and Corey Smith, 29, were carried away, Bleakley and Schuyler hung on until morning — but then Bleakley decided to swim to get help when he thought he saw a distant light, the paper said.
He, too, took his life vest off, 24-year-old Schuyler told the families.
"I think he was delusional to think he could swim someplace," the Times quoted Bob Bleakley as saying.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The photos of the Coast Guard boat approaching the survivor show him sitting ON TOP of the engine on the over turned boat .... OUT of the water.
The others were fully in the water as far as I know.
I have fished that area and futher north, plus the Delware river in spring trout season. I wore waders, two pair of pants and longjohns and all I could take was about fifteen minutes in that fast moving cold water. I would walk the bank fishing and looking likely holes for an hour before venturing back into the water.
I guess I am the only one who thinks this sounds just a little bit fishy. No pun intended at all.
I was thinking that I was the only one who was thinking that...
That is when a good sharp knife comes in handy...or just let it go. I saw some video just an hour or so ago on the news. Showed a larger center console getting a line on the overturned vessel. It looks like, just for a second or two, the anchor rode was still out, so I'm thinkin this thing hasn't moved since the capsize.
that was the first thought that struck me...the lines.
Why didn’t someone think to go down and grab the lines to tie everyone to the boat?
Lines from a cleat on one side, over the hull to a cleat on the other, or better yet two lines and everyone could tie onto the hull and ride it out. Right after the life vests, I would have been salvaging what I could for survival. The lines...water bottles from the cooler...flashlight...everything possible to help us.
Of course it is easy to type this sitting in my warm dry living room, but still, I think the lines would certainly be a second thought to everyone there, after the vests and seeing the problem with holding on to the hull.
Fishy in what way? Do you think that the guy that survived had something to do with the other three being lost?
Do not think you are ‘alone’ here. Various thoughts/scenarios are bound to come to mind. But who knows? Could not have been easy to get up there; and perhaps, stay there.
Basically suicide. Very sad.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/survivor-nick-schuyler-sp_n_171878.html
A disturbing look into the liberal mind, speculation of foul play by Schuyler, whites vs. blacks. Read the multitude of head-scratching comments by the lefties.
The white guy survived, some of them find it “fishy”.
sw
That’s just silly—Bleakley was white and is dead now too. I understand Marquise fell in love with fishing and had gone out many times in that boat. The Captain who told him about the EPIRB said Marquise was going to get one at Bass Pro Shop, unfortunately the closest one is in Orlando, but there are plenty of West Marine stores around here where he could have picked one up.
We were out on the soccer fields when that squall line came through Saturday morning and it was bad enough on land—I can’t imagine what is was like in a 21 footer or any boat for that matter—I don’t like rough seas and I like being able to see land unless my ship has staterooms and several restaurants and swimming pools!!!
Bless their souls!
thanks...it was crazy this last week. Monday night the coast guard heli’s were literally hover over our property. I always know when their is coast guard activity they fly right over to head out to the gulf.
I still am in amazement the Schuyler survived. The amount of trauma sustained from the reverse chines in that hull must be pretty severe.
It is really a shame they couldn’t find line in the flipped boat to lash themselves together (life jacket to life jacket) to huddle when in the water and to ride the hull like a blanket (would have hurt like hell). Always able to do Monday AM QB...but I know in survival situations you need to act fast and find as much stuff as you can to aid you even if you think it is useless.
When they flipped the boat over this week there was so many things that could have aided them...
I need to stop thinking about...just very sad.
Right on Gator Girl...
There is nothing race related in this at all. People that like to have things in control who suddenly find themselves completely out of control will sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice as it seems it is the only controlled thing they can achieve.
I can’t imagine the pain they felt from trying to hang onto to that hull in the waves they were taking. If you slam into a boat because of a wave...it really hurts in the best of conditions.
Also if they took in salt water when their boat flipped it doesn’t take long before that starts to affect your judgment.
I know, I was looking for the latest information on Schuyler and wound up at Huffington Post, reading their delusional conspiracy theories.
The doctors said Schuyler likely had another 5-10 hours left to live, it’s a miracle he survived, he’s one tough SOB, mentally more than physically.
He’s going to have some survivor’s guilt which is sad. Latest I saw was an interview with Blakely’s father, he said Schuyler told him he died with him in his arms and he tried to revive him. They had known each other since 6th grade.
I saw that interview with the other captain who told Marquis Cooper to get an EPIRB if he was going out that far. If he did they likely all would have survived.
What a horrible way to go, my worst nightmare. Those guys letting go earlier wasn’t suicide as some have suggested. Ingesting saltwater and being in that cold water just got to them quicker. They were obviously delusional to take off their jackets and let go. Those charts say that in that temperature you could be unconscious in 2-4 hours which is approximately the time the survivor said they were in the water before they let the sea take them.
Yes the last stages before full hypothermia sets in it is common for the individual to remove their clothing, etc in a last ditch effort to get warm and yet they are only quickening their demise.
Similar thing happened in the James Kim story albeit it occurred on land.
I thought Blakely was one who swam off for help?
It’s a real tragedy. I feel sorry for the loss of life.
But anyone who takes a 21 foot boat that far off the coast is not thinking properly...drugs and or alcohol might have been involved here.
I read that too, I believe that’s the guy they found by the trail of clothes he left behind.
I always find it amazing that people speculate without READING about what they’re talking about. I’m a closet researcher, I like to dig deep into everything that interests me.
This kind of mindless speculation without proper research leads to the 9/11 “truth” movement, conspiracy theories of all sorts and the election of a guy named Obama. I’m continually amazed at 9/11 conspiracy videos with hundreds of thousands of views all rated 5 stars on youtube, scary.
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