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U.S. Rep. Foxx commends Horizon Falcon (9/7)

On Sept. 6, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) made the following statement on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. The statement concerns a recent rescue operation involving the SIU-crewed Horizon Falcon. PRAISING THE RESCUE EFFORTS OF HORIZON LINES Mr. Speaker, when most Americans think of open-seas rescue operations, they think rightly about the United States Coast Guard. Our Nation’s Coast Guard has a distinguished history of search and rescue missions dating back 217 years. They recently celebrated their one-millionth rescue, and I want to commend the bravery and service of this time-honored branch of our Armed Forces. But it turns out the Coast Guard isn’t the only one assisting seafarers in distress these days. North Carolina-based Horizon Lines, a leading domestic ocean shipping company, came to the rescue of 22 Chinese crew members on a 420-foot log ship this summer. The log ship was transporting a load from Papua New Guinea to China, when it encountered the 70-mile-per-hour winds and 24-foot seas of a typhoon. The rough seas apparently caused the log ship’s cargo to shift and eventually led to the loss of the vessel. The ship, the Hai Tong, had sunk in the very rough seas and the survivors had been adrift in the ocean 375 miles from Guam for 2 days when the Horizon Lines container ship, the Horizon Falcon, arrived. The Horizon Falcon was the first vessel to arrive on the scene after the log ship’s crew alerted the Coast Guard to the Hai Tong’s distress. When the Horizon Falcon arrived, it found survivors in the water surrounded by an oil slick and debris from the sunken ship. With the U.S. Coast Guard on the way, the Horizon Lines vessel immediately began a search and rescue operation amidst treacherous 30-foot swells and 40-mile-an-hour winds. The Horizon Falcon’s captain, Tom McDorr, navigated through the heavy seas filled with the log ship’s cargo and managed to get the huge 722-foot container ship within range of a rescue mission using one of the ship’s lifeboats. His brave crew took the small lifeboat into the heavy seas, which still threatened their lives with 20-foot waves, and began searching for survivors of the wreck. Due to the distance of the nearest Coast Guard vessels, at this point there were not yet any Coast Guard rescuers on the scene. The lifeboat, crewed by three of the Horizon Falcon’s seamen and under the command of Chief Mate Kevin McCarthy, fought its way through the massive waves and managed to locate and take one survivor aboard with waves crashing down on the vessel from literally every direction. I cannot say enough to commend the bravery of these men who risked their lives to save someone with whom they had no connection. Their selfless act was a demonstration of profound humanity in the face of extreme danger. The danger was so great that as they returned to the ship with a survivor in the lifeboat they were forced to abandon the damaged lifeboat, to the heavy seas. The crew and the rescued seaman managed to climb to safety up the containership’s 40-foot pilot’s ladder. The heroic actions of the Horizon Falcon’s crew continued as another survivor was rescued by able-seaman John Dacuag. He was secured to the pilot’s ladder and went back to the ocean after the additional survivors. He managed to attach a grappling hook to a Chinese sailor even as he was battered by the huge swells and occasionally was submerged completely in the heavy seas. His bravery resulted in another life saved when both men were winched back to the safety of the container ship. The Falcon continued to search through the night for more survivors with the help of additional commercial ships and by the light of flares from a Navy airplane based in Japan. As the Falcon began to run low on fuel, it was relieved by a Coast Guard vessel that joined the search. The Coast Guard finally suspended the search 2 days later after 13 survivors had been rescued. Working against time and the power of nature, the captain and crew of the Horizon Falcon risked their own lives so others might emerge from a disastrous shipwreck to sail another day. Chuck Raymond of Horizon Lines put it well. “Ever since man has been going to sea, there has been danger. But there also has been and will ever be brotherhood at sea that crosses any boundary. This rescue effort is a shining example of that.” The Coast Guard also praised the heroic actions of the Falcon’s crew saying that their efforts were to be “commended and do not go unnoticed.” I completely agree. We live in a time when it is easy to pass up opportunities to help someone in distress with the assumption that someone else will take care of it. But in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, the crew of the Falcon proved that ordinary people can do extraordinary good if given a chance. They deserve to be commended for reaching out across boundaries of language and culture and helping people in dire need. I wish to extend my thanks to all the people at this fine North Carolina company for a job well done. They have shown what they value most, which is to protect human lives at all cost and to reach out to those in need. I hope other companies take notice and follow their lead in this exemplary deed. ###