SIU members aboard the Tyco Decisive last month assisted in the grim task of recovering bodies from a water-taxi tragedy that claimed five lives.The accident happened March 6 in Baltimore when a 36-foot, two-ton pontoon boat, the Lady D, capsized in a fast-moving storm. Local rescuers quickly saved 22 survivors, but five passengers could not be found.
It took 10 days to recover the bodies, the last three of which almost certainly wouldn’t have been found without equipment donated by Tyco and another private company for this mission. The Decisive, in addition to offering sonar, an underwater robotic device and other high-tech tools, served as the main staging point for the operation.
Seafarers were at once determined, sympathetic, sad and relieved.
“We were glad to help. We wished we weren’t out there having to recover bodies, but we wanted to help,” said Recertified Bosun Thor Young. “Once the last body was recovered…. I saw all three of them. It’s just very sad. Yet, we weren’t happy about it, but there was some elation just in the sense that it represented closure for the families.”
“The whole atmosphere was, ‘Just get it done,’” noted Chief Cook Walter Schoppe, who submitted photos for this story. “Without Tyco helping, they never would have found those bodies. And we weren’t going back until we found them. Everybody was relieved afterwards — at least the families can bury their loved ones.”
The story made international news. Victims included an engaged couple in their twenties; a 6-year-old boy; and a 60-year-old woman and her daughter, age 34.
For a while, it appeared the last two bodies (those of the child and the 26-year-old woman) simply couldn’t be located in the murky, near-freezing, 51-feet-deep water, even after an extremely high-powered underwater camera was added to Tyco’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Nine days after the accident, there were no “targets” left, and the search momentarily was called off, according to news reports.
Around that same time, the Decisive received an order for a cable repair job near Florida.
“But we decided to stay out (and continue searching) for a few more hours,” Young recalled.
That’s when the vessel’s equipment located the missing bodies. Baltimore Fire Department personnel, who did 35 dives altogether, recovered the last one on March 15.
Both Young and Schoppe, like others involved in the task, said they felt strong mixes of compassion, sorrow and excitement as the mission ended. “To be honest, I was proud to be part of the experience,” said Young, who credited Bosun’s Mate Tony Sibola and the rest of the unlicensed crew for doing their part. “Maybe someday I’ll tell my grandkids that I assisted in recovering some of the victims.
“We assisted in launching the ROV, ran a lot of lines out to the piers,” he added. “The dive boat was tethered to the ship…. We gave full support to the fire department, whatever they needed. The mayor came aboard and the chief of the fire department came aboard. They were very appreciative.”
Schoppe and the rest of the steward department — including Chief Steward Ed Tully and SAs German Solar, Francisco Calix and Danilo Achacoso — filled a more behind-the-scenes role but still had plenty to handle. “We worked our butts off,” Schoppe said. “We fed the mayor, fed 20 to 25 (extra) people every day we were out there. But everything went well.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident, including whether the captain of the Lady D offered lifejackets to the passengers, but its full report isn’t due for a year. The tragedy may have occurred as little as 100 yards from shore, according to press reports.
The Living Classrooms Foundation is the owner and operator of Seaport Taxi, whose fleet included the ill-fated ferry.
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