UConn Student Rescued In Berring Sea

[Drew]

A UConn Student's Dramatic Rescue In The Bering Sea

Megan Potter mustered all of her strength to swim through 10 foot swells as the boat she had spent the summer on slowly sank into the frigid water of the Bering Sea off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

A UConn student, she had spent the last two months on the Ambition, her father's boat, ferrying thousands of pounds of salmon from fishing boats to canneries on the Alaskan shore. Now, with her family scattered in the water around her, Megan started to panic. Her rescuers were on another fishing boat, the Star Watcher, some 100 yards away.

Megan had been working alongside her father, mother, brother and a family friend, Erin Tortolano, on the 75-foot fish transport boat. Recently, she recalled the dramatic events of July 23, an afternoon she will never forget.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Glad she is OK, Gulf of Alaska is an unforgiving place. Sounds like a pump or valve failed allowing seawater to rush in or the ship's load shifted unexpectedly and pulled the back corner of the ship under. In either case, once the ship reaches a certain weight and loses buoyancy, the laws of physics and Mother Nature take over. Smart call by her Dad to get everyone into survival suits when he did at the first sign of major trouble.

 

[CL82]

Great read.

"My dad said something was not right," Potter said. "He had an uneasy feeling. Something was not sitting right."

The back of the boat was riding lower than it should be and the boat was taking on more water than could be drained out by the pumps. Water began to pour over the rails.

 

[CTMike]

Wild.