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Boater's Family Calls On Pilots As Search Halts

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By KEITH MORELLI and STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2009

Updated: 03/04/2009 12:11 am

ST. PETERSBURG - The Coast Guard may have ended its search Tuesday for three men lost in Gulf, but the family of one of the missing boaters refuses to give up.

Relatives and friends of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper are asking experienced pilots to help in the search for Cooper, Corey Smith and Will Bleakley.

Cooper's former teammate at the University of Washington, Terry "Tank" Johnson, said if the boaters cannot be found alive, the pilots may find remains so families can have funeral services and closure.

"These are people we love dearly," Johnson said.

Pilots can contact the Cooper family through the e-mail address nflsearchand rescue@gmail.com.
Coast Guard officials cautioned against anyone trying to do a "good Samaritan" search for the missing men, saying the task is too risky for nonprofessionals.

The families of the three missing boaters were summoned to the Coast Guard Station in St. Petersburg before a news conference Tuesday and told the search would be suspended. Family members could be seen consoling one another outside the station before they left the area in a small convoy of vehicles.

Outside of his son's Odessa home Tuesday night, Cooper's father, Bruce, said his family was still clinging to the hope Marquis Cooper was alive. Cooper, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, owned the boat that capsized Saturday afternoon, pitching him and three friends into the cold water.

"We will not give up hope that Marquis is out there fighting and trying to return," Bruce Cooper said.

The Coast Guard ended its search at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after conducting 50 missions and covering 24,000 square miles, said Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close.

"It's been approximately 60 hours since we got the initial phone call," Close said at a 4 p.m. news conference. "We're extremely confident that if there were any survivors on the surface of the water, we would have found them."

One man, Nick Schuyler, was rescued Monday after the Coast Guard found him clinging to the boat about 40 miles southwest of Clearwater.

The search Tuesday yielded a lifejacket and a cooler, both about 16 miles southeast of where the boat was found.

Close acknowledged the families would like the search to continue. "The families were fairly upset," he said. But, he noted, "I think the families understood we put in a tremendous effort."

The men left on for a fishing trip about 6:30 a.m. Saturday from the Seminole boat ramp at Clearwater Pass. They set anchor about 30 miles west of Clearwater on Saturday afternoon, when the seas began to rise.

As they tried to pull the anchor in, a wave, possibly as tall as 14 feet, crashed over their 21-foot-long, single-engine, center-console boat and rolled the vessel over, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Rob Simpson said.

That began a watery nightmare that has yet to end. Simpson said that during the 12 hours that followed, Cooper and Smith, a defensive end for the Detroit Lions last year, along with Bleakley and Schuyler, both former USF players, clung to the boat.

Eventually, Cooper, Smith and Bleakley drifted away from the overturned vessel and disappeared. Schuyler clung to the boat, and after more than 40 hours in the water was spotted Monday afternoon and plucked to safety aboard a Coast Guard helicopter.

Coast Guard officers who spoke to Schuyler on Monday night didn't get much information, Close said. Schuyler was tired and unclear on timelines, especially on Saturday night, when his three friends drifted away, Close said.

News Channel 8 reporters Jackie Barron and Samara Sodos contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 215-3582. Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

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