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Boaters Held On In Cold Water

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By RAY REYES

rreyes@tampatrib.com

Published: March 17, 2009

The four boaters set a course for the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of Feb. 28 to a spot that had yielded a bounty of amberjack on past fishing trips.

They dropped anchor about 70 miles off Pinellas County. At 5:30 p.m., a harrowing fight for survival began when the anchor got stuck, probably on a coral reef, and a wave struck the 21-foot Everglades boat, swamping and then capsizing it.

Tossed into the rough, frigid water, the men grabbed life jackets and held on to the boat for the next four hours. During the ordeal, three of the men took off their life jackets, let go and disappeared.

By morning, only one man remained alive.

That's the account lone survivor Nick Schuyler told investigators about the ill-fated fishing trip, according to a 23-page report released Monday by the Coast Guard. The report, released through a public records request, gives new details of what Schuyler hasn't said publicly about the night his friends died.

Schuyler was onboard the boat with Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former University of South Florida football player Will Bleakley. Schuyler, himself a former USF player, was found nearly two days later and 35 miles off Clearwater, clinging to the boat's overturned hull.

The report details two conversations Coast Guard officials had with Schuyler shortly after he was rescued March 2. According to the report, this is what Schuyler told the Coast Guard:

After the men held on for several hours, hypothermia seemed to be affecting them. One "freaked out," took off his life vest and disappeared. Later, another man "started getting unruly." He fought with the other men and threw punches before he took off his life vest, dove under the waves and disappeared.

Early Sunday morning, the third fisherman thought he saw land and decided to swim toward it. He, too, removed the life vest, saying it was "too tight," and swam away from the boat.

The men's names were redacted in the report.

The report also documents the Coast Guard's frustration searching for the boaters as stormy weather raised waves and created whitecaps that made it difficult to spot the small boat.

The report says the owner of the boat had just rebuilt the motor. Cooper, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, is the licensed owner of the boat.

"Being that these guys are inexperienced, don't look just 50 nautical miles offshore," according to an e-mail written by a Coast Guard official included in the documents. "There might be a possibility that they wisened up and stayed close to shore, at least within visual of land."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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