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INEXPERIENCE DOOMED BOAT

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON and JEFF PATTERSON

spthompson@tampatrib.com jpatterson@wfla.com

Published: March 28, 2009

Updated: 03/28/2009 12:44 am

Stormlike winds were whipping up the Gulf of Mexico when it was discovered that the anchor to Marquis Cooper's boat had caught on something 138 feet under water. There was no VHF radio onboard. Also, Cooper and two of his three passengers had been drinking.

One of the passengers, Will Bleakley, suggested they tie the anchor to the transom, at the back corner of a boat, in an attempt to jar it loose - a move anyone who had attended a boater safety course would have scoffed at.

Cooper, who never attended such a course, agreed to do it.

It was a fatal mistake. The boat capsized, and Cooper and Bleakley ultimately perished, as did Corey Smith, another passenger. The sole survivor was Nick Schuyler, who was found 42 hours later.

This is the picture that emerges after an investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The commission released a 12-page report Friday on the Feb. 28 tragedy, and the investigator in the case provided further details at a news conference.

The probe concluded that the improper anchoring move - along with carelessness and inexperience - caused the tragedy. Cooper, a 26-year-old linebacker with the Oakland Raiders, owned the 21-foot Everglades open motor boat and was responsible for piloting the vessel before it capsized.

The others also had played football. Bleakley, 25, was a former University of South Florida football player, as was Schuyler, 24. Smith, 29, was a free agent who had last played for the Detroit Lions.

Anchor Lost A Week Before

According to the report, Cooper had already lost an anchor one week earlier for the same reason - an inability to free it from the Gulf bottom, the report states. Fish and Wildlife investigators speculated that perhaps he didn't want to lose another one.

After the anchor was tied to the transom, all four positioned themselves at the helm as Cooper gunned the 200 horsepower engine to full capacity, a move that caused the boat to lurch to the left and capsize.

Investigator James Manson concluded the boaters should not have tied the anchor to a transom eye-bracket at the back of the boat, and they should not have used the boat's 200 horsepower engine to try and free the anchor.

When they did, the boaters did not leave enough slack in the rope to compensate for the rough sea conditions that evening, and they essentially flipped the vessel over, pulling it into the Gulf and causing everyone to go overboard.

All but Smith had been drinking, according to the report. And Cooper had never taken a boater safety course, the report says. Anyone who takes a boater safety course is told never to anchor a vessel at the rear of a boat but rather at the bow, Manson said at Friday's news conference in Tampa.

"It's probably a mistake made every day, maybe not with the results that occurred," Manson said at the news conference. "Certainly if you take some type of boater education class, they're going to go over anchoring and that would have been covered."

Had Cooper lived, he would have been charged criminally because of how he reacted to the circumstances, Manson said.

If an anchor gets stuck, one tactic is to circle the boat to free it as it is tied to the bow, Manson said. Another tactic is to simply cut the line and replace the anchor later. "They would have been able to head right back in," Manson said.

It was also ill-advised to take a boat only 21 feet long 50 miles out in rough seas, Manson said. In his interview with Schuyler, Schuyler said it was turbulent as they headed out from the Seminole boat ramp in Clearwater, and Schuyler got sick on the way. The men were dressed for the weather, in sweat suits and jackets, and one or two were wearing knit scully hats.

After the boat capsized, at about 5:30 p.m., Bleakley retrieved life vests from under the boat, plus a large cooler to be used for flotation. Bleakley used the cooler while the other three used the vests.

No Way To Signal Rescuers

Manson said at the news conference that Bleakley found some flares but they were soaked and useless. At some point during the 42-hour ordeal that followed, Schuyler remembers seeing the airplanes and helicopters looking for the boaters but without the flares there was no way to grab the attention of the aircraft crews.

There was also no VHF radio onboard, Manson said. There were cell phones that had been placed in plastic bags but efforts to retrieve them were unsuccessful, the report says.

The four struggled to stay on top of the boat's hull throughout the night, the report states. Manson said two of the four took off their sweatpants so it would be easier to tread water and get back on the boat. All four kept trying to help one another stay on the hull of the boat.

At 5:30 the next morning, it appeared Cooper was succumbing to hypothermia, and he became unresponsive. Schuyler said he and Bleakley tried to revive him but couldn't. Bleakley took Cooper's life vest.

An hour later, Smith appeared to succumb to hypothermia, the report states. Smith took his own life vest off and drifted away, the report states.

Bleakley managed to hang on for roughly another 24 hours, Schuyler told Manson in an interview in the intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital. But then Bleakley showed the same symptoms the other two had and removed his life jacket.

Schuyler said he held onto Bleakley as Bleakley died. Then Bleakley drifted away from the boat. Within hours, the U.S. Coast Guard found Schuyler sitting on the hull holding the propeller, and he was rescued.

The Coast Guard continued searching for the other three until the following evening, even though the 19-hour time period for surviving hypothermia had long expired.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336. News Channel 8 reporter Jeff Patterson can be reached at (813) 221-5703.

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