Family Of Missing Boater Asking Pilots To Help Search

The Coast Guard may have suspended its search today 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 in lieu of finding the boaters alive, the pilots may find remains so families can have funeral services and get closure.

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

Pilots can contact the Cooper family through the e-mail address nflsearchandrescue@gmail.com.

"We have the support of the entire NFL," Johnson said.

Coast Guard officials cautioned against anyone trying to do a "good Samaritan'' search for the missing men, saying the task is too risky for non-professionals.

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

Cooper's father, Bruce, said earlier today that U.S. Coast Guard officers told him they were losing optimism about finding his son and the other two boaters alive "based on the time the three have been in the water."

Outside of his son's Odessa home Tuesday night, Bruce Cooper said his family is still clinging to the hope that Marquis Cooper is 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 ordeal has mentally exhausted the family, he said. The last three days have been "gut-wrenching," he said and although he keeps a strong façade for his wife and his son's wife, he has sought out quiet moments alone where he "lets it all go."

"I've sobbed so much in the last three days, it's not even funny," he said.

The Coast Guard suspended its search at 6:30 p.m. today 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 today yielded a lifejacket and a cooler, both about 16 miles southeast of where the boat was found. On Monday, searchers recovered a gray nylon jacket about 9 miles west 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.''

Bruce Cooper said paramedics were called to the Coast Guard station Tuesday afternoon when officials announced the search would be suspended. Several people had to be calmed down by paramedics, he said.

St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Lt. Joel Granata confirmed that a crew from his department was called to the station but could not say if it was related to the search. Patients' blood pressures were checked and treated, Granata said.

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.

The men were pitched into the 65-degree Gulf, desperately clawing their way back to the overturned boat to grip the hull.

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 who played for the Detroit Lions last year, along with Bleakley and Schuyler, both former USF players, clung to the boat. They dove under to get four life vests, Coast Guard officers said. Darkness and temperatures fell, and the seas rose.

Then, 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.

Clinging to the boat likely saved Schuyler's life, officials said. His condition was upgraded to fair this morning at Tampa General Hospital, where he is being treated for dehydration and hypothermia.

After officers talked to Schuyler, "We were able to narrow the search," Simpson said. "We drastically reduced the size of the search area. We have more eyes on a smaller area today."

On Monday, the search area included some 16,000 miles. Today, it is 4,700 miles, he said. That meant a reduction in the number of aircraft and vessels involved, he said. Today there are two aircraft, a helicopter and C-130 airplane, plus three cutters looking for the missing men.

Based on patterns of drift, the Coast Guard is searching south of where the boat was found, he said.
As the search for three fishermen snared the nation's attention, vigilance is high along the Florida Suncoast. Late this morning, a person who lives along the Sarasota County shore spotted something floating in the water and called authorities. Sheriff's deputies sent a boat to the area. They didn't find a missing fisherman, but they did find a fish: a giant grouper.

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

"On Saturday evening, the weather picked up," Close said. "It was overcast; they were in the dark; there were no lights. Time frames are relative and speculative."

Coast Guard officers said the four men clung to the hull as temperatures dropped and seas rose. Winds gusted to 30 mph and 10- to 14-foot seas battered the capsized vessel.

Relatives of Bleakley, who grew up in Crystal River, are clinging to hope.

"We're devastated," said Bleakley's aunt, Sarah, reached at her home in Crystal River on Tuesday morning. "We're still hopeful, but it doesn't look very bright at this point."

Smith's family drove to the Tampa Bay area from Richmond, Va., Monday night.

"We still have hope," said Smith's sister, Yolanda Newbill. "We have not given up."

She said the family was weary from the ordeal and overnight drive.

"We're just kind of tired," she said.

Smith's father, Wyman said this morning that he was too upset to talk about the search for his son.
"I'm just out of it," he said.

Cooper and Smith have been on fishing trips aboard Cooper's boat before. The pair were teammates with the Bucs in 2004.

"He has a lot to fight for," Bruce Cooper said. "There is no way he is not thinking of them while he's out in the water."