Underway - Alaska Traveler - page 190

It's about eleven-thirty, most of the ship has turned in. I'm brushing my teeth and Engin-
eer Officer Lt. Tony Erickson knocks on the door to tell me we have a SAR case.
I shoot up to the bridge. A fisherman on a longliner about 25 miles away has got a fish-
hook through his eye. His skipper is on the VHF with the Ops officer. He sounds tense but
in control. He says they're not set up for a hoist by helo, he's got two masts and a guy
wire running from bow to mast to mast to stern down the centerline of his ship.
The winds are calm and the seas no more than three feet. It's full dark, no moon yet,
Orion looming large on our starboard bow. By now everyone who is always there during
an incident is present, Captain Lloyd, XO LCdr. Thorne, Operations Officer Lt. Scott Lit-
tlefield, Chief Petty Officer Steve Ross, Petty Officer Frank Brown, BM3 Jen Elwell, BM2
Brandon Gourley. HS1 “Doc” Brouhard, the ship's Corpsman, stands by for medical as-
sessment and recommendations. The aviators are piped to the bridge.
Everyone gathers round the Captain. The longliner's skipper repeats that he is not set
up for a hoist by helo and is clearly apprehensive at the prospect. First option discussed is
to lower a boat, drive over to the longliner with Doc and an EMT on board, lower the in-
jured man into the boat, bring him back to the Alex Haley , stabilize him, and helo him to a
clinic.
Our aviators, Lt. Dan Leary and Lt. Tim Eason, ask how long the longliner is. The an-
swer is 170 feet. They are confident that in 170 feet they can hoist from somewhere, guy
wire or no. The XO , playing devil's advocate, points out if they get there and they can't
hoist, it'll take that much longer for us to lower a boat and bring the injured man on board.
Meanwhile Ops is getting the name, age, like that of the injured man from the
longliner's skipper to forward to the St. Paul clinic, the longliner's agent in Dutch Harbor
to apprise her of the situation, and to arrange a Lifeflight from Anchorage to St. Paul. He's
also getting more information on the victim. The longliner skipper says it's a three-inch J-
hook with the bale still attached. The shank is bent and he doesn't know where the hook
and the barb are. He's padded it with gauze and tape and he doesn't want to mess with it
any further. Nearly everyone on the bridge from the Captain on down yells “Don't touch
it!” Or thinks it loudly.