High drama on the high
seas
Lowell family more than thankful after nearly drowning when rental boat
capsizes off Florida coast.
Published 11/22/2000 07:37:45 PM in
The Northwest Indiana Times Online
BY JERRY DAVICH
Times Features Writer
The Rowe family drifted more than four
miles off the Florida Coast after their boat capsized late last month. They were rescued
by Sam Morris, a retired U.S. Navy Commander and longtime seamnan, and his three
crew members Bob Morris, Doug Setterfield, and Garrett Setterfield.
Her children's tears disappearing into
an ocean of salt water, Mary Rowe struggled to remain calm.
Cradling her two youngest sons in her weary arms, her despondent husband clinging to an
untied lifejacket, the beleaguered mother of four from Lowell refused to give up hope --
even after floating in the Gulf of Mexico for nearly two hours with no help in sight.
Literally.
Embracing each other in a makeshift circle, Rowe's family drifted more than four miles off
the Florida coast -- their buoyed hopes drowning in hysteria and screams of phantom sharks
as sunset approached.
"I thought my husband was going to die and his children would have to watch him die.
Those are the kind of thoughts you have in that situation. It was horrible," said
Rowe, more than thankful on this holiday after her family's 23-foot rental boat capsized
in choppy waters with her brother and teen-age niece aboard. "It all happened in
about five minutes, but it seemed like an eternity."
Just an hour earlier, the family of eight happy Hoosiers embarked on a three-hour pleasure
cruise off the shore of St. Petersburg Beach, looking for Kodak Moments and a watery
highlight to their one-week vacation late last month.
But their playful jaunt into John's Pass, a popular fishing waterway, played more like a
scene from the film "Titanic" after fierce winds from the east forced the Gulf's
waves onto the ill-prepared crew and overburdened boat.
"Two big waves splashed into the boat and it scared us. But we figured this is how it
is on the ocean," Rowe said. "But then, a monster wave came over us and capsized
the boat -- first the front, then the back."
Out of desperation, Rowe's brother, Pete, a Portage resident, scrambled to locate the
zippered bag of life jackets and emergency equipment before the vessel overturned
completely.
"It was very hard to get to. But that's all we had," said Pete, who asked to
withhold his last name because a lawsuit may be pending.
Pete located the two emergency flares from the bag and tried to light them to attract
help.
"But they were both duds," Rowe said.
Rowe said the five minutes after the boat overturned was "absolute terror," but
the group managed to secure the life jackets around the five children. But Rowe's husband,
Jim, wasn't as fortunate. Once in the water, he was never able to strap a vest to his
body. Instead, he clung to a vest and treaded water.
Jim Rowe Sr. sits with his sons Joshua, left,
Jordan, in Jim's lap, and Jacob after they were rescued from the
Gulf of Mexico late last month.
"We thought we were going to lose
him. I think he thought so also. I could see it in his eyes," she said.
As towering waves crashed over their heads, Rowe's 13-year-old son, Joshua, had to pull
his father from under the water more than once during the ordeal.
"Joshua just hung on to him the best he could," Rowe added.
The same unforgiving winds that capsized the powered deck boat also forced the group
farther from shore.
For two hours, they floated and waited and watched for someone, anyone.
"We just kept looking and looking in every direction," Rowe said.
Until the group spotted a large sail boat in the distance.
"I literally flashed back to that scene in 'Titanic' where Rose blows that whistle
for help," said Rowe, who did just that with a whistle that was attached to a life
jacket. "I just kept blowing."
The sail boat's captain was Sam Morris, a retired U.S. Navy Commander and longtime seaman.
"I was at the helm that day and saw some red specks in the water," recalled
Morris, noting that the waters were very rough that Sunday afternoon. "I figured the
specks were either crab traps or life jackets. But I was surprised when I saw there were
actual people in those jackets."
Morris and his two crew members didn't hesitate. They quickly started their boat's engine
and navigated the 40-foot vessel toward the waving circle of life jackets. "I just
did what was required by law. It's good seamanship, nothing more," Morris said.
Sam Morris, a retired U.S. Navy Commander and
longtime seaman, is pictured
at the wheek of his large sailboat, Lady Kristin, which he used to help rescue the
Rowe Family.
(Photo taken by Sean Heatherman, Jr., Future Navy Man.)
Rowe begs to differ.
"If he didn't come along, I don't know what we would have done. Sunset was coming. We
were thoroughly exhausted and I didn't know how long Jim could hang on," she said.
"Sam was a real hero that day."
Using a long pole, a helping hand and some experienced maneuvering skills, Morris and crew
hoisted the family on board, one at a time.
"We were crying, shaking, vomiting, screaming -- you name it," said Rowe, whose
family then waited for a rescue boat to pick them up and return them to the dock.
"With the wind and the waves and sunset coming, they were real lucky that day,"
said Morris, who later informed the family that there were two recent shark attacks in
those waters. "They just shouldn't have been that far out in the Gulf."
Morris also modestly noted that the real heroes came back home to Indiana.
"Pete and Mary had the presence of mind to keep everyone calm in the midst of chaos.
If panic had set in, who knows what kind of tragedy could have happened," he said.
Rowe said the boat rental firm, Jack's Marina, Inc., never explained that the family could
be in any danger, or that the weather may have been too adverse for boating that day.
Morris said somebody should have taken the time to offer instructions and, at least, a
crash course in water safety to the touring family.
Pete said it's his name on the rental contract and he'd rather not start pointing fingers
in public.
Numerous calls to Jack's Marina for comment were never returned.
In a gesture of kindness and hospitality, Morris, owner of El Tranquilo Charters, offered
to take the family on a charter cruise through the Gulf again. On his boat, not a rental.
Rowe doesn't think so.
"My youngest is still very upset. He's always giving me extra tight hugs and telling
me he loves me and doesn't want to lose me.
"I think we're still in shock, to be honest. We are very, very thankful we're
here."
Morris said there's a lesson to be learned here, and he's posted it on his Web site at http://www.sailetc.com/crew.htm.
"Too many people in a small boat and too far offshore!" he writes in the site.
Rowe said her family was given no warnings or instructions, and she just wants to alert
other families with her near-tragic tale.
"I don't want any family to go through what we went through. Watching 'Titanic' is
one thing. Living it for two hours is another," she said.
Jerry Davich can be reached at jerryd@howpubs.com or at (219) 762-4334.