Positivity: A Hero Award for a Sea Rescuer of Six
From the Palm Beach Daily News, about a rescue that took place in Massachusetts:
‘YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO HELP’
L. Rodger Currie, along with a friend, honored with Carnegie Medal for helping to save six from burning boat.
Saturday, October 07, 2006It seemed like a normal day to L. Rodger Currie and his friend, Richard Gallagher, when they set out for breakfast the morning of July 12, 2005.
They boarded Currie’s 24-foot power boat in Hyannisport, Mass., crossed Nantucket Sound to Martha’s Vineyard and ate breakfast at the Harbor View.
“The Harbor View has a great breakfast,” said Currie, a Palm Beach resident who summers in Hyannisport. “The routine is always the same.”
But their routine changed drastically on the return trip, when they saw a boat burning about a mile away and no other boats in sight.
In the ensuing minutes, the two men, working together, rescued the six people aboard the 48-foot yacht Priscilla before the burning boat sank.
For their efforts, the longtime friends have been awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism from the Carnegie Hero Fund. Among 16 award recipients announced last week, the men each will receive a medal and a $4,000 grant from the fund.
“If anyone deserves the award, it’s those two,” said Daniel Adams, owner of the yacht. “Things don’t get much more dire. My 3-year-old daughter was extremely scared. There were flames all around us. There were three people over the age of 70 — one with a heart condition. There was nowhere to go but in the water. I can tell you that without the two of them willing to do what they did, all of us would not have survived.”
One problem was that the adults were unable to get to the life preservers, housed in the section of the boat already engulfed in fire. Only 3-year-old Elisabeth, who had a life preserver on before the fire broke out, was wearing one.
With Gallagher piloting Currie’s boat, the two men quickly assessed the situation. Currie threw the life preservers from his boat onto the bow of the Priscilla, where all six people stood huddled away from the fire.
“It was a very intense fire,” said Gallagher, 55, who is the Hyannis Fire District commissioner. “On a scale of 1 to 10, this was a 10. It was a very serious situation. There would have been loss of life if we didn’t come along. There were no other vessels in the area. They were down to absolute seconds. The fire advanced very quickly.”
“We both instantly agreed to get the kid off first,” said Currie, who was 81 at the time. “I said to the mother, ‘Hold that baby just the way you’re doing it, and when I tell you to throw the baby, throw the baby.’ We came right alongside. I said, ‘Throw!’ and she threw the baby and I caught her, which would have surprised my baseball coach.”
The child’s mother, Adams’ wife, Priscilla, jumped into Currie’s Waverider next. One by one the others followed.
….. Adams was the last one to jump to safety. But by that time, Gallagher and Currie thought the boat might explode and didn’t want to risk getting too close.
“I was holding a rope in my hand and I said, ‘You’re going to have to jump in the water.’ And he said, ‘I can’t swim.’ And I said, ‘You’re about to learn.’ ”
By that time, a Coast Guard helicopter had arrived and was hovering above the two boats, watching the drama unfold.
As soon as Adams jumped into the water, Currie threw the rope. Adams grabbed it and was pulled to safety.
From the helicopter came the words, “Well, done, Waverider.”
Adams said, “It’s amazing that they were willing to come near a boat engulfed in flames, getting close enough that we could jump from our boat to theirs. They risked their lives to save ours.”
Currie and Gallagher also received bronze medals from the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a maritime organization founded in 1787 to aid shipwrecked mariners and to award citizens for their efforts in lifesaving.
“The rule of the sea is that when a boat is in distress, whether it’s Waverider or the Queen Mary, you have an obligation to help,” Currie said.
Currie, now 83, is a U.S. Marine Corps. veteran of World War II, where he flew dive-bomber missions in the South Pacific. He and his wife, Patricia, bought their Palm Beach apartment overlooking the Intracoastal in 1974 and became Florida residents in 1989. The couple have six living children, one that has died and 12 grandchildren.
“It was a busy day and all we wanted was to get a good breakfast,” Currie said.
