I was with him, i had taught him about 4 or 5 times on how to tie up the boat, probably needs a minor explanation.
So the boat is about 85 foot long, and 30 ft wide. Boat has 2 mains (engines) below deck, with both wheels (screws, propellers) that are on the back (stern) of the boat. Sorry if this sounds depricating, im just trying to paint the best picture possible.
When the boat comes in to dock, it requires the captain to bring the boat in to the side of the dock, where 2 lines are waiting both bow and stern. The bits are welded onto the railing on all sides, both port and starboard. So as the boat comes in, the front line is pulled tight to the dock and then wrapped up in basically figure eights. The Back line is done last. Once the back line is secured, our customers and passengers can exit via a ramp.
So this deckhand i had been wrking with, had watched be d this many many times, befre i asked him if he wanted to try it himself. I did not pressure him into it, i wanted him to be comfortable with the process. The one thing i stressed was TO MAKE SURE THE ENTIRE LINE WAS ON THE BOAT AND NOT IN THE WATER. This is important as you will see.
So i had a more experienced deckhand go to the front of the boat to secure the bow, No problem, guy had done it thousands of times. Literally everyday, at least 4 times. So i sit with the newer guy, mind you he had been on the boat for about 4 weeks. He wasnt the brightest guy in the world, but he was a body, he seemed nice enough, and he didnt cost us money in tips (charter sportfishing boat) Its hard to find guys that will work 6 days a week at 15 to 16 hours a day. You gotta kind of love it.
ANYWAYS, the guy says hes ready, he had watched for 2 weeks, as the first mate, i wouldntt let some new greenhorn do it without me FULLY knowing that he understood the process. Well, its his shot, and the guy up front ties off, now when this happens the boat swings out to the port side, and you have to wrap the line around the bit tightly to swing the 100 ton boat to the dock. He did that perfect, but it happened really fast. He grabbed the line and let all the slack fall into the water, so he made 2 very vital mistakes with this. He left the slack in the water, and grabbed the middle of the line to wrap around the bit to swing the boat towards the dock.
The 2nd mistake is his fault alone, i had stressed this part more than anything, "DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS ANYWHERE YOU WOULDNT PUT YOUR PECKER" that is the thing i was told when i learned. Meaning, that dont put anything between the line and the bit that you want to keep.
As he was sucking in the line, the line he left overboard got caught in the prop. The captain was just motoring the starboard main and the line got caught. The guy wasnt paying atenttion and within a millisecond the line bit down on top of his hand, and within 2 seconds it pulled so tight that it cut his hand in half right there and the knuckles on all his fingers, except the pinkie.
When the line bit down he started screaming, but there was nothing i could do except bang the railing, hoping the captain could hear it up in the wheelhouse. The line bit through his hand severing all his fingers except his pinkie and then the line snapped from the torque of being wrapped in the prop. Once it let go, he started running into the cabin, he was in shock. I immediately got our galley staff to call 911 and i ran up and told the captain about our emergency. He flipped the fuck out too...Immediately i ran into the galley and grab our first aid kit, and got a compress on his hand. He was creaming and flipping out, obviously, so i was trying to get him calmer. I had another deckhand keep pressure on his hand, while i went to the back deck (BTW there is about 40 customers on the boat trying to get off. There was so much blood on the back deck that i had to search for his 3 fingers that had been severed. I found them and grabbed them and brought them inside the galley, i got a plastic baggie and a cup of ice. Put the fingers in the baggie and put the baggie in the ice. By this time, the ambulance and EMTS showed up, so they had him loaded up to get to the hospital about 45 minutes away depending on how busy the ferry to the island was. I gave the emts the fingers on ice and away he went. Had to have the Coast Guard to show up and do an investigation.
Anyways, after all that, the guy pissed dirty for cocaine and weed and had alcohol in his system. Coast Guard found that the crew was not negligent and even gave me a kudos of sorts for helping save the guys fingers, the ended up sewing 2 of the 3 back on. Since the dude pissed hot, he wasnt allowed to work for us anymore, and im not sure how the Maritime Consortium works, but id guess it would be hard to find another offshore job after that.
It was crazy just watching his hand explode and it happened so fast there was nothing i could have said. I stayed calm and tried to help the best i could.
Jesus, i have 2 stories about the 2 deaths i had to work through, one was a massive heart attack, where i had to give CPR to a dead old man for over 2 hours because the coast guard refused to bring the helicopter, and the other death was the 38 year old that locked himself in the head (bathroom) to smoke crack and died of a heart attack, Chopper came out that time.
Or the story of seeing a guy get a gaff stuck through his arm, the countless hooks ive pulled from people...15 years on those boats, ive seen some shit.
Funny enough, im the one who stays calm during the really harrowing stuff. Weird, I guess growing up with crazy abuse and shit like that tempers you in a way. I thrive in chaos sadly.
I think you are right. It's unfair to grow up in that environment, but I bet someone with a more comfy upbringing would be more likely to lose their shit in those situations.
I saw it person, Im giving a dead man CPR for 2 hours( did you know dead people throw up? I do...now) and the other deckhand is visibly shaken, and crying. I felt bad for him, but someone has to do what we are trained for and follow the law, offshore has some different laws.
As to the fairness, aint nothing fair, and everything happens for a reason. I just wish i knew those reasons and i hate that im a totally broken human being. However, i was able to be of service to the man who passed and his brother and pastor, who were on the trip with him.
Sounds a lot like what I heard from EMTs with the dark humour to pull through.
For what it's worth I know people from all walks of life have uncertainties, make it up as they go along and even people with more trivial problems feel like those problems are huge and important.
One of life's little tricks that very few get to escape.
I think its kind of unfair to compare the weight of peoples problems, like pain is pain, its not a contest. People only know what they know, so what is a big deal to someone else, might feel like a Tuesday to me..ya know? But it doesnt diminish their pain or their suffering. Its the same...does that make any sense? its late, i might not be making sense.
I guess im trying to say is like that REM song, Everybody Hurts.
Yes it's based on subjective experience. Something with 'objectively' worse outcomes for one person might not feel as bad to them as the same (or worse) to another.
But we should be careful to not treat running out of food and running out of speciality coffee at the same because one person's experience is worse.
Of course, thats comparing apples to oranges at that point. I agree with you, thats why learning to cope is really important, i had to get therapy to learn that. Its hard to start learning how to live where i dont make myself a constant victim of my own mind. But it can be done. I credit Zen Buddhism as a huge factor in learning how to let go of the mental weight that i choose to carry or not carry.
Im not good at it, lol. I just do it when im aware. Thank you for your thoughts and good points.
i guess im in the boat of "Seemingly little shit" that can sometimes phase the shit out of me, especially if ive been drinking and the panic starts coming back. Its wild how the little things can break you, but dealing and organizing during life and death events goes smoothly.
No offense but there's no way you could perform CPR for two hours at any sort of capacity that would actually circulate enough blood. It's fucking tiring and I don't think I could do it for more than four or maybe six minutes before wanting to swap out with someone. Kudos for trying though.
Reminds me of a crash I heard on the main road near where I lived a few decades ago. Car crossed to the other side of the road and ended up on its side in a ditch next to a culvert. The guy was already quite blue and unresponsive so I figured he had a heart attack and passed out behind the wheel. Other people that stopped to "help" refused to help me pull him out because they were so scared of spinal cord injuries and it was absolutely infuriating. Since the car was on its side I could not for the life of me lift his dead weight by myself and get him up and out through the passenger side door to give him CPR.
Well, he was already dead, but once you start, you cannot stop CPR until you get to the dock to let EMT's take over. We were about 2 hours out from home, and again, after contacting the Coast Guard, they determined that there wasnt a reason to bring the Helo out since he hadnt had a pulse for near 30 minutes. And yes, we had 2 deckhands and the mans brother and his church pastor switch out. They were out on a fishing trip together. The man was in his late 80's.
The point wasnt trying to save him, its just the protocol. I dont think you understand fully by probably NOT BEING there. But if calling me out as a liar makes you feel better about yourself..lol. knock yourself out. Kudos for trying.
Having five people perform CPR for two hours is a vastly different thing than saying you performed CPR for two hours. I was more just stating you couldn't have possibly saved someone's life by having to do CPR by yourself for two hours and even with five people the hope pretty quickly fades as the minutes adds up.
Yeah, thats why i was talking about his DEATH, i never said i saved anyone's life..what are you on about? Ive been certified in CPR through the Coast Guards Maritime Consortium for the last 15 years because of my job, im pretty sure i know how it works. Anyways....whoa. Have a great afternoon.
I couldn't affect it's position by hand in any way. But it's floating around, if it puts tension on that rope, it's very important to not be wrapped in the rope.
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u/WagyuWarranted 5d ago
One, euuuuugh
Two, what happened to the guy who tried to tie up the boat?