Miss Mattie
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USS Clark FFG11: A Love Story
By Bob Adriance
David Van Daalen was 30 miles off of the coast of Virginia Beach, preparing to go scuba diving with three friends on the wreck of an old Liberty Ship, when a wave came splashing over the transom of Carpe Diem., his 25’ Parker. This wasn’t the first time an uninvited wave had come aboard the boat, but before the water could drain back through the scuppers, as it always had in the past, the boat lurched suddenly and more water poured over the transom. Dave quickly abandoned his diving plans and prepared to get underway. But the engine, which had just been tuned by a mechanic, only coughed out blue smoke. “We cranked and cranked and cranked, and when another wave came aboard,” Dave said, “we were in serious trouble.”
His boat was sinking and he only a had a few seconds to put out a Mayday. That didn’t go well either; the Coast Guard station in Virginia Beach had difficulty copying his position, perhaps, Dave theorized later, because of the fear in his voice. The nearest Coast Guard SAR helicopter was in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It’s a big ocean.
Thirty miles away, the USS Clark FF G11, a 445’ Fast Attack Guided Missile Cruiser, was steaming through the Thimble Shoals Channel when the skipper, Cmdr. S. L. Jones, heard the distress call. He listened as Dave repeated his boat’s position three times, his voice growing more desperate, and worried about how long Dave and his crew would survive in the 50˚ water. Without hesitation, Cmdr. Jones ordered the ship’s two powerful General Electric LN 2500 jet engines put on “Full Ahead.”
Carpe Diem --”Seas” the Day?
Dave and his three crew members had just been picked up by a small fishing boat and were drying off when the massive bow of the Clark suddenly appeared out of nowhere and loomed high overhead. The crew were lined along the rail, staring down, and someone asked, “Is everybody OK”?
Meanwhile, down on the fishing boat, everything was OK, more or less. The Carpe Diem was floating upside down but, what the heck, that wasn’t the Navy’s problem. Aside from being a little wet, they were all safe. But instead of leaving, as Dave had expected, Cmdr. Jones invited the four soaked sailors aboard the Clark and offered them a warm shower, dry clothes, a hot meal, and a tour of the ship.
In the meantime, Cmdr. Jones turned his attention to Dave’s upside down boat. Before the distress call, the Clark had been going out for the weekend with a group of selected reservists and Cmdr. Jones knows a good training opportunity when he sees it. He ordered the Clark’s RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and three qualified Air Rescue Swimmers into the water to retrieve the crew’s equipment and personal gear. Jones then had 6” USN mooring lines secured fore and aft to the Clark. Gradually, with more lines from the ship, and a strong effort from the Navy divers, they managed to roll the boat back over.
Aside from rescuing the crew and salvaging its personal gear, Cmdr Jones wasn’t especially interested in saving the Carpe Diem. He had been worried that the drifting boat would be a hazard to navigation, but once it was rolled over, instead of sinking as everyone had anticipated, the small boat bobbed merrily over the waves next to the Clark as though nothing had happened.
Cmdr. Jones said that he briefly considered backing up and using some of the Clark’s impressive firepower to sink the Carpe Diem. That would have eliminated the hazard to navigation problem, as well as provided another good training exercise for the reservists. But Jones, who has owned small boats himself, said the boat seemed to be fine. In fact, it was fine. So instead of blasting the Carpe Diem into tiny little pieces, he fired up the Clark’s big engines and headed for Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, where Dave had left his trailer and car early that morning.
The Clark anchored about two miles offshore and the RIB escorted Dave, his crew, and the Carpe Diem back into the marina. The Clark’s crew helped load the boat onto the trailer and then, when everything was secure, they gave a brief wave and disappeared into the darkness. It was now about 11 PM; the distress call had gone out at 10:30 AM.
Dave was still overcome by the events of the previous weekend when he called Seaworthy this past May. After many years of boating and scuba diving without incident, the swamping of his boat had been unsettling. But while he was obviously struggling to understand what caused the boat to fill with water so quickly, it was the Clark and its crew that made his voice crack. The words seemed to get stuck in his throat and would come bursting out in incomplete sentences whenever he mentioned the rescue: “Cmdr. Jones... fantastic... those guys... everybody... did everything possible... I can’t say enough... so well done... Hey, have you ever seen General Electric LN 2500 jet engines?”
Epilogue
The surveyor’s report after the accident was inconclusive. The most likely scenario is that a combination of weight (four men and hundreds of pounds of dive equipment) at the boat’s stern pushed the transom further down into the water. Water from the first wave found its way into the bilge via the deck hatch, which had a broken hinge, according to the surveyor, and was no longer watertight. The water that came through the hatch further reduced freeboard, allowing more waves to come aboard and swamp the boat.
***********
Based on the BoatUS Marine Insurance damage-avoidance publication, Seaworthy is now a book published by International Marine/McGraw Hill. Called Seaworthy, The Ultimate Guide to Preventing, Responding to, and Surviving Accidents, it is available at Amazon.com and major bookstores.
For a quick and free Insurance Quote for your boat, Click Here.
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By Bob Adriance
David Van Daalen was 30 miles off of the coast of Virginia Beach, preparing to go scuba diving with three friends on the wreck of an old Liberty Ship, when a wave came splashing over the transom of Carpe Diem., his 25’ Parker. This wasn’t the first time an uninvited wave had come aboard the boat, but before the water could drain back through the scuppers, as it always had in the past, the boat lurched suddenly and more water poured over the transom. Dave quickly abandoned his diving plans and prepared to get underway. But the engine, which had just been tuned by a mechanic, only coughed out blue smoke. “We cranked and cranked and cranked, and when another wave came aboard,” Dave said, “we were in serious trouble.”
His boat was sinking and he only a had a few seconds to put out a Mayday. That didn’t go well either; the Coast Guard station in Virginia Beach had difficulty copying his position, perhaps, Dave theorized later, because of the fear in his voice. The nearest Coast Guard SAR helicopter was in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It’s a big ocean.
Thirty miles away, the USS Clark FF G11, a 445’ Fast Attack Guided Missile Cruiser, was steaming through the Thimble Shoals Channel when the skipper, Cmdr. S. L. Jones, heard the distress call. He listened as Dave repeated his boat’s position three times, his voice growing more desperate, and worried about how long Dave and his crew would survive in the 50˚ water. Without hesitation, Cmdr. Jones ordered the ship’s two powerful General Electric LN 2500 jet engines put on “Full Ahead.”
Carpe Diem --”Seas” the Day?
Dave and his three crew members had just been picked up by a small fishing boat and were drying off when the massive bow of the Clark suddenly appeared out of nowhere and loomed high overhead. The crew were lined along the rail, staring down, and someone asked, “Is everybody OK”?
Meanwhile, down on the fishing boat, everything was OK, more or less. The Carpe Diem was floating upside down but, what the heck, that wasn’t the Navy’s problem. Aside from being a little wet, they were all safe. But instead of leaving, as Dave had expected, Cmdr. Jones invited the four soaked sailors aboard the Clark and offered them a warm shower, dry clothes, a hot meal, and a tour of the ship.
In the meantime, Cmdr. Jones turned his attention to Dave’s upside down boat. Before the distress call, the Clark had been going out for the weekend with a group of selected reservists and Cmdr. Jones knows a good training opportunity when he sees it. He ordered the Clark’s RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and three qualified Air Rescue Swimmers into the water to retrieve the crew’s equipment and personal gear. Jones then had 6” USN mooring lines secured fore and aft to the Clark. Gradually, with more lines from the ship, and a strong effort from the Navy divers, they managed to roll the boat back over.
Aside from rescuing the crew and salvaging its personal gear, Cmdr Jones wasn’t especially interested in saving the Carpe Diem. He had been worried that the drifting boat would be a hazard to navigation, but once it was rolled over, instead of sinking as everyone had anticipated, the small boat bobbed merrily over the waves next to the Clark as though nothing had happened.
Cmdr. Jones said that he briefly considered backing up and using some of the Clark’s impressive firepower to sink the Carpe Diem. That would have eliminated the hazard to navigation problem, as well as provided another good training exercise for the reservists. But Jones, who has owned small boats himself, said the boat seemed to be fine. In fact, it was fine. So instead of blasting the Carpe Diem into tiny little pieces, he fired up the Clark’s big engines and headed for Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, where Dave had left his trailer and car early that morning.
The Clark anchored about two miles offshore and the RIB escorted Dave, his crew, and the Carpe Diem back into the marina. The Clark’s crew helped load the boat onto the trailer and then, when everything was secure, they gave a brief wave and disappeared into the darkness. It was now about 11 PM; the distress call had gone out at 10:30 AM.
Dave was still overcome by the events of the previous weekend when he called Seaworthy this past May. After many years of boating and scuba diving without incident, the swamping of his boat had been unsettling. But while he was obviously struggling to understand what caused the boat to fill with water so quickly, it was the Clark and its crew that made his voice crack. The words seemed to get stuck in his throat and would come bursting out in incomplete sentences whenever he mentioned the rescue: “Cmdr. Jones... fantastic... those guys... everybody... did everything possible... I can’t say enough... so well done... Hey, have you ever seen General Electric LN 2500 jet engines?”
Epilogue
The surveyor’s report after the accident was inconclusive. The most likely scenario is that a combination of weight (four men and hundreds of pounds of dive equipment) at the boat’s stern pushed the transom further down into the water. Water from the first wave found its way into the bilge via the deck hatch, which had a broken hinge, according to the surveyor, and was no longer watertight. The water that came through the hatch further reduced freeboard, allowing more waves to come aboard and swamp the boat.
***********
Based on the BoatUS Marine Insurance damage-avoidance publication, Seaworthy is now a book published by International Marine/McGraw Hill. Called Seaworthy, The Ultimate Guide to Preventing, Responding to, and Surviving Accidents, it is available at Amazon.com and major bookstores.
For a quick and free Insurance Quote for your boat, Click Here.
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