Stephenville -
Dean Hynes and his crew had a very close call Sunday morning, losing the longliner they were in to the sea but acting quick enough to save themselves.
It was just before daybreak when the wind came up suddenly and the Blue Islander, a 45-foot longliner out of Fox Island River, with a full load of mackerel, ran into problems when rope blew off the deck and wrapped around the propeller.
"There was a big gale of wind blowing and with the propeller stopped because of the rope we couldn't go anywhere and were drifting towards the cliff outside Indian Head Hills," Hynes told The Western Star Tuesday.
He said Andy Hickey, who was also out fishing, hooked onto them and started towing the Blue Islander towards the entrance into Little Port Harmon. Then the rope broke.
"By this time we were getting in too close to the rocks so the five of us got in the skiff and abandoned the boat," Hynes said. "I was the last to jump in and shortly after we were picked up by Andy's boat and he brought us in to port."
Hynes' boat sank and was beat up against the rocks, making it a total loss.
Asked if he felt they were in danger at any point through the ordeal, Hynes said it happened so fast they didn't have time to think about anything. They were busy trying to save the boat at first, and then after the rope broke they made the quick decision to abandon ship.
Hynes said they were only about an eighth of a mile off the breakwater when the wind came up and when the crew left the boat, they were only a couple of hundred feet away from the entrance to the harbour.
He estimates the loss of the boat and equipment to be in the area of about $200,000. No insurance was carried.
However, Hynes feels the most important thing is that the whole crew was able to get off and there was nobody hurt and no lives lost.
