fisherman dies off montauk

[randall]

in a very unfortunate accident a 51 year old fisherman got his leg wrapped around the anchor line....which itself was wrapped around a lobster trap line..and pulled over. walters good friend john was first on the scene and got the guy free but it was too late.

[In Memory Walter K]

Very sad. The guys son and two friends were on board while this was all happening. Says something for carrying a sharp knife on your belt at all times. Haven't spoken to John yet for the details.

[Charlie J]

very sad indeed, these things happen so quickly

[randall]

walter...that was my first thought...never get on a boat without a knife.

[IRGuy]

I always carry a knife, usually on my belt.. having been on sailboats for 30 plus years I learned to have a sharp knife always ready.. heard of too many accidents like the one mentioned above.. someone gets a foot caught in an anchor rode or running rigging and gets pulled or launched overboard. Watch the TV program "Deadliest Catch", with the guys fishing for crabs in Alaska.. each trap goes overboard with a big coil of line a guy heaves over the rail.. very dangerous!

I recall reading about guys billfishing and the mate had a wrap of the line around his hand and was pulled overboard by the fish at the other end.. a good reason to have a tool on a lanyard around your neck.

[In Memory Walter K]

I spoke to John. It was a horrible experience for him. The guys son was only 16. If given the right location information at first, he would have gotten there sooner. Whether soon enough to save him is a matter of guessing. He was unsaveable after 20 minutes under. Seems their anchor line was hung up on a lobster pot. Whatever happened, happened as they were trying to circle the pot to get it off (bad Idea for starters). However he was pulled overboard, the kid in trying to do something, got the anchor line in the wheel thus wrapping in the line and hanging the boat stern to to the pot. The father was literally tight wrapped between the two. Ugh! How John got the man up with a single screw boat is a testament to his seamanship skills as the tides run strong on Southwest Ledge. As John said to me, "it was a 10 ounce current". If you bottom fish, you know what that means. A tragedy that didn't have to happen for the cost of an anchor and line. Walter

[GEO]

Here is an account from his son Cody which he posted on bassbarn.com. How many times have all of us tempted fate offshore doing what we thought was a simple task? My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and my hope is that one day his son's nightmare of living thru that ordeal will be replaced with happy memories of times fishing with his father. Make sure you all hug your kids tonight or call them and tell them how much they mean to you.......

"My dad

i thank you all for your support and i went to the other links and that press release isn't totally correct
this i what really happened . . .

We went out fishing Sunday 11/30/08 we left the dock at 6:15AM after getting breakfast over at gaviolas with the other two guys that joined us on our trip.
We ran 17miles to Apple tree a wreck to try and find some bigger black fish and maybe some codfish. We pulled anchor3-4 times and never found the wreck or rough bottom.
we then moved 5 miles back to where we limited out on black fish the day before(Saturday) at South Western Ledge a big rock pile.We anchored up but fishing wasn't great, mostly begauls and only 1 black fish. so my dad wanted to pull the anchor and move up a little more because we were off the ledge. We started pulling the anchor but the anchor ball never popped up and this has happened before when we snagged something. We pulled rope in for about 15-20 min and finally got to the chain. My dad put the boat in neutral and came to the back of the boat to help us. We puled the anchor up and saw the lobster pot line, but he didn't want to cut it because it's the lobster guys lively hood and how he makes a living . then the anchor got pulled out of my dad hands because the boat was drifting so my dad let some rope out and told me to go to the helm.
he said "okay Cody put in reverse"i put in in reverse than he said "okay good, now neutral" so i did then he said"forward quick" and i put it in gear and added some throttle. . . and as i did he was standing on top of all the rope we had already brought in and the rope started going out as i started to circle around for another try.
My dad's leg got wrapped wth the rope and he went over i heard him yell and i put it in neutral. the other guy yelled man overboard as i watched my dad hold onto the gunnel trying to get it off his leg and got pulled over. I put the boat in neutral and went and got a throw ring and had the guys throw it to my dad as i went on the radio to call in a man overboard on channel 16.
i saw my dad floating with his head above the water next to the orange anchor ball and i started to head towards hima nd tiold the guys to get ready to grab him. . . they missed
i circl around this time my dad on my side
he was already under water but i pulled his head up and had both my arms under his arms trying to keep his head above the water
he was unconcious the boat was drifting and he got pulled out of my arms and was under again.
i circled around real quick and this time one of the guys got out a galf. they got his jacket and as they pulled to bring him in his jacket came off.
then i started backing down and got halfway to where i assumed my dad was and wrapped the prop with our anchor rope because the guys onboard didnt know to tell me where the line was so that didnt happen.
throughtout this i was on the radio with the coast guard and the other two gys onboard with us were shooting flares at the closest boat which we found out later was the viienne.
we finally got them to come over and by then he was already under a good ten minutes and unconcious. myself and the two otherguys on our boat were just yelling some many different things that i dont think the Vivienne new what we wanted them to do.
we finnaly got across to them that we were disabled and that my dad was still underwater straight out the back of our boat.
they grabbed the lin with a galf and followed it until they got to the bouy with my dad next to it .
they cut the anchor and brought my dad aboard and i am unsure of what they did after that.
I was now adrift and i pulled in all the anchor line and got two wraps off the prop but i couldnt get anymore off.
the reason for this was because the vivienne is a downeastern and cant go as fast as i could so i knew my dad would have a better chance if i coudl get hiom onto our boat and i didnt care how rough i wa sgoing to get him back.
the vivienne couldnt transfer my dad to a coast guard boat because it was to rough

i love my dad and i hope he lived happily and i know that he will still look out for me.
and all i wish is that the cold got to him before the more painful suffereing underwater ."


Cody A. McMillan

[CMP]

Marty was a very cool guy, well-liked and a dedicated fisherman/father. Damn tragic...

CMP

[In Memory Walter K]

Didn't know him, but sure as hell know how it could happen. No matter what, the rope has to go back into the basket or you're at risk. They should have cleated it when they had it up close...but that's monday morning quarterbacking. What a shame. Walter

[scenarioL113]

A few yrs back I was working on a 60' Fire Boat for the New Years eve celebration.

We tied up near the Statue of Liberty. I threw a 1" line to the dock (we had already secured a line on the bow) and the Pilot was throttling up to pull us in. I missed with my line and the INSTANT that line hit the water it got sucked in by the prop and whipped real hard out of my hands.

The point I am making is "#*it Happens! and sometimes real fast". I was grateful I had that line played out on the deck next to me and not under my feet.

I was lucky and its a real shame what happened to this man and his son.