The Finest Hours: The True Story of a Heroic Sea Rescue by Tougias Michael J. & Sherman Casey

Author:Tougias, Michael J. & Sherman, Casey [Tougias, Michael J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Published: 2014-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

12

PANDEMONIUM IN CHATHAM

The CG 36500 was now on a course that would return its crew and the 32 survivors of the Pendleton to the Chatham Fish Pier. They still had to make it over Chatham Bar, where the boat had nearly been sunk hours earlier. This time the vessel would be going with the seas, and as they approached the bar, the crew noticed the crashing surf didn’t seem to be as loud as it had been before. Their weak spotlight shined on the breakers, yet they too seemed smaller.

Webber gave the boat a little throttle, punched its nose through the foam, and they were over the bar. He then radioed the Chatham Lifeboat Station and told the operator his position. Stunned that they had actually made it back to Old Harbor, the operator immediately sent a dispatch to the other coast guard vessels:

CG 36500 HAS 32 MEN ABOARD FROM THE STERN SECTION. ALL EXCEPT ONE MAN WHO IS ON THE WATER THAT THEY CANNOT GET. NO OTHER MEN ARE MISSING THAT THEY KNOW OF. THERE SHOULD BE ABOUT SIX MEN ON THE BOW SECTION.…

An avalanche of instructions followed as the operator tried to guide Webber up the harbor. But Bernie didn’t need instructions. “I was very familiar with Old Harbor and had been up and down it many times,” he later wrote in his memoir. “I knew where the shoal spots were and when the turns had to be made. I was in no mood to listen to the chatter on the radio.”

News of the rescue sparked more than chatter on the Fish Pier, where Chatham residents had been waiting anxiously for word. Thunderous applause rippled across the pier as townspeople hugged and cried while waiting for sight of the boat.

Tears were also being shed on board the CG 36500. Bernie heard crying from the men stuffed in the lifeboat’s tiny forward compartment. Despite calmer waters and what must have been intense feelings of claustrophobia, the survivors remained holed up in the cabin, refusing to come out until they had reached port.

The small but sturdy lifeboat was now in sight, and the throngs of people gathered at the Fish Pier struggled for a closer look. Photographer Dick Kelsey positioned his big camera and began photographing what would become some of the most indelible images in Cape Cod history. Kelsey captured the battered vessel on film as it came in, rubbing against the wooden pylons. He could see the faces of the frightened but thankful men peering through the boat’s shattered windshield and out of every porthole.

At that moment, Bernie gazed up at the Fish Pier and saw well over a hundred local residents. They were the men, women, and children of Chatham, and all appeared to be reaching out their hands to grab the boat’s lines to help. The Ryder children stood close to their father, David, a longtime Chatham fisherman who knew Bernie well, knew that he was a more-than-competent coast guardsman. Yet even he had not given Webber and his crew much of a chance that night.

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