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| Man Overboard! | ||
| MAN OVERBOARD! TO YOUR STA- TIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! The voice on the loudspeaker was that of Lt.Dave Smith, acting skippert of the Coast Guard Cutter Sundew. The occasion was one of the most dra- matic moments in the long histry of the Coast Guard at Charlevoix. A cargo boat carrying supplies to white shoal lighthouse had swamped in icy water a quarter of a mile from the cutter. * * * MAN ABOARD the Sundew knew only that some of their number were in trouble and that survival time in near freezing water is sometimes measured in seconds, or a few minutes at best. The swift actions that followed --- in- cluding the order to take the Sundew into shallow shoal waters where she had never ventured before --- are enough to make every Charleboixan proud of the Sundew and her gallant crew. * * * OBSERVERS aboard ship were im pressed with the calm authority with which Lt.Smith's orders were given, and the calm obedience with which they were carried out. Every man sprang into action, with hardly a lost motion. When the ship drew abrcast of the foundering men, life- lines, ring buoys and a cargo net were standing ready. One man---John Lambing ---was already in his wet suit, prepared to go into water after his shipmates. "It went just like one of the drills," Lambing said later. "Everyone did, what he was supposed to." |
The importance of getting Lake Michi- gan's lights, fog horns and radio equip- ment in running order before the ship- ping season oens cannot be over- emphasized. shoals and reefs make nothern Lake Michigan one of the trick- iest passages in the world. The lights at White Shoal and Grays Reef are essential to the safety of vessels visiting these waters from all over the world. * * * CIVILIAN observers aboard the Sundew last friday gained a new respect for courage---Coast Guard style. It takes a special breed of man to sail on Lake Michigan in an open boat in a rising March gale, as did the man who manned the cargo boars supplying White Shoal light. Special credit goes to the crew headed by John schumacher who made two trips back to the light after the first cargo boat sank. * * * THE COAST GUARD is sometimes con- sidered the most "civilian" of out military services, possibly because of the im- portant role Coast Guardsmen play in protecting the lives and property of the civilian population. Yet no one could doubt the efficacy of the militancy of the Coast Guard who saw the Sundew crew in action off White Shoal last Friday. The stakes were life or death. Our Coasties played the game to win from the first warning until the last man was safely back on board. Maybe it would be a good idea gor Charlevoix to set March 18 aside as our own Coast Guard Day. |
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