October 27, 2014 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
Lubec urchin dragger Bracy Ashby is extremely lucky to be alive after being pulled from dangerous waters of Lubec Narrows by two member of the Maine Marine Patrol within minutes of his skiff turning over.
Marine Patrol Specialist Russell Wright and Officer Brian Brodie were near the shore Thursday, October 23 at approximately 1pm when they heard someone yell that a person was in the water. “We were talking with an urchin buyer and someone yelled that there’s a person in the water,” said Wright. “I looked over and saw him. His boat was turned over and he was holding onto the outboard motor.”
According to observers, Ashby’s 12-foot boat was overturned by the combination of 40-45 mile per hour winds and a strong ebb tide current running between 8-9 knots.
Despite the obvious risk and the fact that there was no Marine Patrol vessel immediately available, Wright and Brodie acted decisively. “I said we’re going to go get him,” said Wright.
The two donned their life vests and borrowed a local mussel dragger’s 14 foot skiff on the waterfront. The strong outgoing current quickly carried Ashby, still clinging to the outboard motor on his upturned skiff, beneath the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge separating Lubec and Campobello.
Immersed in water barely above 50 degrees and battered by a frigid northeast wind, Ashby was rapidly becoming incapacitated by the cold. “When we got to him, he had been in the water for about 20 minutes,” said Wright. “He was caught in a whirlpool when we reached him, going around and around.”
In rough seas and the notoriously dangerous whirlpools created by strong tidal currents in and around Passamaquoddy Bay, the two Marine Patrol officers were able to navigate the small boat alongside Ashby, who was not wearing a lifejacket.
“We threw him a line but he couldn’t hold onto it because hypothermia was setting in. Brian and I got ahold of him and pulled him into our skiff,” said Wright. Shaking from the cold, Ashby was unable to talk. “He just had a dead stare. I’ve known him all my life but I couldn’t tell if he knew who I was.”
“I talked to him to keep him alert while we went to shore,” said Wright. On shore an ambulance was waiting and the crew took his temperature. “His temperature was 87 degrees,” said Wright. Although suffering from hypothermia, Ashby refused a trip to the hospital and was treated at the scene.
“Between the weather and the hard running ebb tide, that was not the time to take a small boat through the Lubec Narrows, especially without wearing a life jacket,” said Wright. “He has to be one of the luckiest guys I know.”
“These were extremely difficult conditions,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Joe Fessenden. “But fortunately for Mr. Ashby, a Marine Patrol Specialist and a Marine Patrol Officer were at the right place, at the right time.”
While this is Brodie’s first save, having joined the Marine Patrol earlier this year, Wright, a 15-year veteran of the Marine Patrol, is no stranger to life saving situations. He has received many honors and awards for rescuing people, including an award from the Marine Patrol in 2011 for rescuing a boater who capsized in a river while Wright was off-duty.