Crossposted from the Captain’s Blog

An ordinary evening sailing from West Seattle turned into an extraordinary display of preparation and skill when our three-person crew rescued a man stranded in Elliott Bay on Thursday.

The rescue took place shortly before 6 p.m., after the MV Doc Maynard left Seacrest Dock and headed toward Pier 52 in Downtown Seattle. The crew spotted a man in the water away from his boat, blowing a whistle and clinging to what appeared to be a chair.

The crew members – who had all undergone rigorous safety and emergency training when they joined our team – sprang into action to pull the man out of the water quickly and safely. Capt. Jeff Bearden positioned the vessel close to the man in the water. As he did that, deckhands Bob McDougall (on the job for only three months) and Amanda Cook (an on-call deckhand in her second year with us) prepared to pull the man aboard the vessel.

(For a glimpse of how quickly they acted, as well as the moment we brought the man aboard, watch the video shot by rider and Instagram user Ryan Abernathy (@r_dabernathy))

Read more at the Captain’s Blog