Like maximum lobstermen, the Maine House Republican chief scrambled to finish his paintings ahead of the remnants of Hurricane Lee. Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham was once speeding house from sea when a giant wave rose up, reputedly from nowhere, and towered over his boat.
Moments later, he and fellow fishermen Alex Polk discovered themselves plunged into the chilly North Atlantic as they witnessed a frightening sight: The strong 40-foot (12-meter) vessel constructed for offshore fishing had flipped over, its propeller nonetheless turning and its diesel engine belching black smoke.
“This boat was turned upside down in a nanosecond like a bathtub toy,” Faulkingham recounted.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Coast Guard had warned mariners at midday Friday that they had to right away start planning to keep away from the onrushing hurricane — almost about when Faulkingham was once turning to house at Winter Harbor, a few miles (kilometers) east of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.
Suffering a black eye, facial fracture and stitched lip, Faulkingham counted Polk and himself fortunate to be alive Monday. Polk broke an arm and the wrist on his different arm, and suffered a giant gash on his face, Faulkingham stated.
Their ordeal spread out Friday afternoon because the water within the Gulf of Maine was once already beginning to churn. But it nonetheless wasn’t tough sufficient to forestall lobstermen from completing their paintings.
Despite uneven waves of 5 to eight ft (1.5 to two meters) offshore, Faulkingham stated, seats have been fairly calm. The two have been looking at waves crashing ashore on an island and almost about to go towards harbor when the wave loomed huge.
Faulkingham estimated the swell was once perhaps 40 ft (12 meters) top. With handiest about a 2nd to react, he hit the throttle.
“It was surreal to see a wall of water coming at you like that. It’s just not natural to see water coming at you laterally. It was above us. I don’t know how high it was in total. But it was above us,” he stated.
The subsequent factor he knew, he was once swimming away from the boat. Inside the overturned vessel, Polk gulped some air and driven off along with his excellent arm, rising at the different aspect, Faulkingham stated.
The boat’s engine was once by some means nonetheless operating, black smoke belching and propeller spinning.
Faulkingham climbed onto a flat phase of the strict of the overturned boat and grabbed Polk along with his excellent arm to assist him to protection, as neatly. That’s when Faulkingham discovered the power of the wave had pulled his shorts and sweatpants to his ankles. He used the sweatpants to stem the bleeding from Polk’s head.
They took off their oilskins and boots and awaited assist. Faulkingham’s telephone was once long gone. Faulkingham tied his oilskins, the water-resistant equipment worn by way of fishermen at sea, into a approach that they may well be used for emergency flotation. They pinned their hopes on being noticed or the Coast Guard being alerted by way of their emergency locator beacon, which is activated by way of publicity to water.
Several planes flew over and a number of other different lobster boats handed within the distance, however nobody noticed them. In the interim, the Coast Guard, responding to the beacon, alerted Faulkingham’s spouse at 12:20 p.m. and the hunt was once on.
Even although Polk was once critically injured, Faulkingham stated, he was once secure and felt God was once looking at as flotsam and jetsam from his boat was once driven ashore. But his boat stayed put, and did not right away sink. In truth, the solar beating down at the black hull warmed up, offering the boys some convenience from the chilly ocean water.
“I knew it was a bad situation but I had no fear. I can’t explain the science of adrenaline or any of that other stuff. All I know was it was the presence of God,” he informed The Associated Press.
Their rescuer was once a acquainted fisherman. A cousin, Mikie Faulkingham, was once the primary to seek out them at 1:11 p.m. He hauled them onto his lobster boat and rush to shore, the place an ambulance took them to the sanatorium.
Their boat sank.
Their ordeal had begun simply because the Coast Guard was once telling mariners to hurry ultimate arrangements for Lee, nonetheless a Category 1 storm greater than 400 miles (640 kilometers) to the south. The National Weather Service despatched out an advisory with a name to motion, alerting mariners in daring letters that they “must be executing avoidance plans now.”
Some, like Faulkingham, were just finishing their haul of lobster. Others were pulling traps out of the water, or taking them to safer waters farther offshore.
The Coast Guard can’t stop mariners from going out in severe weather, but did its best to arm them with information to take the storm seriously, Petty Officer Diolanda Caballero said.
“We put out these advisories to make sure people are safe and trying their best. We said multiple times the ocean is unforgiving. We can’t really stop people from going out — it’s ultimately at their own risk,” Caballero stated.
Faulkingham, 44, is on recess from Maine’s part-time Legislature until it begins its next session early next year. He was elected to the Legislature in 2018 and has worked in lobster fishing his entire life.
He said Monday he felt like he’d been run over by a truck. Still, the close call won’t stop him from heading back to sea.
“Fishing is who I am. It’s what I do. It’s my livelihood. It’s how I feed my family. It’s what I love,” he stated.