Co-Pilot Cathell Takes Part In Ike Boat Rescue

courtesy Republican News


Sep. 11, 2008

An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., rescued four people from a 60-foot Bahamian-flagged fishing vessel at about 8 p.m. Sunday, about 40 nautical miles north of Great Inagua, Bahamas, in the vicinity of the Category IV Hurricane Ike. The co-pilot in the helicopter was Lt. Junior Grade Daniel Cathell of Garrett County, son of Kayla and Carl Cathell, Oakland.
The Coast Guard Seventh District Command Center in Miami received notification from Nromberto Velez, the owner of the Midnight Sun, that the vessel was taking on water with four people aboard. The Command Center watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Air Station Miami HU-25 Falcon jet that was deployed to Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico, to respond to the distressed boaters.

The Falcon crew arrived on the scene and confirmed that the vessel encountered complete engine failure and was taking on water in 70-knot winds and 30- to 35-foot seas with 40-foot swells. The crew of the vessel requested Coast Guard assistance and agreed to abandon the vessel, according to the report.

The HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, who were deployed to Providenciales, Turks, and Caicos Islands, immediately launched to assist the distressed boaters. After battling strong winds and rain, the rescue helicopter crew arrived at about 8 p.m., deployed the rescue swimmer, and hoisted all four people aboard the helicopter.

"It was a pretty wild operation," Cathell said in an e-mail Tuesday. He said they flew along the edge of a band of the storm, and then went directly into it. The storm hit the crew's hangar, Cathell said.

"Our hangar is destroyed and all our food is gone," he said.

In addition to Cathell, the rescue crew members were Lt. Cmdr. Mark Turner, pilot, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Menezes, flight mechanic, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jon Geskus, rescue swimmer.

The men reported that the winds were so strong, the rain was coming down sideways against the helicopter. In the heavy seas, Geskus lost his fins and part of his suit on the first deployment, and said the waves "looked like mountains."

The Coast Guard rescue crew transferred the boaters to Providenciales Airport. No injuries were reported.


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