On Monday, May 3, three fishermen off the coast of Cape Cod would have likely lost their lives if another fisherman hadn’t come along and found them huddled on the hull of their capsized boat.
NBC Boston reports that Philip Tran and his friends happened upon the capsized boat when they spotted a signal light around 10 p.m. near Squaw Island and shot dramatic cell phone video as the three stranded fishermen scrambled aboard his boat.
“It was windy, big waves — and if that boat sank, they would’ve died,” Tran says in the video. The men had been on top of the capsized boat for about an hour and in the water for 10 or 15 minutes before Tran arrived.
“At that point our concern is hypothermia, you know, we’ve had certain situations that are similar with not a positive outcome, so they were very fortunate not having personal flotation devices that someone was in the area to kind of help them out,” Fire Rescue Lt. Rich Alger told reporters.
One report said only one of the three stranded fishermen was wearing a personal flotation device, while another said none of them had a PFD.
“One person grabbed the rope, I had the light, and the captain, we just got close to them and then we got them on board and saved them,” Tran told Boston25 News.
The Hyannis Fire Rescue boat met the boat and brought the soaked men to shore at the Cape Cod Hospital boat ramp. The Coast Guard was also notified. The fishermen, who have not been identified, were treated and released. The capsized boat was towed to shore, but authorities have not released any details about the circumstances that led to the boat sinking.
Unofficially, Harbor Master Brian Taylor told Boston25 that rough water likely contributed to the capsizing.
“It’s still cold out this time of year, the sea conditions can get rough,” Taylor said. “A lot of individuals aren’t really aware of what the sea conditions are here, so all I would tell you is pay attention to the weather, pay attention to the fog.”
Tran said the men were fishing for squid. “They got, like, six buckets full of squid,” he said in the video, “but they were on their way back in and then they said their boat got stuck in reverse then started, like, taking on a lot water and they just flipped over.”
The men told Tran they had called the Coast Guard but were unable to provide their location.
Fishermen will often fish at night on the south side of Cape Cod during squid season. Authorities say this is the third such capsizing incident in the area in recent years — the previous two each resulted in a fatality.
