35 Miles from Shore (19 page)

“Are they going to find us?” a passenger asked.

Hugh assured the passenger that help was on its way, though as he scanned the horizon and saw the stormy weather he had his doubts.

Figure 5. Captain Balsey DeWitt shown here in a picture taken a few months before the accident.

Figure 6. Stewardess Margareth Abraham, Pursor Wilfred Spencer, Steward Tobias (Tito) Cordeiro.

Figure 7. Navigator Hugh Hart and his daughter Jennifer in a picture taken a short time before the accident.

Figure 8. Passenger Hedwig (Hedi) Razzi.

Figure 9. Passenger Emerson Ussery.

Figure 10. Passengers Toby and Israel Kruger.

Figure 11. Passenger Jeannie Larmony.

Figure 12. Passenger Rick Arnold.

Figure 13. Passenger Gene Gremelsbacker.

Figure 14. An ONA DC-9 similar to the one that ditched.

Figure 15. A Coast Guard HU-16 similar to this one, commanded by Lt. Tom Blank, flew a circular orbit over the passengers until the last passenger was rescued. Lt. Blank became the On Scene Commander of the rescue effort.

Figure 16. The
Point Whitehorn
was the first ship to arrive on the scene. The crew was involved in the night search of survivors.

Figure 17. LPH-7
USS Guadalcanal
, home to the HMM-261 Marine helicopter squadron. Six helicopters were launched from the ship and were involved in the search and rescue of passengers. The ship, which had been anchored off the coast of Vieques Island, reached the scene shortly after sunset.