TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale
Assists The U.S. Coast Guard In a Life Saving Effort!

At approximately 10 PM on Friday July 26th, TowBoatU.S. Dispatcher John Lepore picked up a distress call over VHF channel 16 just as he was arriving for his overnight shift. John has been dispatching the overnight shift from 10 P.M. until 8 A.M. at TowBoatU.S. Ft Lauderdale for over 10 years. He alerted the Coast Guard immediately because he knew right away by the tone coming from the voice on his VHF speaker that this man was in trouble. The scene played out like a Hollywood Movie. The 24' vessel capsized 15 nautical miles west of Bimini, Bahamas. The vessel owner was by himself, hanging on to a rope attached to the capsized vessel, he had one flare and was communicating via hand held VHF radio. Coast Guard Sector Miami did not have communications with the vessel and they counted on John to relay important information that saved his life. “After communicating with him for a few minutes I learned that the boater could see the lights of Bimini to his East and I knew that the one flare that he possessed might be the key to his survival.” John Lepore recounted. “I instructed him to hold on to the flare and use it only when rescue is in sight. Sector Miami informed me that they had an aircraft en route less than an hour after the initial call. I instructed the man to light the flare when the coast guard aircraft was close by. 40 minutes later....The aircraft was dropping a life raft to the distressed boater. Success!!” John continued to relay information for the boater in distress and the Coast Guard until a Coast Guard vessel arrived on scene about 1 hour later to rescue the very thankful owner.

In the end, the owner was returned safely to shore where he was met by EMS and Sector Miami thanked John for his prompt and professional assistance. Later that morning, Petty Officer 2nd Class Roberto Santos with the Miami Coast Guard office stated: "This case is a great example of the importance of having the proper safety equipment onboard your vessel and staying with your vessel if it capsizes, if this boater had not stayed with his vessel, or had he not had the handheld radio, it would have been increasingly difficult to find him. His safety equipment and actions played a huge role in saving his life today."