Anchor in Shower Kills 23 Coast Guard Crew

On a calm night, an oil tanker's

anchor

gets caught in the side of the Blackthorn which sinks a Coast Guard ship within the span of 3 minutes. 23 men die. It is 6:04 p.m. on January 28, 1980, and US Coast Guard Blackthorne leaves the Tampa Gulf dry dock. In Tampa Bay The Blackthorn unms under the command of Lieutenant Commander George Seel earlier that day, the

crew

took the ship on a 2-hour sea trial. They had problems with the main generator. The generator was repaired and now Seel wants to see how it works. The sun is setting as the boat departs and a winter night arrives, although it is dark, it is a pleasant calm night with clear skies and good visibility.

The ship is en route to Galveston, Texas after being docked at the shipyard for 3 months. repairs and to add new equipment six officers and 44

crew

are aboard the ship first launched in 1943. The Blackthorn is a United States Coast Guard cutter built by the Marine Iron and Ship Building Company in Minnesota. The ship is 55 M long and has one beam. of 11 M and a draft of 4 M, she is equipped with modern radars and communications equipment. Boats such as the Black Thorn are also known as boy tenders and the Blackthorn was originally built to service daytime beacons and children's navigation radio beacons like most boy tenders.

Blackthorn has been used for a wide range of other purposes in its 40 years of service: the ship served as an icebreaker on the Great Lakes and conducted rescue operations such as the search for survivors of the plane crash of crashing National Airlines Flight 470. in the Gulf of Mexico, after facing severe turbulence, also assisted ships in distress and participated in the search for survivors of Theo Greensboro, who collided with Theo Suz in heavy fog on the Mississippi River as the ship headed to the Sparkman Channel in North Tampa Bay. The crew is probably excited. Returning to sea, there is a new captain in command, George Seel, this is the first time he has commanded a ship at sea in almost 5 years.

Seel has been on parallel assignments with the Coast Guard and is finally back in the water. He has had a long break, but is an experienced sailor before his shore assignments. His previous maritime experience included 16 months as a Coast Guard patrol boat chief officer, 25 months as a ship's executive officer, and 16 months aboard two other Coast Guard ships despite not being at sea for 5 years. Seel only needs to take a refresher course on the rules of the road before taking command of the ship. Seven of the Black Thorn crew members are also new to the Coast Guard and this is their most experienced first assignment at sea.

Crew members have also been present during Blackthorn's refurbishment for this first voyage in 3 months. The Blackthorn crew will work a modified additional rotation. Personnel are in charge of

guard

ing the bridge and engine room in case of an emergency. Four men are in the four castles. ready to drop

anchor

s and the stern steering is also manned the stern steering is a secondary steering mechanism below deck three navigation team officers on the bridge are plotting the ship's position Operating the radar and taking visual guidance on the way to the channel Sparkman Seel sees a Russian passenger ship, the Kazakhstan on the right in the Channel s, according to the Coast Guard report on this incident, the Kazakhstan is also starting and is heading south on a converging course with the Blackthorn.

The Blackthorn is making 12 knots and pulling. in front of Cousin Stone The Blackthorn becomes the D Channel cut in front of the Russian ship after the Blackthorn clears the pendola point and after satisfying the ships to respond normally, Lieutenant Commander Seel orders the executive officer, Lieutenant David Crawford, take control of the ship from Lieutenant Crawford. Command and inspection go below deck to the engine room to check the condition of the ship's engine with the engineer officer while the ship is underway. The navigation team periodically fixes the Al plot and reports to the commanding officer. In reality, there is no one assigned to continually plot the ship's position. this only happens on the Blackthorn during fog navigation the commanding officer navigates primarily with a sailor's eye the navigation team recommends times to turn to a new course but there are no dead courses or turning courses on the chart these are waters familiar to officers and crew Tampa Bay is organized into shipping channels called cuts and the commanding officer navigates from one cut to another with his eyes inside the cuts, the channels are up to 13 M deep and outside the cut the Depth drops to just 4M, which is about the same draft as the Blackthorn.

Lieutenant Crawford also uses landmarks to confirm the ship's position in the channel as it navigates as the Blackthorn begins its outbound voyage just outside Tampa Bay. They say Capricorn has been preparing to weigh anchor and head out into the bay. The Capricorn is a tanker almost exactly the same age as the Blackthorn in 1961. The Capricorn was expanded with the addition of a new center section. She is a large tanker with 184 m length, 23 m width and a draft of 10 m. The bridge is in the back. of the ship and has a raised four-castle deck, she has two open wings that extend outwards the full width of the hill and the ship's bridge crew has access to modern navigation aids.

The Capricorn has been anchored at the Fairway Anchorage off Eggon Key since 10:27 this morning, after traveling 4 days with the crew in the Virgin Islands, the boat needs a pilot to guide it into the bay and they have been anchored waiting It's his turn for a pilot, heading to Florida Power and Lightco in Weeden. Island station in Upper Tampa Bay with a cargo volume equivalent to more than 151,000 barrels of oil in 1846, the SS Capricorn weighs anchor and moves at 12 knots towards the Egmont Channel. Captain George McShay is the ship's captain and has nine authorized officers on board. 23 unlicensed merchant seamen and one additional non-crew person after the ship has weighed anchor, the port anchor is left ready to drop at the front of the ship on the port side in case you need to reduce its speed quickly the 6- The one-ton anchor is hanging from the side of the ship and set on its brake.

The starboard side anchor is locked in position in 1911. The Tampa Bay ship's pilot, Harry Knight, boards and takes control of the ship's navigation as pilot. Knight will utilize his knowledge of Tampa Bay. Waters to steer the large tanker safely to its destination Knights, an experienced Tampa Bay pilot who brought over a thousand ships to the bay and also piloted many ships to Tampa Bay. This is also Knight's third time on the Capricorn, so he is familiar with the ship's maneuvering characteristics. At Captain McShay's suggestion, he slightly increases the ship's speed to almost 14 knots, most likely feeling that he is in control of the situation as he takes the Capricorn to the eggmon channel.

Knight makes an open safety call on Channel 13 using his portable radio to announce the presence of the Capricorn to all ships in the area returning to the Blackthorn during its southbound voyage through the Hillsboro Bay area in the Tampa Bay, encounters and passes a tugboat, the Pat B, which is pushing a loaded barge north toward the E. Cut Channel, the two ships contact each other in Channel 13 and make arrangements to pass port to port. This happens as planned, but the Black Thorn does not move as the ships approach each other, instead maintaining a position near the center of the channel, forcing Pat B to move to the right, they pass with less than 12M between them, which is not unusual for narrow cuts in handling, then the Russian passenger ship, Kazakhstan catches up with the Black Thorn, it has increased its speed since setting off when it catches it. top Kazakhstan pilots Gary Madx tries to contact Blackthorn to arrange a pass, he calls on the radio but there is no response and he has to slow down Kazakhstan to avoid getting too close.

Finally Madx manages to raise the Blackthorn in channel 13 and asks the ship to grant his request and the brightly lit Kazakhstan passes through cuts D and C. The Blackthorn reenters the channel in cut C after the Kazakhstan passes and Lieutenant Crawford asks Lieutenant Commander Seel who is back on the bridge if he can relieve him of command of the ship he sees the commanding officer instead of taking command of the ship he himself directs Enzyme John Ryan the deck officer to take command instead of Enzyme Ryan is one of the Coast Guard's newest recruits. He was certified as a deck navigation officer the previous year in September 1979.

This is his first sea assignment shortly after 1955. The Blackthorn makes the turn to cut a channel with enzy Ry in command in 2000 the Capricorn passes the eggon key with the eggon key The lighthouse a beam to starbard and Then heads towards Mullet Key Channel. Pilot Knight sees the Kazakhstan leaving ahead of them, she is 7 or 8 miles away east of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the vicinity of the cut B channel at the same time he also receives a radio call from a tugboat named Ocean. Star who is pushing a loaded barge towards the Capricorn in the Mullet Key canal, the Capricorn enters the Mullet Key canal and Knight centers the ship's position in the canal on the bridge of the Capricorn along with the pilot Knight and Captain McShay are the third officer and helmsman who are beginning their watch from 2000 to 2400 hours Captain McShay and the third officer check the radar periodically again similar to the black Thor no one on the Capricorn is plotting the position of the Capricorn on the navigation chart navigation is mainly done through the sailor's eye the pilot knows the water and the landmarks in 20100 ordinary Sean or Boil replaces the lookout at the bow of the ship.

He works alone equipped with binoculars. His instructions are to report only dimly lit or unusual vessels. The idea is to keep the bridge free of flooding with routine calls to alleviate the problem. the previous bow lookout is informed that the harbor anchor is ready to be dropped the Capricorn meets the tug the ocean star in Mullet Key Channel they cross and soon after Knight sees the Kazakhstan rising away the Kazakhstan has passed under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and is traveling at more than 14 knots Knight sees Kazakhstan turn into the Mullet Key channel from the cut to as the ships approach.

Radio communications are established between the two pilots. They agree to go from port to port. The two pilots switch to radio channel 77 to continue their flight. argument as they approach, the two boats pass about 15M and madx in the Kazakhstan apologizes tonight for crowding it after they pass. Knight continues talking to madx on channel 77 leaves the port bridge wing and heads to the starboard bridge wing to search. The Mullet Key Scope Light A scope light is a set of two lights arranged at a distance from each other. When sailing in a channel, the pilot Knight wants the two lights to line up with each other, confirming that the boat is in the Center of the channel If the lights are not aligned, then the ship is not aligned with the channel.

Captain McShay follows Knight to the cockpit and stops at the radar. Knight now sees the white M front range lights and green side lights of the Black Thorn. Since she leaves via the same route as the Kazakhstan, she is east of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, near the beginning of a cut channel. Captain McShay on the Capricorn has been checking the radar periodically and now sees the Black Thorn off the bow. The Lookout OB boil also cites the Black Thorn, which is well lit and there is nothing unusual about it, so it doesn't report it. Pilot Knight switches his portable radio back to channel 13 and attempts to contact the outgoing Black Thorn.

He receives no response, it seems that Black Thorn is difficult to reach by radio. The Capricorn is the second ship that has difficulty reaching it. Knight Blackthorn returns to the Pilot's House, stands just to the left of the ship's centerline, and observes the relative course of the approaching ship. he calls again but again gets no answer Knight has to keep the Capricorn on the channel due to her deep draft. He is also approaching his tipping point between cuts and decides not to change the Capricorn's course or speeding up the radio is not the only way a ship can communicate.

With another ship, the captain or in this case the pilot of the Capricorn can sound the horn. A brief blast will indicate that they are proposing a port-to-port passage, which is the convention for passing in a channel, but Knight does not honk in agreement. According to the Coast Guard report, he then explains that he does not want to limit the other ship's options. At this point, he is notcompletely clear which direction the Blackthorn will take after passing under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. bridge when between the Capricorn and the bridge The Blackthorn can turn left into the Inter

coast

al Waterway, which is a southbound channel about 6M deep, which is enough water for the smaller Black Thorn, if the ship Going in that direction it will cross the channel in front of the ca aporn if not it will turn right from cut a towards the malaky channel and pass the Capricorn in a conventional port port passing this time the Blackthorn appears to have passed the light boy 1A according to the Coast The pilot of the watch report Knight judges that the Black Thorn will cross in front of the Capricorn and enter the inter

coast

al waterway.

One account says that when Knight was previously observing the heading of the approaching ship, it was just off the starboard bow, which would suggest it was heading towards the coastal channel, meaning that the ships will pass from starboard to starboard around the time Let the Black Thorn leave the channel. Captain McShay has also been watching the situation develop, he is concerned about the lack of radio contact and is also trying to assess. In the situation, he leaves the radar, approaches Knight and says: What is this guy? Trying to demonstrate that the pilot Knight does not respond to the comment or hint that he believes it is possible that the approaching ship leaves to enter to the intercoastal canal.

The bow of the Capricorn approaches next to lighthouse 2A. The Capricorn has to begin his journey. She will soon cut a channel or risk running aground on the Southeast Bank pilot. Knight feels that there is now no chance of him passing port-to-port, so he sets the order to the left 10° and blows the two short whistles: this is the standard maritime signal to indicate that he intends to pass the Black Thorn from starboard to starboard. Captain McShay appears to have come to the same conclusion as Knight, although it is not entirely clear what his opinion of the Black Thorn's movements is and he does not object to the pilot's actions on the Capricorn's bow.

He decides to report the Blackthorn to the bridge, but then hears the two whistles from the air whistling right behind him. He knows that the men on the bridge have seen the approaching ship, so he doesn't make the call. The Blackthorn does not respond using her horn or radio as the Blackthorn approaches the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Lieutenant Crawford returns to the bridge from below. He is on the port bridge wing along with Lieutenant Commander Seel and Ryan Magazine Ryan takes the Black Thorn under the Sunshine Skyway bridge just to the right. The green navigation light located at the bottom of the bridge to mark the center line of cutting a channel.

Lieutenant Commander Seppel then enters the cockpit looks at the radar and sees a large radar contact east of Mallet Key Channel Boy 15 looks ahead and sees the bright lights of the Kazakhstan on the same relative heading as the radar contact, according to the Coast Guard report seems to believe the radar contact is the Kazakhstan, presumably thinking there is nothing to worry about, he stops looking at the radar and moves to the chart table to look at the chart portion and refresh your memory on the tracking line past the eggmon key shortly after the Blackthorn passes the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Lieutenant Crawford sees the Capricorn and asks Enzy Ryan if he has radioed a ship in the same area as Kazakhstan, just ahead in Mullet Key Channel, Ryan replies no and asks Lieutenant Crawford to contact the incoming ship on channel 13 so you can focus on tracking its movements. Lieutenant Crawford calls the incoming ship by radio and according to the Coast Guard report he hears a garbled response followed clearly by the words coming out of Anchorage will not be an obstacle. Lieutenant Crawford will later testify that Lieutenant Commander Seel, who is at the card table, orders him to respond to Roger to acknowledge the transmission, Lieutenant Commander.

Seel denies giving that order and no other Witness remembers this exchange, but Lieutenant Commander Seel definitely hears Crawford's call on the radio and that is how he is alerted to the presence of another ship besides the Kazakhstan. According to the Coast Guard report, Crawford has mistaken a conversation that took place between the Ocean Star and the Kazakhstan as a response to his call to the Capricorn. The Ocean Star is actually informing pilot Madox on the Kazakhstan that he will be crossing the channel to enter Anchorage east of Eggon Key and that I will stay out of his way and leave him plenty of marine enzyme.

Ryan in Black Thorn takes position over the approaching ship, checks the radar, and then takes a second course over the approaching ship and determines that it is passing from right to left in front of him. He then turns around and orients himself in the cut. A range light behind them is the same as the previous one he took. This confirms that Black Thorn moves in a straight line and that Capricorn's cap moves from right to left. In front of them, Enzy Ryan has not heard anything from Lieutenant Crawford and assumes that he has managed to pass from port to port.

Ryan decides to start the blackthorn right turn into Mullet Key Channel and turns early to provide more sea room for the approaching boat. orders the helmsman to turn right at 263°, which is the compass heading toward the channel Maliki Ryan does not blow the sea position a short whistle to indicate that he intends to pass from port to port, according to the the Coast Guard appears to have a general Unwritten Blackthorn policy is not to blow a whistle if a passage has been agreed upon by radio. The logic is that the whistles could confuse other ships in the area.

The Blackthorn turns only 5 to 10 seconds after the Capricorn begins her turn and then pilots the Knights. The Capricorn orders the rudder to turn 20° to the left. The Capricorn has already started her turn, so this 20° turn will likely increase the distance between the two ships. We don't know if Knight realizes that the ships are on a collision course, but Captain McShay follows. The Capricorn sees the scope. The lights of the approaching ship quickly align. Boats of a certain length have two white lights, one lower at the front of the boat and one higher at the back, if the lights line up so you can see one above the other. means the ship is sailing directly towards you because they are making a straight line now Knight orders the ship to turn left, probably in an attempt to avoid a collision, then sounds the danger signal when he notices the two ships They will collide.

The chief engineer of the Capricorn in the deckhouse forward starboard door to go out and get some air while leaving, hears the danger signal of the Capricorn and sees the Black Thorn about to collide with his ship in port B, runs towards the engine room and tells the first assistant engineer to immediately respond to all bells, this means that the engine room must be ready to receive orders and act immediately when the Blackthorn begins its shift. The Lieutenant Commander positions himself on the port bridge wing and sees the approaching Capricorn for the first time and shouts where she did it.

He comes, hears the whistling of the approaching ship, and yells at Ryan. Full rudder. Both ships are turning around each other. No one can stop the collision. Full EST Aft to slow the ship as much as possible before Capricorn and Blackthorn collide 2021 Collide Port bow to port bow almost directly ahead 5 to 15 seconds after Capricorn sounds her signal of danger, all but one of the anchor of the black Thorn detail The personnel leave the B towards the boys deck. Seaman Michael Roads, who is working on the radio headsets, is unable to unhook them in time and ends up trapped in the B.

There is a large impact and the Black Thorn is immediately pushed into a starboard list. around 15° then turns to port and settles into a list of around 5° the Capricorn stops its engine immediately both boats continue to slide against each other and as they do so Capricorn's harbor anchor which is ready to drop scrapes to along the side of the Blackthorn pierces the blackthorn hill and opens a huge gash along the side of the ship the brakes on the anchor chain fail as the weight of the Blackthorn pulls on it eventually the anchor becomes embedded in the

shower

locker of the blackthorn Blackthorn then the Capricorn has to take evasive measures to avoid colliding with the Sunshine Skyway bridge, either Knights or MSHA puts the engines full throttle at the stern, keeps the rudder fully left and aims to move along the north side of the cut and the ship continues to turn left decelerating as it goes but is now towing the Black Thorn Stern first with its anchor is pulling the Blackthorn but the anchor chain continues to run out or bo on the bow of the Capricorn watches the chain run out until a cloud of rusty dust from the chain clouds your vision the situation must be A complete shock for the entire crew of The Blackthorn, especially the new recruits, not only did the ship crash into a much larger tanker, but it also listed and is being dragged back out of control.

Approximately 20 off-duty crew members gather in the mass of the ship. deck the normal meeting place of the damage control group await instructions no one expects this just 2 hours after leaving the dock the three men in the aft steering compartment run out onto the deck following the hatch behind them the crew on the deck dining room is In panic and confusion, some of the new recruited members who are on their first Coast Guard assignment freeze in shock, probably unfamiliar with events at sea let alone a dangerous situation like this. Some go to the bulletin board in the starboard hallway next to the month to check their collision on assignments, it seems most of the crew don't even know where to go.

Bowis had Bartel try to take over and orders a crew in the home to set the zebra condition, meaning they have to close all the watertight doors. hatches and portals, he also orders that damage control equipment be removed from the locker and that personnel report to their stations. The Capricorn's anchor chain is attached to the anchor lodged in the Blackthorn as the chain unwinds from the Capricorn, the ships separate and pull away. As they separate, the anchor chain continues to unwind and the distance between the ships widens. Two officers find crew member Bruce Lefon naked and injured in the port main deck hallway.

He is shocked and is trying to tell her something about an anchor in the

shower

. been struck by the anchor as it passed through the hull of the ship, an officer goes to the shower area to observe the damage and finds the Capricorn's anchor wedged into the side of the ship on the bridge, the quartermaster makes a call for help. by radio on channel 16 communicates with the St. Petersburg Coast Guard group in 2022 1 minute after the collision, they ask what the state of the damage is and the quartermaster responds with standby mode, no one is quite sure what is happening and no further transmissions are being received from Blackthorn Quarter Captain Gary Crumley goes to the chart room to get inflatable life jackets for the bridge crew.

He never returns to the bridge. Lieutenant Commander Seel asks the officer at the navigation desk where the nearest sha or shallow water is to which he is likely to be planning. turn the ship around before it can sink the nearest Shaw is Mullet Key sha to the north seel stops the engines from the stern at maximum, it is not clear what happens next on the bridge, the situation must be a big shock for the crew , but if they can close all the watertight doors and get the ship to a shallow place, they can possibly save the ship, the two ships have now separated and the Capricorn has stopped the chain tied to the anchor, which is still stuck on the side of the Blackthorn, slackens as the two ships separate the distance between them puts tension again on the fully stretched anchor chain The Blackthorn suddenly turns towards Port the entire ship is dragged through the water Lieutenant Commander Seel shouts Abandoned ship no one has time to give the order over the ship's public address system as the ship turns to its left side the ship's service generators activate all the lights go out throughout the ship and the ship is plunged into darkness the crew on deck M scatters in all directions Boon had Bartel try to reach the starboard lifeboat so he can pull it overboard, but when he reaches it, the Blackthorn has moved so far that the lifeboat cannot be launched, they may already be underwater or the angle of the boat makes it too difficult.

Not quite saying it, several men who have reached the starboard side of the ship climb up the hull and onto the keel as the ship turns into an inverted position. A radio officer cannot free himself from his headphones and is dragged down as the boat turns over, they drag him under water, but he manages to cut the leashto release the headphones and reach the surface. A Sean William Flores trainee tries to get life jackets for the men in the water he alone has been out of Coast Guard training camp for. one year, but instead of abandoning the ship, he goes to a life jacket locker and begins taking out life jackets for the crew, possibly seeing that the boat is sinking, he also secures the life jacket hatch open with his belt and this allows the life jackets to float afterwards. the ship sinks, he is at his station when the Black Thorn sinks, while about 20 members of the ship's crew are below deck on or near the deck of month, the Black Thorn is rapidly capsizing with men still inside.

Sean Apprentice Michael Gray and Seaman RHS are two of the crew on the deck. The right deckhand stands on the port bulkhead and manages to open and then hold the 130-pound water door over his head while the two shipmates he escapes. He then runs away when water starts pouring through the door. The ship's technician is in the birth area looking for crew when the ship rocks, makes his way to the starboard ladder as water rushes down the hallway and floods the birth area, reaches the top of the ladder, It comes out and then a flow of water drags it in. from there, he swims through the starboard watertight door to the children's deck, from which he escapes.

Most of the crew on the ship's ground deck are still there, unable to find a way out as the ship capsizes. Sean Apprentice Warren Brewer climbs into the engine room via a Scuttle on the deck of the month, shines a flash light through the Scuttle and shouts I found a way out I found a way out other crew members still trapped in the dark total quickly flooding the mestic Rush towards him and the Scuttle, they begin to climb through the Scuttle towards the engine room. Sean Apprentice Gray, who is also in the mestic, thinks the engine room is not the way out.

He convinces two crew members not to follow Brewer and the other men. Instead, he takes them underwater to the starboard door and onto the boys' deck. do not follow the men to the engine room there is no exit in the engine room tells Lieutenant Commander Seel, who is hanging from the side of the ship, what has happened. It's not clear from the report exactly what he tells the captain about him, but he probably tells her that there are men trapped below deck and they realize that the rapidly flooding ship is in imminent danger of sinking. Lieutenant Commander Seel orders Gray not to return to the mestic.

He tells her to dive under the canard and swim away from the ship and away from the suction the ship will create when she sinks. The two men who followed Gray. In order to get out from below, divers later find a man's body on the buoy deck, where he is trapped between the bulkhead and other equipment. It is unclear what happens to the other man in the water. Several members of the Black Thorn's crew have gathered around the stern of the ship. Shack deck that ended up floating next to the ship Petty Officer Miller tries to organize them, he orders other men who are sitting in the lift boat to get into the water and with their life jackets he is probably waiting for the Blackthorn to sink, he wants the men outside Harm's Way in case the ship rolls or pitches, orders everyone to gather around the quarterdeck cabin while they wait for Rescue Technician Nel and Petty Officer Mess to bring Chief Petty Officer Jack Roberts to the quarterdeck cabin , is unconscious but alive.

As the men in the water gather and try to make sense of the situation, the Black Thorn's lid becomes completely enlarged and then sinks within minutes of the collision. 23 men are still on board, including five on her first day at sea, meanwhile the bow of the Capricorn has run aground on the north side of Cut A Channel 730 M from the Mullet Key Channel crossing and Cut A Channel suffers only minor damage. Capricorn's anchor detaches from Blackthorn's side and rests on the bottom of the canal, a shrimp boat the Bayou that had been behind Blackthorn. Cutaway, a canal arrives unseen in a matter of minutes and begins pulling survivors out of the water. .

The Bayou quickly picks up 23 survivors. The time between the Blackthorn calling the Coast Guard and sinking is only a few minutes and the St. Petersburg group ordering a lifeboat to the scene. At the same time as the ship sinks, five other smaller Coast Guard ships are dispatched and a Coast Guard rescue ship arrives on the scene in 2052 and rescues four survivors. The lifeless body of Petty Officer Roberts is recovered from the water where Nel clatter Bartell and Miller have been. Supporting him, they bring him aboard and Bartell attempts to revive him, but Roberts is dead. All survivors are brought to Mullet Key by the Bayou and the Coast Guard rescue boat, which they handed over to emergency and rescue personnel on land.

A Capricorn lifeboat searches the area. for 2 hours along with two Coast Guard helicopters, civilian divers from Eot College search and rescue units arrive on the scene approximately 2 hours after the accident and dive into the Blackthorn to search for survivors possibly hampered by currents that cannot Enter the interior of the sunken ship. boat, they find no survivors. Helmet divers from Coastal diving and Marine Construction in Tampa arrive on scene the next day at 05:00 and hear debris randomly hitting the inside of the well as the vessel rocks as waves pass overhead, indicating which is full of water three bodies are recovered on or around the ship no air pockets or survivors are found divers recover two more bodies from the deck of the Blackthorn later on January 29, a day after the incident, one of those bodies is Bruce Lefon, who was struck by the anchor in the shower locker the Coast Guard's active search for survivors ends on January 30 on February 3, 5 and 6 individual bodies were found within 5 miles of the scene After the accident on February 19, the Blackthorn was lifted from the bottom of the canal. 14 bodies were recovered from inside the wreck. 13 of those bodies were found in the ship's engine room.

The Black Thorn could not be rescued. It was taken 20 miles from the coast. in the Gulf of Mexico and sank as an artificial reef 23 men lost their lives Flores, who opened the lifesaving hatch with his belt, drowned when he went down with the ship 20 years after the collision. Flores received the Coast Guard Medal, the service's highest award for peacetime heroism.