Hero Captain

As appeared today in "The Maritime Executive":

Commentary: Captain of Fishing Boat Hailed As Hero

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

The captain of a commercial fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Alaska is being called a hero for saving the lives of crew.

To hear of captains racing off a ship to save their own lives first; such as Captain Yiannis Avranas, who pushed past elderly passengers to get on the first helicopter while leaving about 170 passengers aboard the floundering Greek Liner, OCEANOS; or when the Egyptian captain, Sayed Omar, abandon the 11,800 ton ferry “al-Salam 98,” which was on its way from Duba to the Egyptian port of Safaga, allowing an estimated 700 passengers to die. These are acts of cowardice in the first order!

But, when the 75-foot fishing vessel NORTHERN BELLE went down in the Gulf of Alaska about 50 miles south of Montague Island, Captain Robert Royer made the ultimate sacrifice. Royer saved his crew of three when he somehow managed to send out an out an emergency distress signal to the US Coast Guard. Then, seconds later, the captain fell overboard as the vessel began to capsize. According to the crewmembers, he did not surface.

The crew swam around in the ocean for more than three hours until finally the US Coast Guard air crews arrived. According to the survivors, the ‘Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon’ did not emit a signal, which meant that Royer’s split decision to send a final emergency call to the Coast Guard saved his crew’s lives.

Without his efforts the Coast Guard would have not had the location of the fishing boat and all the crew would have perished in the frigid waters of the Gulf of Alaska. The crew owes a huge debt to the captain, who proved himself a hero in more ways than one.

Captain Robert Royer our thoughts go out to you, because your heroism has not gone unnoticed.