One of the fishermen rescued from a fishing boat in stormy seas far off Newfoundland’s coast on Sunday says the crew “didn’t expect to come out of it.”
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Brian Anstey, the boat’s captain and owner, said he and four other crew members were caught in a storm for about two days as they returned from a seal-hunting expedition, but it was during the second day the storm picked up. He said some ice on the ocean helped protect the boat on the first day, but by the second day the storm had beaten up most of the ice.
“The ice is pretty much all gone so we had all the swell and the wind to put up with,” Anstey, 53, told Global News. “That left [us] just sitting in the waves.”
Winds had increased to 60 knots causing waves up to 10 metres high.
Anstey said they phoned Labrador Coast Guard to get the forecast to see if the weather would change but were told no change was expected and conditions might even get worse.
The boat put out a distress call and a few hours after they called, a Cormorant helicopter was dispatched by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC).
He said while they waited, they kept some heaters on and put on their survival suits, which was a difficult task as they couldn’t stand up on the boat.
He said the conditions were the worst he’d experienced in more than 30 years of fishing.
“I’ve had some rough times but nothing like this,” Anstey said. “I never seen it rough enough where I got to leave me boat.”
When the helicopter arrived about 150 nautical miles northeast of St. John’s, the crew found out they wouldn’t be able to stay on the boat in order to be rescued.
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Each of the fishermen had to jump into the ocean in order to be hoisted into the helicopter by the rescue crew.
“We figured they were going to be able to take us off the boat but they couldn’t do it, it was too rough, they couldn’t chance it putting nobody aboard the boat,” Anstey said.
Video of the rescue has made its way onto YouTube, posted by Joint Taskforce-Atlantic. In the video, a diver is shown being lowered into the rough seas before being drawn back into the helicopter with a fisherman holding on.
WATCH: Five fishermen are rescued from the waters off the coast of Newfoundland after their boat gets caught in a storm.
The rescue was a co-ordinated effort between the JRCC, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Coast Guard.
The crew was then taken to Gander, N.L.
Anstey said they’re not sure at this point whether they will get the fishing boat back as it remains in the water. He said he expects they may have to buy a new vessel if they want to get back on the waters before the fishing season ends, but is still hoping they’ll be able to get their boat back.
He said he’s happy they made it out of the storm.
“That’s the main thing, everybody came out of it good,” Anstey said.
— With files from Ross Lord, Global News
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