A US Coast Guard rescue swimmer has won a top maritime bravery award after helping seven people from a stranded tugboat just moments before he was pitched into the sea feet from the stricken vessel’s churning propellers.
Caleb Halle was given the International Maritime Organization award for “outstanding courage, endurance and determination” displayed during the operation in rough weather off the coast of Maryland, US, in January.
Halle was part of a helicopter rescue team called in after seven seafarers were left adrift in rough seas on their stranded tugboat Legacy. The Legacy had been towing a barge but the lines snapped and fouled the tug’s propellers leaving it at the mercy of the turbulent weather, according to the IMO citation.
Halle was winched down to the deck of the ship and helped three of the crew members into the rescue basket and up to the helicopter before it had to leave because it was running out of fuel.
As darkness closed in, the elite swimmer remained on board the tug to await the arrival of a colleague in a second helicopter to hoist the last four seafarers away from the violently pitching deck.
He was hooking himself to the hoist with his colleague to be lifted to safety when the “vessel violently pitched upwards, throwing them overboard into the tumultuous, frigid water mere feet away from the propellers of the tugboat,” said the IMO in an account of his ordeal.
Halle’s survival suit was damaged during the operation and started filling with water before the pair were rescued by the helicopter crew and brought to safety.
“Despite the extreme conditions ... Halle remained calm and collected while risking his life to ensure the survival of seven mariners in distress, demonstrating exceptional bravery and determination,” the judging panel said.
The IMO said the competition saw 47 nominations and Halle emerged as the winner from a judging panel earlier this week. Another 13 nominees received commendations for their efforts at sea.
They included Captain Anatoliy Golev and the crew of the Saudi Arabia-owned and managed, 45,400-dwt chemical tanker NCC Najem (built 2012) that rescued 28 men and seven women from a capsized migrant boat off Malaysia in August.
The master and crew of the NYK-operated pure car/truck carrier Helios Leader (built 2009) were also commended following the rescue of more than 300 migrants from a leaking trawler in the South China Sea.
Last year’s winner — Chinese chief officer Xu Bo — leapt from his tanker and swam to the life raft to help two shipwrecked seafarers who had escaped their sinking cargo ship in the cold waters of China’s Yellow Sea.
