(L to R) BoatUS CEO Kirk La; Meritorious Award recipient Capt. Mike Del Grande, TowBoatUS Long Beach, Calif. (credit: BoatUS)
When recreational boaters are in grave trouble, the captains of the on-water recreational boat-towing service, TowBoatUS, don’t hesitate to act. Six captains who acted as good Samaritans to save lives in 2018 were recently honored by their peers at a ceremony held at the annual BoatUS Towing Conference in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 17.
The captains serve TowBoatUS towing locations in South Dade, Florida; Tarpon Springs, Florida; Mystic, Connecticut; Long Beach, California; and Lake Havasu, California. These are their actions:
Woody Pollack Lifesaving Award
- Capt. Lee Hartman, TowBoatUS South Dade, Florida: A man aboard a 40-foot motor vessel tied up to a marina fuel dock had a heart attack and fell overboard into alligator-infested waters – but no one saw it happen. Only a loud bang followed by a splash gave an eerie feeling to Capt. Hartman who, in a frantic yet systematic search, was able to locate and pull the man out from under the motor vessel’s transom, where his body had been pinned underwater against the boat’s propellers and rudder by an outgoing tide. With assistance from bystanders, the man was removed from the water and rushed to the hospital where he spent a week recovering.
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