BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) – It was a dramatic rescue at sea and it was all caught on camera. Two Tampa Bay area fishermen found themselves in the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico for several hours overnight.
Captain Daniel Gilliland and Steve Maye of Brooksville were on board Gilliland’s 37-foot boat, Ruby-D, when it began taking on water early Monday morning, about 50 miles to the northwest of Boca Grande. That’s when the Coast Guard began receiving Mayday calls from Gilliland, saying his boat was sinking, and he and his crew member were abandoning ship.
The first Mayday call came in at 2:27 a.m. “Mayday, Mayday, we are sinking,” the call said.
That’s when an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter rescue crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater and a 45-foot response boat-medium from Station Cortez were launched to the Ruby-D’s last-known location.
In an exclusive interview with News Channel 8 less than 24 hours after his boat sank, Capt. Gilliland remembered those horrifying last minutes before the boat went down and he set off his emergency beacon. “The stern was gone,” he said. “It was under water about four feet. I had time to get a Mayday call off, engine was going under water. Everything was going down so quick. It just went down quick.”
Gilliland said the rudder fell off the boat and he’s not sure how.
He recalled the next Mayday call.
“We got the life raft out … She’s going under now,” he said.
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It’s at that point Gilliland, who started taking to the waters with his dad at age 5, did what he knew best. “Been raised on the water all my life,” he said. “I did my best. I did my best to try and keep the other guy alive, too.”
Gilliland spotted the Coast Guard helicopter just before 4:30 a.m. and set off his flares. The strobe light helped the Coast Guard boat find the fishermen in a life raft nearby.
At that point, the fishermen were in a life raft.
“Oh, instantly,” Petty Officer Efren Ortiz of the US Coast Guard told News Channel 8 about spotting the two men.
Ortiz talked exclusively with News Channel 8. “They start waving their hands. They’re excited. They’re happy to see us. Obviously, they’re really cold. They’re shivering. They’re really cold and they want to get on board,” he said.
Tonight, both Gilliland and the US Coast Guard have yet another survival story to tell. “It’s just like you would want somebody to save you, you know,” Ortiz said.
“Oh, I’m extremely grateful,” Gilliland said. “Thanking God all day long. This definitely wasn’t the way I wanted to go, for sure.”
Coast Guard officials said Gilliland did everything right, from setting off the flares to using the strobe light, as well as turning on the emergency beacon.
Gilliland said he was already in the middle of building another boat. As soon as it’s done, he will back out doing what he loves best – fishing from the Gulf.
