Survivor Owes Life To Crewmate Dramatic Story Of Rescue Craft’s Capsizing Told At Memorial

The lone survivor of a four-man Coast Guard crew who set out on a perilous rescue owes his life to one of his lost crewmates, the regional Coast Guard commander told a memorial service Wednesday.

The rescue crew’s 44-foot power lifeboat capsized three times in high winds and heavy seas early Feb. 12 on its way to aid a sailboat that was “dismasted, disabled and perilously close to drifting onto the rocks,” Rear Adm. J. David Spade told mourners gathered here at the Quileute tribal gymnasium.

The 18-ton rescue boat, dispatched from the Coast Guard station at this town on Washington’s north Pacific coast, safely crossed the Quillayute River bar, said Spade, commander of the Coast Guard’s Seattle-based 13th District.

“But then disaster struck,” and a large wave capsized the boat. The vessel righted itself and the four crewmen scrambled to get it back on course, he said.

They were hit by another wave and capsized again. This time, two crew members were washed overboard - Seaman Clinton P. Miniken, 22, of Snohomish, Wash., and Petty Officer 2nd Class David A. Bosley, 36, of Coronado, Calif.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew E. Schlimme, 24, of Whitewater, Mo., took command, Spade said. He radioed for help, made sure 19-year-old Benjamin Wingo “was properly buckled” and tried again to reorient the boat to continue its mission.

“Unfortunately, another wave hit the boat and it capsized a third time,” Spade said.

“When the boat righted itself, only Seaman Apprentice Wingo remained on board,” he said. Wingo “actually had his life saved” by Schlimme’s effort to “make sure he was buckled in securely.”

Three men died “that others might live to see home and friends,” Spade said, quoting from the 1885 annual report of the U.S. Lifesaving Service and adding, “The words are as true today as they were then.”

Wingo was rescued from nearby James Island, where the lifeboat beached. He suffered only minor injuries.

When the lifeboat ran into trouble, the officer coordinating the rescue from shore had to decide quickly how to deploy his resources, Spade said.

“He made the correct decision,” diverting the Coast Guard helicopter at the scene to the foundering sailboat, Spade said.

Hovering over waves as big as 50 feet, the chopper lowered a life basket to the 31-foot sailboat, the Gale Runner, and rescued Navy Lt. Kenneth Schlag and Marcia Infante, who had been sailing from Oakland, Calif., to Schlag’s new assignment at Bremerton, with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.