Survivor Says Crew Was Strapped To Boat

The sole survivor of last week’s fatal Coast Guard accident said Wednesday that he and his three crew mates were strapped to their boat when it capsized. He doesn’t know how they came unstrapped, but “the force (of the waves) ripped the boat apart.”

Seaman Apprentice Benjamin Wingo, 19, his face still bruised, spoke with reporters after an emotional memorial service here Wednesday where nearly 500 mourners gathered to honor the three Coast Guard members killed.

The three died Feb. 12 while trying to rescue two people from a sinking sailboat during a storm off the Washington coast near La Push. Wingo, who suffered facial injuries, was found a short distance from the wrecked Coast Guard boat in a small cove on James Island.

Whether the crew was properly strapped into the 44-foot motor lifeboat - standard operating procedure for such a mission - or if the restraints malfunctioned, or the crew took them off as the boat rolled are questions the Coast Guard is investigating.

Wingo said he was conscious during the entire ordeal but he declined to elaborate because of the investigation.

According to the Coast Guard, the rescue boat pitched in 29-foot waves and then capsized and righted itself three times.

Two crewmen, Seaman Clinton Miniken, 22, and Petty Officer 2nd Class David Bosley, 36, were swept overboard when the boat capsized a second time, said Rear Adm. J. David Spade, commander of the 13th Coast Guard District, who spoke during Wednesday’s ceremony.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Schlimme, 24, and Wingo remained. Schlimme put out a radio distress call and made sure Wingo was properly buckled, Spade said.

Wingo shot off distress flares.

Then the boat rolled a third time. And Schlimme was gone.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, all four were awarded the Coast Guard Medal for bravery.

“I’m just going to miss them,” Wingo said of his crew mates.

Wingo’s memory has been key to the Coast Guard’s efforts to reconstruct the accident.

“It (Wingo’s memory) is fantastic,” said Capt. Carmond Fitzgerald, who is leading the investigation. “We have gone back to him three times.”

The wreckage of the rescue boat remains on James Island, where investigators have examined it extensively, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said there was nothing to indicate that the boat was not operating properly. He said the condition of the engine suggested that it had been operating “right up to the beach” of James Island.

Several parts of the boat were destroyed, he added, including the section where crew members would have been strapped.

Fitzgerald said he will complete a report on the accident investigation within a month. It’s unclear when the Coast Guard’s report will be made public.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Kramek, Secretary of State Ralph Munro and Sen. Patty Murray were among the crowd overflowing the Quileute Tribe gymnasium in this tiny coastal community.