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Woken by cries for help

Skipper finds man clinging to his ship's lines, saves him from drowning in river

A man is alive today thanks to the quick thinking of David Cobb, skipper of the 100-yearold fishing vessel Chief Skugaid currently moored at the Fraser River Discovery Centre.

Just after 5 a.m. Thursday morning, Cobb - who was asleep on board the Skugaid - was awoken by cries for help coming from the river.

"I hastily pulled on my coveralls and went out on the bridge-deck . (and) to my initial shock and amazement, there was a man clinging for dear life to one of the mooring lines," he recounted in an email to The Record.

Cobb said the man in the water was "streaming like a piece of seaweed" as he clung to one of the vessel's mooring lines.

"He'd managed to get a hold of these rather stout lines and was between the boat and the big pilings here," he said.

And if the man hadn't managed to grab the line, Cobb said he would have most likely been swept out into the river.

"The river is pretty well known to be running very quickly," he said. "Faster than any Olympic swimmer could contest and even too fast for anything other than a good oarsman."

After scrambling down to the main deck of the vessel, Cobb threw the man a lifesaver and told him to let one of his hands drop from the line and grab the "buoyant life-ring." Then - using a five-foot long boat hook - Cobb manoeuvred the lifering under the man's shoulders and around his upper torso, and pulled him to a ladder.

"(The man) was too weak and apparently (too) hypothermic to (pull himself up), so I continued to yell encouragement," he said.

During this ordeal, Cobb told The Record a passerby called 9-1-1, and by the time he had gotten the man between the vessel and the dock, police and emergency services arrived on scene.

"The police came aboard the Chief Skugaid and employed my eight-foot dinghy . to get over to the man," he said. "(He was) literally at the end of his rope."

Police used the safety harness Cobb keeps on board the Skugaid for emergencies to the man out of the water and into the dingy.

From there the police took over, Cobb said.

"I held them secure at the end of the safety line - attached to the lifesaver - until the police Zodiac could be deployed to pick them all up," he said.

When it arrived, the man and attending officers were transferred to the police boat and taken to the dock.

According to Staff Sgt. Paul Hyland of the New Westminster Police Department, the man - who was attempting suicide - is being treated at a local hospital and will be alright.

Cobb said that more than anything he's relieved the man was OK. He doesn't always sleep on board the Skugaid, but was sure glad he did Wednesday night.

"There would've been a grisly ending to what turned-out to be - by miraculous coincidence - a life-saving occurrence," he said. "Much credit to the police sergeant (Sgt. Mike Garbutt) that first attended, putting his life at risk."

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