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The Coast Guard and other rescue groups from Georgetown County resumed a search Thursday for Super Suds II, a missing charter fishing boat out of Murrells Inlet.
The boat, with seven people on board, was due back at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Marlin Quay, said Lt. J.G. Miller with the Charleston Coast Guard.
Officials at Marlin Quay called the Coast Guard when the boat did not arrive on time.
Capt. Bob Clark, the owner of the fishing boat, is on the 27-foot catamaran, the Coast Guard said. The names of the other people on board are not known, Miller said.
Winyah Rescue Squad and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources is assisting with the search.
The boat was supposed to go about 60 mile out, Miller said.
The last contact was Wednesday afternoon, when the boat was about 20 miles out.
Don't know anything else about it, but my prayers are with the 7 people on board. Let's hope they are found.
The weather was pretty snotty yesterday. We did a sea-trial on a 32 CC and it was rough, near shore, I can imagine how it may have been 60 miles out. Coast Guard called me this morning asking if a Glacier Bay has full floatation. Some speculation exisits that the boat may have been involved in a collision with a "larger vessel". Seven people on a 26-27 foot boat sounds like a bit much for a trip to the gulf stream..... but what do I know? My prayers are with them all.
Six of seven missing boaters rescued
Vessel's captain confirmed dead; passengers were in town for bike rally
From staff and wire reports
The captain of the charter fishing boat missing out of Murrells Inlet since Wednesday evening was confirmed dead Thursday. The remaining six passengers have been taken to Georgetown Memorial Hospital.
Very sad to hear about the Captain. SO very thankful for those surviving though. Be interesting to hear more on this story as to what happened. God bless the Captain's family.
i went out to the Gulf stream yesterday in my 25' CC out of Murrells inlet. It got a little rough on the trip back home but the 8 Dolphin in the fish box made it better. I saw a lot of boats out yesterday at the Winyah Scarp. Anyone have a link to an article about this. This is the first I have heard of it
This is all the more tragic, knowing that the captain has been fishing these waters for 50 yrs. My prayers will definitely be with his family and those onboard.
The Sun News had a story where they talked with the boat passengers. Appears that they were hit by a wave and the coolers with their fish broke loose:
During trip to shore, waves overturned boat
By Paul Nelson
The Sun News
In town for the Harley rally, Mark Spradlin, his nephew, brother-in-law and two friends set sail around 7 a.m. Wednesday in hopes of getting in some fishing aboard a boat they chartered for the day.
They had taken a similar trip last fall with boat captain Bob Clarke, said Spradlin, 38, of Sanford, N.C.
After a full day of fishing Wednesday, the group decided to call it quits and head back to shore aboard the Super Suds II, Spradlin said. That was sometime between 3:30 and 4 p.m., he said.
Making the trip with him was his nephew Dwayne Wills, 38, brother-in-law Mike Robinson, friends Bryan Yocum and Jennings Hughart, all from West Virginia as well as Clarke and first mate Gerald Smith.
Spradlin said coolers filled with their catch of dolphin and wahoo sat on either side of the catamaran.
Roughly 15 miles from shore, a wave lashed the vessel, breaking the strap that secured the container to the boat, Spradlin said.
A second wave hurtled the cooler and two men sitting on it along with three other passengers to the other side of the vessel.
The shifting of the weight flipped the boat over and dumped everyone into the water, Spradlin said. The men struggled to pull themselves onto the hull of the overturned catamaran.
Spradlin said they tied a rope to the motor, looped belts around the rope and held on for dear life.
"The bottom of the boat is real slick and every time the wave hits it, it knocks you off your feet," he said. That is how Robinson was tossed off the boat.
Coast Guard officials said Clarke stayed with Robinson to help him stay afloat. The others tried desperately to toss them a flotation device but soon lost sight of them, Spradlin said. "We never saw them again," he added.
Tired, hungry and thirsty, the passengers made it through the night by encouraging each other, Spradlin said.
"We kept on telling one another, 'we're gonna get through this, just be patient,'" Spradlin said. "If somebody got cold, what coats we had, we swapped them to keep everybody's body temperature up." And even though their patience wore thin, their thoughts remained positive.
"We just thought, let's get through tonight and in the morning, there will be planes and boats," Spradlin said.
But darkness prevented search crews from spotting them, further compounding their frustration.
"We seen them shooting up flares," he said. At one point, they even counted to three and screamed for help but the sounds of the ocean and the boats drowned them out, Spradlin said.
Finally, late Thursday morning, rescue personnel answered their prayers and help arrived.
"We were already planning on what we would have to do to survive the next night if nobody seen us," Spradlin said.
His girlfriend, Beth James, stood next to Spradlin outside Georgetown Memorial Hospital after the rescue.
"The good Lord was looking out for them," she said. "It was just a fluke thing that happened."
How big would those coolers have to be to flip a boat
That seems odd.
It sounds like.......The cooler was being used as a seat and when it broke loose the weight of the passengers and the coolers full of fish all shifted to one side causing the boat to capsize
God Bless the captain, sounds like he died with honor trying to save one of the passengers. Maybe time to take another look at these cat boats, this is the second sinking with casulties in the region this spring. Seems that there is a fine line between being overloaded or not. One thing for sure once they go up on the beam ends there is no righting arm.
__________________ When offshore - The very best you can do is sorry enough.
Load stability is a issue with all boats, but with a twin hull things are a bit different. While they can provide a comfortable ride, in certain seas (following,quater,beam) these usually shallow draft hulls can be tricky.
A real tragedy........and that Captain was a real hero. I guess this also points out why the Coasties don't think too much of cat hulls.
The US Navy runs Glacier Bays......The "coasties" don't like them???.......guess it depends on who you believe and your sources. I think the main point here is even a well respected and sea worthy hull with a very experienced captain is vulnerable to mother nature. A good lesson for all of us cat or not....The Sea Deserves Respect!!!!! Regardless, I don't see the Navy using anything less than a very seaworthy boat. Fact is when its real rough I don't want to be in my WC, your Triton or a GB....I want to be in an easy chair on the front porch.
colliwh - 5/20/2006 8:46 AM A real tragedy........and that Captain was a real hero. I guess this also points out why the Coasties don't think too much of cat hulls.
That's the second cat that's rolled over this spring off the Carolina's coast. Total 4 dead.
Missing charter boat out of Murrells Inlet 
