Boater Rescued off Horn Isl by Coast Guard - The Hull Truth

tokeefejr · 09-10-2009, 05:20 PM

Does anyone have any new info on this incident. What happened to his boat? etc

REDWEISER · 09-10-2009, 06:41 PM

Sounds like a normal thing over that way.
Think i'll keep fishing out of Venice.

bluffman2 · 09-10-2009, 09:12 PM

Coast Guard rescues man stranded on Horn Island

By WLOX Staff
MOBILE, AL (WLOX) - The Coast Guard rescued a man early Thursday morning who was stranded on Horn Island.
Melissa Cumberland called the Gulfport Coast Guard station just after midnight to report that her husband was missing. She said Thomas Cumberland had gone fishing in an 18-foot boat, but had not yet returned to the Popp's Ferry Bridge boat launch on Biloxi's Back Bay.
Around 3am, a Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted a signal fire Cumberland had started.
"The fire Cumberland started helped us find him. As soon as we got into the search area we saw a flickering light through the night vision goggles about three to five miles away," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Flippin, an aviation survival technician stationed at Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans.
Cumberland was taken to Gulfport International Airport where he was met by his wife.

JVSham · 09-11-2009, 02:04 PM

I checked for an update promised in the Sun Herald for today and nothing has changed. I'm just wondering what happened to his boat. Sank, drifted off, stolen, blew up, what? I put a comment on the article asking those questions but have not received an answer yet. Maybe Big Al knows.

patrickg · 09-11-2009, 02:06 PM

I am kinda surprised he started a signal fire. Must have been something bad because it sure is easy to walk a few miles to the ranger station on the island.

JVSham · 09-11-2009, 05:36 PM

I'm not 100% sure that ranger station is manned 24/7. I see some FEMA cottages at the Davis Bayou headquarters but I also see some Rangers patrolling on weekends. Do you know if they rebuilt the station out there and is it manned 24/7 now? If so, and if the location where he was found on the map they showed on the news last night is even close to correct, he was damn near the pier of the old station. I just don't understand why the media doesn't give any more details. Shouldn't be that hard to find out why he got stranded!

patrickg · 09-11-2009, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JVSham

I'm not 100% sure that ranger station is manned 24/7. I see some FEMA cottages at the Davis Bayou headquarters but I also see some Rangers patrolling on weekends. Do you know if they rebuilt the station out there and is it manned 24/7 now? If so, and if the location where he was found on the map they showed on the news last night is even close to correct, he was damn near the pier of the old station. I just don't understand why the media doesn't give any more details. Shouldn't be that hard to find out why he got stranded!

I'm not sure about Horn. West Ship Island is rebuilding their housing and currently has two 24/7 park rangers. I would be surprised if they haven't built at least a temporary house for the Horn Island ranger.

yazoo · 09-11-2009, 08:17 PM

horn island ranger house is under construction and looks like it is raised about 18 inches off ground level. the cement finger pier is in good condition. was told the rangers are still staying at davis bayou and making daily runs to horn and peti bois.