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Seafarer Honored for Risking Life in 24-Foot Waves to Save Drowning Man |
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Seafarers (SIU) member John Dacuag put the extensive safety and rescue training he received from the union’s training center in Piney Point, Md., to good use in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and a typhoon when he jumped into the 24-foot seas to rescue a crewman from a sunken ship.
For his heroic efforts, Dacuag was awarded the Coast Guard’s Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Coast Guard’s highest civilian award, in a Honolulu ceremony late last month.
Dacuag was sailing aboard the U.S.-flagged cargo ship the Horizon Falcon in July 2007, when the ship received a distress call from another cargo vessel, the Hai Tong No. 7, which was about 375 miles northwest of Guam. The Horizon Falcon changed course and steamed toward the Hai Tong several hundred miles away.
But when the ship arrived the next day at the last known position of the Hai Tong, it found crew members in the water and oil slicks and debris from the sunken cargo ship. The wake of Typhoon Man-Yi was generating 24-foot seas and 40-mph winds.
On board the Horizon Falcon, Dacuag volunteered to try reaching a struggling Hai Tong crewman in the water. Climbing down a ladder on the Horizon’s portside, he attempted to reach the struggling man. According to the Coast Guard citation.
His lifesaving effort was particularly dangerous due to the severe weather, treacherous sea conditions and large amount of debris created by the passing typhoon and stricken vessel….Despite the grave risks to his own safety, Mr. Dacuag hung from the pilot’s ladder in 15–24 foot seas…he was submerged several times in water over his head.
Several times he was able to grab the man. But the winds, heavy seas and the ship’s movement broke his grasp several times. Then,
without consideration for his own life, Mr. Dacuag jumped into the extremely hazardous waters and swam to the survivor through 24-foot seas and attached the grappling hook and line to hoist the survivor on board.
Rescue efforts by the Horizon Falcon and Coast Guard search and rescue teams were able to save 13 of the 22 crew members.
At the awards ceremony, Rear Adm. Manson K. Brown said Dacuag’s
heroic daring demonstrates the absolute highest caliber of seamanship.
For more information on the SIU’s Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education, where Dacuag took his rescue and training courses, click here.
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