ESPN: Lions' Smith & Raiders' Cooper among 4 missing boaters

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CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Coast Guard was searching off Florida's Gulf Coast on Sunday for a fishing boat carrying NFL players Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper and two other men missing nearly a day in choppy seas.

Smith and Cooper were on a 21-foot vessel that left Clearwater Pass for a fishing trip Saturday morning and did not return as expected, the Coast Guard said Sunday. Crews used a helicopter and a 47-foot boat to search a 750-square mile area west of Clearwater Pass, but poor weather made the search difficult. Officials did not receive a distress signal from the missing craft.

ESPN's Sal Paolantonio reports that the Coast Guard has added two Air Force helicopters, a C-130 transport plane, and an 87-foot Coast Guard cutter to the search.
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Rest here..

My prayers are certainly with all parties involved.
 
Breaking news is they have found an overturned boat - one report is that one person is hanging on to it. No further details at this time from CNN.com.

Update:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/02/florida.missing.boaters/index.html

CLEARWATER, Florida (CNN) -- The Coast Guard has found an overturned boat with one person clinging to it in waters where authorities have been searching for four missing boaters, the Coast Guard said Monday.

The missing boaters include two NFL players.

The Coast Guard said it does not know whether the boat it found is the one it has been searching for, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless.

The identity and condition of the person found with the boat was not known, Harless said.
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more.....
 
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Survivor: Football players lost at sea took off lifejackets

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/th...17822/nick_schuyler_provides_the_grim_details

Nick Schuyler, the lone survivor of the boating tragedy in St. Pete, is telling an eerie tale of how the other three -- Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and Will Bleakley -- likely lost their fight to survive:

Schuyler, 24, told investigators that about two to four hours after their boat capsized Saturday in rough seas, one of the two professional football players gave up hope and let himself be swept away, according to family members of two of the missing men.

A few hours later, the second one did the same.

"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will, 25, is also still missing.

With former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith gone, only Schuyler and Bleakley remained clinging to the boat.

Then, sometime Monday morning, Will Bleakley thought he saw a light in the distance and decided to take off his life jacket and swim to it, hoping to get help.
 
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nebs said:
Survivor: Football players lost at sea took off lifejackets

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/th...17822/nick_schuyler_provides_the_grim_details

Nick Schuyler, the lone survivor of the boating tragedy in St. Pete, is telling an eerie tale of how the other three -- Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and Will Bleakley -- likely lost their fight to survive:

Schuyler, 24, told investigators that about two to four hours after their boat capsized Saturday in rough seas, one of the two professional football players gave up hope and let himself be swept away, according to family members of two of the missing men.

A few hours later, the second one did the same.

"We were told that Nick said the two NFL players took their life jackets off and drifted out to sea," said Bob Bleakley, whose son Will, 25, is also still missing.

With former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith gone, only Schuyler and Bleakley remained clinging to the boat.

Then, sometime Monday morning, Will Bleakley thought he saw a light in the distance and decided to take off his life jacket and swim to it, hoping to get help.
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I heard them saying something like this on ESPN this morning. But man, just two to four hours after it happened to give up hope that quickly?
 
Something just doesn't sound right... I thought Schuyler told the Coast Guard all three men were still with the boat the morning he was found. Why would he be changing his story?
 
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The ESPN reporter (with naval experience) who has been following the story thinks its understandable that his story would be changing for a number of reasons. The guy is still disoriented after 48hrs in the water and these stories of his recounts to investigators are being published third-hand at best.
 
Ah, okay. I feel very sorry for the families in this situation. Hearing one horrific story is bad enough but not knowing if it's true or a hallucination must be even worse.
 
People can become disoriented and hallucinate if they drink salt water. Salt water will dehydrate a person very quickly. At about 10% dehydration, hallucinations can start. Suuposedly quite a few of the USS Indianapolis crew died from this dehydration rather than shark attacks. Some just swan off, becasue they were sure they saw land.

It's still hard to imagine that this could be what happened in such a short time span to men who were strong and tough-minded, unless they just didn't know not to drink salt water.

From the USS Indianapolis medical officer:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq30-5.htm

When the hot sun came out and we were in this crystal clear water, you were so thirsty you couldn't believe it wasn't good enough to drink. I had a hard time convincing the men that they shouldn't drink. The real young ones -- you take away their hope, you take away their water and food -- they would drink salt water and then would go fast. I can remember striking men who were drinking water to try and stop them. They would get diarrhea, then get more dehydrated, then become very maniacal.

In the beginning, we tried to hold them and support them while they were thrashing around. And then we found we were losing a good man to get rid of one who had been bad and drank. As terrible as it may sound, towards the end when they did this, we shoved them away from the pack because we had to.
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Wow, this is really sad. I hope the families get through this. It's always been one of my worst nightmares to be stuck at sea. Can't even begin to imagine what those guys must have gone through. :(
 
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