Alaska fisherman spends 24 hours adrift in fish bin; then, rescue

SEATTLE — A 19-year-old fisherman whose boat capsized in the chilly waters of southern Alaska floated for more than 24 hours in a 4-foot plastic fish tub, singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat� to keep his spirits up during an anxious night.

Ryan Harris was finally rescued from his battle with 8-foot waves by a Coast Guard helicopter, which had joined a massive search of the waters around Sitka, Alaska, for Harris and his crewmate, Stonie Huffman, the Sitka Daily Sentinel reported.

Huffman survived, too, though he didn’t have a bin in which to float. Instead, he was able to don a buoyant survival suit, grab on to the lid of one of the fishing bins, and battle the crashing waves to head toward shore.

“It’s truly a miracle they survived,� Sitka Mountain Rescue director Don Kluting told the newspaper.

The two men had set out for a routine day of fishing for coho salmon when they were hit with twin problems: a failed hydraulics system and high waves crashing around their aluminum boat.

Just as they managed to make repairs to the hydraulic system, the boat went down a steep wave that dumped a deluge of water in the bow of the boat. Almost immediately, a second large wave hit the stern, and the two men found themselves in the water, with the boat going down.

Huffman helped Harris climb into a bin, but he couldn’t get in one himself, instead grabbing onto a lid of one of the bins and struggling into a survival suit that was drifting nearby. With waves reaching 8 feet, it took him two hours to get into the suit, and by that time, the two men were no longer in view of each other.

“I gave myself a pep talk,� Harris told the Sentinel. “‘I’m Ryan Hunter Harris, and I’m not going to die here.’� Having to stay awake and alert to keep the tiny tub from tipping in the high waves, Harris sang “Row Your Boat� and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,� as well as other songs, to pass the long hours of darkness.

“I never thought I was going to die, but I was worried about Mac,� he said.

The men had departed the boat without radios or cellphones, but friends and family launched a search when they failed to return.

Huffman was spotted first — waving from a beach at Point Amelia at a boat carrying Alaska State Troopers.

Joel Brady-Power, aboard a private vessel, spotted Harris in the tote, “waving frantically,� and a Coast Guard helicopter hoisted him aboard.

“I’m glad to be here,� he said.

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