Stars aligned for Hatteras ferry

The Coast Guard is investigating what happened on a windy day last month aboard a ferry bound for Hatteras from Ocracoke Island, but one point is abundantly clear already: The passengers were fortunate to have several quick-thinking and courageous people in their midst.

As The Pilot’s Catherine Kozak recounted in a story last week, about 60 passengers were on the ferry, the Cape Point, on Sept. 19 when a crew member shouted that the captain, Lowell Schroder, was down.

Jason Bosley, a licensed Mississippi boat pilot returning from a day of windsurfing on Ocracoke, happened to be among the passengers. He rushed to try to help the captain. But — as two other passengers with medical experience, Susan Hilton and Linda Kern, focused on Schroder — Bosley turned his attention to keeping the ferry safe in waters being stirred up by 35 mph winds.

“At that point in time, it was instinctive to take the wheel, at least to keep the ferry in the channel,” Bosley recently told Kozak in a telephone interview.

As Bosley began to familiarize himself with the boat, in unfamiliar waters, he saw another ferry, the Thomas A. Baum, heading his way.

An off-duty ferry captain, Ronnie Van O’Neal, happened to be hitching a ride on the Baum. After it became clear from radio communications what was happening on the Cape Point, O’Neal asked the captain of the Baum to pull up close to the troubled vessel. O’Neal then jumped — in darkness — onto the Cape Point and safely guided it to shore.

The story ended sadly. Schroder, 64, was later pronounced dead, apparently of a heart attack. But events might have turned out even worse were it not for the swift actions of Bosley, O’Neal and others.

O’Neal, who downplays the dangers of his jump, said Bosley “saved people’s lives, in my opinion.”

The Coast Guard is reviewing what transpired before the captain was stricken. A crewman trained to dock the ferry had been dropped off earlier at another location. Regulations require ferries to have a sufficient number of crew members on board who are able to take over in an emergency. It doesn’t appear that was the case here.

If further safeguards are needed, the Coast Guard and North Carolina Ferry Division should take a cue from Bosley and O’Neal — and not hesitate to do what’s necessary to protect passengers.