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  • When the Mast Fell: Three Lost, One Woman, Four Days at Sea

    When the Mast Fell: Three Lost, One Woman, Four Days at Sea
    2026/09/11
    When the Mast Fell: Three Lost, One Woman, Four Days at Sea

    Fog, a grounded thirty-eight-foot cutter, and a mast that should never have come down: the Carissa Bell came ashore with navigation lights still burning and one survivor barely conscious while two crewmen had vanished into fifty-one-degree water. What combination of metal fatigue, gear failure, and cold-water survival turned a routine September passage into four days nobody ashore knew were being endured?

    In this episode, we tell what the transcript records about the Carissa Bell’s final voyage: the crew, the failing forestay fitting, the night a mast fell, and the first forty minutes of search that ended with two men overboard. How did an unseen crack and one wrong carabiner setting cascade into a lost-at-sea emergency?

    Date: September 19, 2011
    Location: Tucket Flats, Gulf of Maine
    Person: Gail Lewis (54), Phil Asher (61), Owen Vance (32)
    Vessel: Carissa Bell, 38-foot fiberglass cutter, built 1989
    Temperature: 51 degrees Fahrenheit (water at Pemaquid Point buoy)

    - At 7:42 AM on September 19, a passerby saw the Carissa Bell grounded in 18 inches of water with navigation lights on and the mast missing.
    - Gail Lewis was found conscious but barely, wearing a drysuit four sizes too large with cuffs sealed by electrical tape.
    - Phil Asher and Owen Vance were not on board when rescuers arrived and were never found after going overboard.
    - The diesel tank aboard the Carissa Bell was dry and the EPIRB transmitted a signal to the wrong place.
    - The forestay fitting had a stress fracture present and propagating for at least two seasons, undetected until the mast fell.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Nail and the Missing Shoe That Saved Two Lives Overboard

    The Nail and the Missing Shoe That Saved Two Lives Overboard
    2026/09/10
    The Nail and the Missing Shoe That Saved Two Lives Overboard

    A single child's white canvas sneaker, size five, bleached and nailed to a channel marker sixty miles from the nearest shipping lane, set off a Coast Guard search that would trace back ten days of small errors and one pair of decisions that saved two lives. What began with a fisherman hauling up an impossible shoe at 4:30 a.m. on August 9, 2003, became the center of the nine-day story of the Nomé Bravo-how did a nailed shoe become the clue to a survival at sea?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the Nomé Bravo's departure to the squall that capsized her, the automatic life raft, and the hours that followed; we follow the people involved and the decisions that put a six-year-old in the water holding a sailor's wrist-how did that wrist and one raft turn disaster into survival?

    Date: August 9, 2003
    Vessel: Nomé Bravo
    Person: Gary Reed
    Victim: Lily Selby, age 6
    Location: 60 miles southwest of the Marquesas Keys

    - A fisherman named Marvin Walker found a left canvas sneaker, size five, nailed with one carpenter's nail to a channel marker buoy at 4:30 a.m.
    - The Nomé Bravo was a thirty-eight-foot ketch with a four-person hydrostatic-release life raft that inflated on immersion.
    - The squall produced sustained winds estimated at 50 knots and shredded the mainsail from the second batten down.
    - At 11:47 PM the boat rolled ninety degrees to starboard, rolled again, and did not return, throwing Gary and Lily into the water.
    - Lily Selby had been wearing Payless white canvas sneakers bought three weeks earlier and identified later by her mother, Terri Selby.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • How a Single Typo Left a Sailor Invisible at Sea for Nine Days

    How a Single Typo Left a Sailor Invisible at Sea for Nine Days
    2026/09/09
    How a Single Typo Left a Sailor Invisible at Sea for Nine Days

    A single wrong character in a fifteen-digit beacon code turned a full-scale rescue into a bureaucratic ghost story: Rhonda Stewart activated her EPIRB after her mast came down in 40-knot winds, yet her distress signal routed to another boat and the case was closed. How did one transposition error in position nine of a hex code make a prepared sailor effectively invisible for nine days?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the beacon found on Calhoun Key to the database transfer that sent the alert to the wrong vessel, and we map the procedural gaps that let a live distress signal be misattributed - could one verification step have changed everything?

    Person: Rhonda Stewart
    Date: July 3-July 14
    Location: 48 nautical miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas / Calhoun Key
    Vessel: Meridian Spur (42-foot sloop)
    Event: EPIRB activation with transposed character in position nine of a 15-character hex code

    - Rhonda departed Sarasota on July 3 at 1600 hours with eight days of provisions and 22 liters of fresh water.
    - At 0217 on July 5 Meridian Spur was 48 nautical miles southwest of the Dry Tortugas when wind logged 18 knots, then 52 knots four minutes later.
    - The mast came down and Rhonda cleared rigging by hand over 40 minutes in 40-knot winds and eight-foot seas, then activated the EPIRB.
    - A contractor entered the beacon’s 15-character hex code with a transposition error in the ninth position during a spring database transfer.
    - The mistaken code redirected the distress alert to Blue Advent, a 38-foot ketch registered to Stuart Nolan in Fort Myers, and the case was closed before AIS position cross-check completed.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • She Drank Saltwater and Waited: Six Days Lost After the Sloop Sank

    She Drank Saltwater and Waited: Six Days Lost After the Sloop Sank
    2026/09/08
    She Drank Saltwater and Waited: Six Days Lost After the Sloop Sank

    Fear tightens when survival hinges on one person, one piece of equipment, and the ocean’s indifference: a laminated tide table card found perfectly dry on a dock 47 miles from its boat, which was on the bottom, and a retired marine surveyor who spent six days alive in the Atlantic after her sloop capsized - how did she survive, and why did no one know where she was? This episode centers on the vanished float plan, a stopped engine, and a single missing update that turned a routine solo trip to Bimini into a week-long disappearance.

    In this episode, we follow Kathleen McCarthy’s final voyage from launch to the moment she surfaced under her overturned sloop, and trace the documented stops, timestamps, and decisions that framed the search - ending on the same unresolved question the tide table card posed: how did routine preparedness become a six-day drift into uncertainty?

    Person: Kathleen McCarthy
    Age: 61
    Boat: Ardent, 32-foot sloop
    Departure date: June 16
    Last on-land record: Fuel receipt at Pelton Cay, 9:55 AM June 16, 92 gallons

    - Float plan filed at Rennick River Marina with expected return June 21; Ardent left dock at 6:40 AM on June 16
    - Pelton Cay fuel receipt timestamped 9:55 AM on June 16 for 92 gallons - last confirmed record on land
    - Engine seized at approximately 11:40 AM on June 16, about eight miles offshore northeast of Pelton Cay
    - Winds reached 30 knots by nightfall on June 16 and gusts up to 45 knots by 2:00 AM on June 17 during the capsize
    - Companionway hatch cover (approx. 4 ft by 2.5 ft) floated free at capsize; grab bag with flares and backup radio went down with the vessel

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • Life Ring Ashore: How Calliope's Grace Vanished Offshore

    Life Ring Ashore: How Calliope's Grace Vanished Offshore
    2026/09/07
    Life Ring Ashore: How Calliope's Grace Vanished Offshore

    The first image is a thirty-inch white fiberglass life ring standing upright between red cedar roots, four miles from the nearest navigable water - dry and still with CALLIOPE'S GRACE printed on it. How did a ring from a boat that ended up on the ocean floor travel sixty-one miles in the wrong direction and leave two survivors, one fatality, and a search that started in the wrong place?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of decisions, currents, and failed forecasts that led from a planned Bermuda passage to a three-week search that began two hundred and twenty miles from where the survivors actually were. How did a textbook seamanship call to heave-to and deploy a sea anchor shift everything, and what did one life ring reveal that search planners missed?

    Person: Monica Parker
    Person: Walt Gibbs
    Person: Iris Tong
    Date: May 7-9, 2019
    Location: Morehead City, North Carolina

    - The life ring measured thirty inches across and read CALLIOPE'S GRACE in black letters.
    - The crew departed Morehead City on the morning of May 7, 2019 for a 1,060 nautical mile passage to Bermuda.
    - Monica Parker, age 24, owned forty percent of the 38-foot sloop Calliope's Grace; Walt Gibbs owned sixty percent.
    - While heaved-to and anchored for eighteen hours, the vessel was carried sixty-one miles southwest by a cold current running 2.5-3 knots.
    - Susan Bennett’s initial search datum placed the mathematical center 220 miles east-southeast of Morehead City based on the filed float plan.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • Warm Chowder, Open Sea: How Kimberly Survived Six Days Adrift

    Warm Chowder, Open Sea: How Kimberly Survived Six Days Adrift
    2026/09/06
    Warm Chowder, Open Sea: How Kimberly Survived Six Days Adrift

    A warm bowl of potato-leek chowder sat on the salon table of an unmanned trawler found at dawn - still warm, with navigation lights burning and lines trailing in the water. How did Kimberly Ward disappear from a boat that later showed 33 gallons of fuel burned and then reappear alive after six days adrift?

    In this episode, we tell what happened from Kimberly’s last messages through the moments that left her in the water, the decisions she made to survive, and the baffling clues investigators found on the Celia Ann. What choices kept her alive for six days on the Atlantic?

    Person: Kimberly Ward
    Date: April 3-9, 2019
    Location: Sapelo Sound / Portsmith Landing
    Vessel: Celia Ann (thirty-two-foot trawler)
    Fuel used: 33 gallons

    - Kimberly launched the Celia Ann at approximately 3:00 PM on April 4, 2019, with 60 gallons of fuel aboard.
    - At 2:48 PM on April 4, Kimberly texted her sister saying she was heading to Sapelo Sound; that was the last message received.
    - At 5:15 PM on April 5, a powerboat struck the Celia Ann on the starboard quarter, cracking the hull below the waterline.
    - Kimberly pumped the bilge manually from about 7:15 PM to 9:15 PM before a wave at around midnight rolled the boat and she went into the 58°F water.
    - Kimberly swam about 40 minutes to a tethered life raft, taking her supplemental spiral field journal with her and leaving the autopilot-engaged Celia Ann running toward the nearest channel marker.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • Dry Card, Drowned Compass: How Merrow Bell Survivors Stayed Alive

    Dry Card, Drowned Compass: How Merrow Bell Survivors Stayed Alive
    2026/09/05
    Dry Card, Drowned Compass: How Merrow Bell Survivors Stayed Alive

    A dry laminated care chart tied to a cleat in a hull full of brackish water survived a capsizing that ruined everything else aboard the Merrow Bell - and that single card helped keep three people alive for six days while searchers looked forty miles away. How did a marine-care chart, a waterproof notebook and a clipped personal locator beacon shape the small decisions that mattered between capsizing and rescue?

    In this episode, we tell what happened from departure on March 7, 2019 through the six days after the Merrow Bell capsized: who was aboard, how the boat went over in a squall, what gear they had, and the sequence of survivor actions that sustained them - and how a search system failed them for forty-seven hours.

    Person: Greg Tully
    Person: Lisa Schultz
    Person: Walt Iverson
    Person: Andrea Foss
    Date: March 7-14, 2019

    - The Merrow Bell was a 28-foot sloop that capsized in a squall on the evening of March 7, 2019.
    - Wind reached 38 knots sustained and gusts up to 44 knots; waves reached 8 feet during the squall.
    - One person, Greg Tully, went into the water at about 7:15 PM and did not return; three survivors righted the hull before dawn.
    - Lisa Schultz, age 32, brought a laminated care chart she used for a juvenile leatherback sea turtle and kept a copy clipped to a tank previously.
    - Walt Iverson, age 61, had his personal locator beacon clipped to his life jacket and had double-checked it that morning.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • At twelve fifty-one in the afternoon on February twenty-third

    At twelve fifty-one in the afternoon on February twenty-third
    2026/09/04
    At twelve fifty-one in the afternoon on February twenty-third

    Cold, alone and drifting for eight days and fourteen hours, a 52-year-old man survived with a body temperature of 94.1°F thanks to a four-inch military surplus mirror he wrapped in a wool sock and sealed inside a Ziploc - but how did that tiny object end up months later on a locked substation roof 200 yards from the water? This episode follows the cascade of gear failures, a mislocated distress beacon, and the impossible trail of a mirror that should never have been found.

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the moment Wayne Whitley left Radio Island through the days the Coast Guard searched the wrong area, to the rescue and the baffling later discovery - and we ask whether chance, design, or something else explains the mirror's final resting place.

    Person: Wayne Whitley
    Age: 52
    Boat: Patience Tern, 9.4 meters
    Time adrift: 8 days and 14 hours
    Rescue time: 12:51 PM on February 23, 2019

    - The Coast Guard helicopter pulled Wayne from the Atlantic after he had been in the water for exactly eight days and fourteen hours.
    - The rescue team's thermometer recorded a body temperature of 94.1°F, about three degrees above the point where the body begins to irreversibly shut down.
    - Wayne left Radio Island marina on Saturday, February 15 at 7:40 AM and sent informal GPS coordinates that were only stored in a dockhand Phil Oats's text messages.
    - His distress beacon was transmitting but reported a position 12 miles away from his actual location, directing search planes to the wrong area for days.
    - Weeks after the rescue, the four-inch signal mirror was found on the roof of an electrical substation in Harkers Landing, 200 yards from Bogue Sound, behind a locked chain-link fence with no footprints or clear explanation.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 分