Gary Clifford is glad he decided not to go tuna fishing off shore last Thursday. In truth, he is really glad he didn’t go.
Instead, after hearing reports that Hurricane Bill was headed up the east coast, he decided to protect his lobster traps, moving some to deep water and pulling up others, those around Haddock Island off Round Pond.
Motoring his pride and joy, his lobster boat Destini, within 300 feet of Haddock Island, he heard the alarm go off on his engine compartment. Within moments after opening the deck lid, the boat was engulfed in flame.
The longtime Bristol volunteer firefighter saw smoke and flames billowing from the engine compartment so he fired the contents of a pair of fire extinguishers into the blaze.
“I could see they were not doing any good so I grabbed my cell phone and called 911,” he said. “I forgot that from where we were, calls would be routed to Scarborough, but I told them who I was, and where I was and they said wait, we have to send this call to Lincoln County.”
When Lincoln county dispatchers came on the line, he repeated the same information and told them he was sorry but he had to go for a swim.
“I kicked off my boots, grabbed my life jacket and jumped in,” Clifford said. “Once in the water, my cell phone went dead and I swam away from the boat because I was afraid the fuel tank would rupture and send flaming fuel into the water.”
Once in the water, he watched as his baby, Destini, the white lobster boat he drove to victory in a Merritt Brackett Lobster Boat race the previous weekend, sent up a plume of jet black smoke that could be seen for miles.
“I really loved that boat. It was like losing a part of our family,” he said.
Fortunately, the sea was warm and almost dead calm. “It was so peaceful, a perfect day,” he said admitting he had not been for a swim in about 10 years.
After about 15 minutes, the quiet of the placid sea was punctuated by the roar of mighty diesel and gasoline engines as other fishermen heard the emergency call and raced to his aid.
“They all flattened them. It was a good sound,” he said. “It seemed that every boat in the harbor just opened up and headed towards me.”
Peter Poland in his boat Alexandria was the first to arrive, but the closer he got to the floating fisherman, the more Clifford began to worry.
“I saw a boat coming and he was bailing right for me. I thought I am going to be run over by a lobster boat,” Clifford said.
“Peter later told me he saw my boots on the rail of the burning boat and was worried I was still aboard her and lying down. Then his stern man saw me in the water and called out. They slowed down and pulled me out.”
A few moments later, Bristol Fire Chief Ron Pendleton, skippering his own cabin cruiser, pulled beside the burning boat and firefighters began pouring water down into the hull. Their efforts brought the blaze under control,
As the blaze turned into smoldering smoke, firefighters and fishermen got a line on Destini and slowly towed her into Round Pond. After an emergency squirt of water just to make sure the fire was out, she was pulled into Round Pond harbor, hauled out by workers for Padebco Custom Yachts and towed to a storage area.
“I asked Bruce (Cunningham, Padebco owner) how much I owed him and he said forget it. ‘You got enough problems’,” Clifford said.
In a stroke of good luck, Clifford called his insurance company and they said their adjustor was nearby. He came down to look at Destini that afternoon and agreed she was a total loss.
“I guess the insurance check will be enough to make the bank happy,” he said.
Since the rescue, Clifford, 59, says he has been flooded with offers of help and good wishes. Friends and relatives have called, checking to make sure he is OK.
Some fishermen went even further.
“A couple of guys offered to lend me their lobster boats. Another said he would take me out to tend my traps.
“People have been just great, but I am not going to just jump right into it again,” he said.
Clifford said at first, he planned to cut Destini up and salvage what parts he could use, but two young men changed his mind.
“A couple of young kids said they would like to have it. They said they had been fooling around with fiberglass and wanted to see if maybe they could fix her.
“I said what the hell, and gave her to them, but I told them I don’t want her to just sit around for 10 years. If they couldn’t fix her up, I want her to be cut up and buried,” he said.
After all, Destini was almost family.
