The Coast Guard pulls him from a raft he drifted on for more than five hours early Sunday.
By Times Staff Writer
Published June 30, 2003
CLEARWATER - A 55-year-old Tarpon Springs man was plucked from a life raft early Sunday after a rescue beacon led the Coast Guard to his sunken fishing boat 60 miles offshore.
Robert Bickle was found at 8:30 a.m. and taken by helicopter to the Coast Guard station in Clearwater. He was not injured, officials said.
Bickle escaped his 42-foot shrimp boat, C of Cortez, about 3 a.m. when the boat began to sink, authorities said. More than five hours later, a Coast Guard crew spotted Bickle's empty boat mostly submerged.
Minutes later, rescuers found him drifting in a red, inflatable raft about a mile away from the wreckage, where he had endured swells of up to 6 feet.
Rescuers said Bickle signaled for help as soon as he got in trouble.
"He shot off some flares when he started taking on water," said Lt. Cmdr. Gene Rush, the Coast Guard pilot who helped rescue Bickle. "Nobody saw the flares out there."
Rush said the beacon that Bickle activated later likely saved his life.
"It's just too bad we couldn't have gotten out there earlier for him," Rush said, "and maybe saved the boat."
Bickle, who Coast Guard officials said works for Cox's Seafood in Tarpon Springs, could not be reached Sunday.
