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The story so far: A Coast Guard helicopter flew into the heart of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 27 to rescue the crew of the Madeira Beach fishing boat Mary Lynn. One by one, the three people on the boat jumped overboard, hooked up with a Coast Guard swimmer and were hoisted to safety. last of six parts
Only a few days after the Coast Guard rescued him from the Mary Lynn, Charles White climbed aboard a fishing boat called the Maritza and went back to sea, hunting the Gulf of Mexico for grouper, taking the gamble again.
But for Mark Gutek and Anita Miller, the ordeal had not ended. Because Gutek and Miller both lived on the Mary Lynn, they had lost everything - their clothes, their identification, the photos they treasured. Gutek had 24 stitches in his hand from the flare that blew up. He was grounded, unable to work.
They were fishermen out of water.
The seafaring lifestyle that allowed them to sleep on boats and avoid paying rent now turned around to bite them. They didn't have an apartment, or a car to drive. They didn't even have drivers' licenses.
Dean Pruitt, co-owner of the Mary Lynn, put up Gutek and White in a Largo motel. Within two weeks, their cash was gone, their refrigerator empty except for two packets of Ramen noodles. They called social service agencies, but didn't find much help.
"Now that I'm in need, I'm just getting spit out the back door," Gutek said.
Then there was the matter of Gutek's outstanding battery charge. He had failed to show up for a court appearance some time ago, so on Sept. 13 Pruitt took him to the Pinellas County Jail to try to clear things up.
Pruitt had planned to bail Gutek out, but he wasn't prepared to be on the hook for $5,013. Gutek sat in jail for a week, until he was released on his own recognizance.
Inevitably, the loss of the Mary Lynn became a big topic on the fishing docks at Madeira Beach, where every captain and deckhand can spin tales about riding out killer storms.
Gutek found himself answering sharp questions. Shouldn't he have stayed with the Mary Lynn, people kept asking . Gutek almost got into a fight over it in a bar one night.
Pruitt, who grew up in the fishing business, was out a pile of money. A friend had put up about $60,000 for the Mary Lynn, and Pruitt had sunk $20,000 into repairs and tackle. The boat, he said, was uninsured.
One thing Pruitt was sure of: He would never have left that boat. "Man, I'm a captain. I'm going to go down with my ship."
Pruitt had appeared at a Coast Guard news conference to thank Lt. Craig Massello and his crew for their bravery. He was grateful no one had died.
But when he looked at the Coast Guard video of the rescue, it bothered him. It showed big waves rocking the Mary Lynn, but the boat was riding high in the water and didn't look about to sink.
Two days after the rescue, Pruitt boarded a friend's twin-engine airplane and flew north-northwest of the Dry Tortugas, back and forth, scouring the Gulf. He found no trace of the Mary Lynn.
"I was pretty sad coming home," he said. "That's just a pretty quiet ride coming in."
Gutek was frustrated by the doubts over his actions. "If we could have saved that f------ boat, where is it now, man?"
Massello was recently promoted to lieutenant commander and has been temporarily reassigned to Washington, D.C. He and his crew are being considered for commendations for the Mary Lynn rescue.
Petty Officer Kenyon Bolton, the rescue swimmer, was sent to New Orleans like many other Coast Guard personnel. In all, the Coast Guard helped rescue more than 33,000 people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In the small world of commercial grouper fishing, all paths eventually lead to the same few docks. A month after the Mary Lynn was lost, Gutek and Miller were fishing again, sometimes on one of Pruitt's three remaining boats.
Pruitt's anger over the loss of his boat had softened.
"It was a long, hard rough night, there's no doubt about that," he said. "They had a right to be scared. Anybody in their right mind would be scared."
Gutek was no longer a captain on Pruitt's boats; Pruitt had sent him out as one of the crew. But Pruitt was happy to have him and Miller back.
"It's water under the dam," Pruitt said. "The boat's gone and they're as good as anybody."
Staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or at 727 893-8232.
ON TVThe Discovery Channel show SOS Coast Guard Rescue is scheduled to chronicle the rescue of the crew of the Mary Lynn at 8 p.m. Nov. 22.