Boat capt. recalls rescue
Pulled from Merrimack River after craft capsized in crash
A Lowell charter boat captain says rescue crews saved his life when his boat capsized in a collision on Saturday.
Paul Belley’s boat, the 21foot Janet Marie — named after his wife — collided with the 58-foot Captain George just after noon Saturday on the Merrimack River between Salisbury and Newburyport, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Northeast. Belley and his four passengers were tossed into the river.
Belley, in a Sunday morning Facebook post, wrote, “When the boat flipped I came up under the boat and found a air pocket and collected my thoughts.
“I said to myself I am not dying today …”
Belley wrote that he put on a life jacket, but that fumes from the fuel were growing strong.
He wrote that he dove from under the Janet Marie. But he became tangled in the bow line and started to be pulled under, until he was cut free.
Harbormaster Paul Hogg told WHDH-TV the harbor patrol boat was able to reach Belley, free him and pull him on board.
Crew aboard the Captain’s Lady III, on a whale watch, saved the Janet Marie’s passengers, the Coast Guard said. No one suffered serious injuries.
Belley is well-known throughout the Merrimack Valley, as a charter captain and musician. He has been involved in numerous charitable activities throughout Lowell.
Kaleen Dolan of Chicago was aboard the Captain Lady III with her boyfriend, Chris Haaser. That’s when the 30-year-old said she heard someone say, “That boat just hit another boat.” People were screaming that the boat Belley had been on was sinking and that there were kids in the water.
Dolan said they saw four people holding onto a small capsized boat — two middle-aged men and two boys that appeared to be between 7 and 12 years old.
In a private Twitter message, Dolan on Sunday shared details of the dramatic rescue. She said the amazing crew instructed everyone to stand on the opposite side of the ship, and that their captain instructed all nearby boats to turn off their engines to stop creating new waves in the water.
“They did this because there was a fifth person still under the boat and if there were any big waves, the man under the boat’s air pocket would have been destroyed,” Dolan wrote of Belley. “The four of them kept screaming, ‘There’s five of us!’ ”
Dolan said many of those aboard the Captain’s Lady III had tears in their eyes because they could hear how shaken the children were. She added that Belley gave everyone a big thumbs up after being helped by the harbormaster.
She said the Captain Lady III crew members deserve a big mention because they saved those people’s lives.
“In a very strange and complicated world, sometimes we face life or death. In the face of darkness, all of us onboard came together and chose life,” Dolan wrote. “Everyone on that ship made sure they had everything they needed and that the lives of other humans were being protected.”