'I thought he was dead.' Crabbing crew recount dramatic rescue off Washington coast

Marcus Cole, the co-owner of the crabbing vessel "Lady Nancy," has been fishing the waters off the coast of Washington state since 1999. Monday morning, he and his crew heard a distress call from a boat called the Abby C. The coordinates placed them near the entrance of Grays Harbor.

The Lady Nancy was about 20 miles away. Cole pointed his vessel toward the coordinates and motored toward the distress call to help search for the crew of the Abby C.

“The seas were extremely rough, and we were driving around, we didn't see anything or a boat or anything,” Cole said.

The Lady Nancy passed the location of the missing crew at least once, but they couldn't see anything due to the 10- to 14-foot swells.

“Then my crewman, Roy, saw a life raft in the distance," Cole said. "And once we saw the life raft, we just beelined to it.”

Two men were in a life raft that was quickly taking on water. Then they saw two other men, in open water, hanging onto a survival suit. They pulled one of the men out of the water. But the other man, Casper, who was still in the water suddenly let go of the suit.

He started to sink.

“I thought he was dead,” Cole said.

He told KUOW that this isn’t the first time he's been in a situation like this.

A long time ago he had to look for a crewman who was a friend. They weren't able to find him in the deep waters.

Watching Casper sink reminded him of losing his friend. He knew they needed to find a way to get him and the rest of the stranded crew on board and to safety.

Roy, one of Cole’s crew members, was already suited up in a survival suit. He jumped in. He managed to grab Casper and get him out of the water.

Casper was not conscious.

“I just started performing CPR because he was whiter than a ghost," Cole said. "After about two minutes of CPR, he still wasn't doing anything. I started praying to Jesus, and he freaking woke up.”

Even though the Coast Guard was within a mile of the Lady Nancy, it took them another 15 minutes to locate Cole's boat due to the massive waves.

Looking back, he said it was a "miracle" that they found the stranded crew in the first place.

Cole said he later learned that the Abby C. took on a major wave. The men had just enough time to say their coordinates four times before crawling out the windows into the frigid ocean water.

Cole said things can go wrong on the Pacific in a matter of minutes, especially in rough waters. Since the incident he said he's “feeling a lot more thankful.”

“Our season only lasts for so long, so we're not guaranteed anything, even a paycheck,” Cole said. “But you know, being a fisherman doesn't really matter what else goes on, because we're a slave to the winds and the tides.”

All four of the men were evacuated to Hoquiam for medical treatment.