Blast's aftermath still grips survivor.Byline: MARK BAKER The Register-Guard Tory DeNuccio had just awakened a·wak·en tr. & intr.v. a·wak·ened, a·wak·en·ing, a·wak·ens To awake; waken. See Usage Note at wake1. [Middle English awakenen, from Old English from a nap and was walking at midships mid·ships adv. 1. Amidships. 2. In the center position. Used of the helm. [Probably short for amidships. on the Galaxy, a 180-foot fishing boat, when he saw thick black smoke pouring from the engine room. The 21-year-old deckhand's instincts kicked in and he did what he had been taught to do: He ran to get fire suits and breathing apparatus for himself and his deck boss, Ryan "Red" Newhall. But it was too late. The fire was too strong. They were gasping for air. Moments later there was an explosion, and DeNuccio was blown out of a yard-wide hatch in the stern, like a cannonball, straight into the frigid frig·id adj. 1. Extremely cold. 2. Persistently averse to sexual intercourse. Bering Sea Bering Sea, c.878,000 sq mi (2,274,020 sq km), northward extension of the Pacific Ocean between Siberia and Alaska. It is screened from the Pacific proper by the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Strait connects it with the Arctic Ocean. . No life jacket. No survival suit. "It just felt like Hulk Hogan Terrence Gene Bollea (born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American actor, former rock bassist and professional wrestler. He currently stars on the VH1 reality show Hogan Knows Best and will be the new host of picking you up and throwing you, and the next thing you know you're in the water," DeNuccio said. The Springfield man is one of 22 crew members who survived the accident on the Galaxy, a Seattle-based vessel that caught fire on Oct. 20 about 750 miles southwest of Anchorage. Three men died, including the ship's cook, George Karn, 45, of Auburn, Wash., whose brother, Mike, lives in Eugene. The cause of the fire and explosion is still under investigation, said John Young, an attorney for Galaxy Fisheries in Seattle. The boat is believed to have sunk. The accident comes on the heels of last year's disaster involving the Arctic Rose, another Seattle-based fishing boat that mysteriously sank in the Bering Sea, drowning all 15 crew members. "I really don't feel like I should be here now," DeNuccio said Wednesday as he sat in his parents' apartment in southwest Eugene, slightly shaking, slightly wincing wince intr.v. winced, winc·ing, winc·es To shrink or start involuntarily, as in pain or distress; flinch. n. A shrinking or startled movement or gesture. , drawing deep breaths as he spoke. "I kind of feel like I cheated death, me and Red." Also blown overboard were Newhall and the Galaxy's first mate, Jerry Stephens, 43, of Edmonds, Wash. Other crew members threw the three men fishing lines as they fought frantically to swim back toward the three-story boat's stern. "I couldn't believe it was really happening," DeNuccio said. "It felt like a bunch of needles hitting your body," he said, referring to the impact of the 40-degree waves. DeNuccio suffered scrapes and bruises but was otherwise OK after he got back on the boat. Stephens wasn't so lucky. The first mate made it halfway up the ship's stern before he fell back into the water, said DeNuccio, who attended a memorial service for Stephens on Wednesday morning at Fishermen's Terminal Fisherman's Terminal is located on Salmon Bay in the Interbay neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, east of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and immediately west of the Ballard Bridge. in Seattle. Stephens was thrown another line and made it partway part·way adv. Informal To a certain degree or distance; in part: partway to town; not even partway reasonable. up the ship's side before falling again. "The last time I saw him he was kicking his legs and moving his arms fine," said DeNuccio, who was untangling himself on the Galaxy's deck as Stephens was swimming toward a hauling station on the ship's side, a life ring around his body. But then, Stephens was suddenly lifeless, DeNuccio said. "Calvin eventually had to let go of him and accept that he was dead," DeNuccio said of another crew member trying to haul aboard Stephens, whom the crew believes died of hypothermia hypothermia Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments. . As the others cut DeNuccio's frigid clothes off of him, a life raft was being prepared for the crew. One by one they had to jump overboard and land in the igloo-like raft. But Karn, the friend who was known for popping brownies into the mouths of crew members, did not know how to swim How to Swim is a cartoon made by the Walt Disney Company in 1942. In this cartoon, Goofy provides an educational treatise on swimming and diving with questionable results. , DeNuccio said. "He was kind of panicked," DeNuccio said of Karn. DeNuccio told the cook it would be all right, they just had to time it right. For some reason, the Galaxy's chief engineer suddenly cut the line between the life raft and the ship, DeNuccio said, and so he jumped. But he never saw Karn jump. Someone else told him that Karn missed the raft. The bodies of Karn, who was wearing a survival suit, and Stephens have not been found. Another crew member, Jose Rodas, 32 of Pasco, Wash., also died. Rodas' body was recovered. Another man, Daniel Schmiedt, 24, of Arlington, Wash., was swept off the deck of another fishing boat, the Clipper Express, by a rogue wave rogue wave n. An unpredictable, abnormally large wave that occurs on a seemingly random basis in the oceans. during a search for the two missing men a day after the Galaxy fire. Fifteen men made it into the life raft, DeNuccio said, while a few others stayed on board or jumped into the water wearing survival suits and were picked up by another fishing ship. DeNuccio and the others were rescued by a fishing boat, the Glacier Bay Glacier Bay Narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean, southeastern Alaska coast, U.S. About 60 mi (97 km) long, it contains 16 active glaciers that descend from the St. Elias Mountains to the east and Fairweather Range to the west. , after two hours in the water. Once aboard that boat, the survivors stayed awake for two straight days searching for Stephens and Karn. Nasty weather, with snow and winds up to 70 mph, kept them from docking at St. Paul St. Paul as a missionary he fearlessly confronts the “perils of waters, of robbers, in the city, in the wilderness.” [N.T.: II Cor. 11:26] See : Bravery Island, 30 miles northeast of where the accident occurred, until Oct. 23, three days after the accident. From there, they were flown to Anchorage to be interviewed by the Coast Guard, and then on to Seattle. DeNuccio, who has been working on fishing boats in the Bering Sea for three years, both in the summer and the winter, said he will go back. But not right away. "Not right now," he said. "I'm going to take that season off," he said of this winter. For now, he is just glad to be home, with his girlfriend, Angela Stiggins, and the couple's 3-year-old son, Brandon, who likes to say: "Da-da go fishing in the water." CAPTION(S): THOMAS BOYD Thomas Boyd may be
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