A Florida Fishing Crew Spots An Unexpected Figure In The Water
After setting off from the harbor in Fort Pierce, Florida, Captain Chase Cornell and his crew headed 22 miles out to sea. The plan was to enjoy a relaxing day of fishing, but after a "blip" came up on the charter boat's radar, the leisurely plans fell dead in the water. So, Captain Cornell immediately changed their course to investigate the mysterious reading. Once the wary crew arrived at the site, though, they realized they were in way over their heads.
A sudden change of plans
Earlier that day when Captain Cornell climbed aboard a charter boat called Southern Eagle, he was to take three fishermen and two crewmates out into the Atlantic Ocean to catch blue marlin. The boat was a Viking convertible, about 52 feet in length. Everyone aboard, including Cornell's boss, was experienced on the waters — which would soon come to be a critical advantage.
Cautiously approaching
Their collective experience is probably why they weren't alarmed by the radar ping at first. But then again, something wasn't quite adding up. As Cornell and his crew approached the site of the 'blip', he could see there was a strange shape bobbing above the waves. And, initially, he wasn't concerned. "Something like that floating in the water creates its own little ecosystem that attracts fish," Cornell told Field & Stream in February 2021.
Getting down to business
"I knew it was something bobbing in the water," Cornell explained to Field & Stream. “The kiss of death out here is to run your boat into an 'iceberg' — a capsized vessel or shipping container." So when the captain saw the occasional ping on his radar, he started to slow down to investigate. The "something bobbing in the water" was about three-quarters of a mile away.
A blip on the radar
Cornell also knew that a floating object in the water could be a stroke of luck for a group of fishermen. So he aimed the Southern Eagle toward the "blip" on the radar and no doubt hoped for the best. The sun had just come up over the horizon at this point. Cornell may have even thought that they'd catch the blue marlin before breakfast. But he'd have been wrong.
