Father, Son Live, Almost Die Together

Published: Jun 17, 2007

TAMPA - The 15 feet of rope tied from the belt of the father to the belt of the son said much about their relationship. Fred Meyerink and Stefan Meyering were going to sink or swim together.

Their 20-foot Cobia open fishing boat went down on the night of May 19 in the cool, dark waters of Tampa Bay, a couple of miles south of the Gandy Bridge. They endured 13 hours of whitecaps and being tugged by currents toward the Sunshine Skyway bridge, where they feared they might be taken out to sea and never found.

"I decided to take the rope we had and tie ourselves together so we could not get away from each other," said Meyering, 26. "The only thing I have left is my old man, and we're so close."

His father added, "All we have is each other."

Meyering explained that his only sibling, Tristan, is in a vegetative state in a Toronto hospital after an icy automobile crash in Toronto a year and a half ago. Meyering is not close to his mother, Jennifer, who cares for his brother and is separated from his father.

"I was in the water thinking that my brother was wiped out a year ago, and now me and my dad were going, too," he said. "I was swimming so hard, so angry."

They were rescued the next morning, spotted by a couple in a boat who saw them tied to a beacon and waving for help. So this will be a special Father's Day, one it seemed unlikely they would see. They plan to celebrate it with a couple of big steaks at Bern's Steak House or Charley's Steak House in Tampa and then wash them down with a couple of cold beers.

"In the past five years we've gotten real close," said the father, 67, who lives in his son's modest house not far from Gaither High School.

It's The Same Name, Only Different

Meyerink, who changed the spelling of his name to honor his Dutch father after it was "Americanized" with the letter g at the end, is the chief X-ray technician at the University of South Florida's Harborside Medical Tower. Meyering, a University of South Florida graduate, is a nuclear medicine practitioner at Largo Medical Center. Both work long hours, but they find time to work together on their vintage automobiles or go fishing.

They left about 6:30 that night and were about two or three miles out when they shut down the boat. They threw in a chum bag to attract mackerel, and their fishing lines. They noticed water on the deck but thought it was from their melting ice bags. The depth-finder said they were in 38 feet of water.

Just after 8 p.m., they noticed more water on the deck and became concerned. They flicked on the bilge switch, but the water was rushing in too swiftly. Sinking was imminent, and they began preparing for it.

Meyering tried lighting a flare, but it already was too wet, and his cell phone was "a goner." They grabbed two life preservers, though the son had to settle for a children's-size vest, and a safety light.

"And all of a sudden the boat went down like the Titanic," said the son. "I felt like a pirate walking the plank."

They ended up hanging on to different ends of the boat, and the father yelled, "Where are you, Stef?"

They found each other and tied the rope to their belts, then hung from the bow rail of the capsized boat for about 45 minutes. During a scramble to untangle the rope, the son got a treble hook stuck in his right hand.

"I've got some nice scars left from that," he said. "I was going down with the boat with that hook in my hand and remembered thinking that I did not want to be like Quint in 'Jaws.'"

Sharks were a major fear, particularly with the chum bag dangling from the boat.

"I prayed to God to keep the sharks away from us," said the father, "and I said we would do the rest."

They never saw a shark but could see a police car chase miles away on West Shore Boulevard. They were so near, yet so far from safety.

"The whitecaps almost drowned us," Meyerink said. "A cold front was moving through, and the tide was going out."

"Dad was sucking down too much saltwater," Meyering said.

"He said I was hallucinating," Meyerink said.

"Drinking all that saltwater makes you delirious," his son said.

Do They Stay Or Do They Go?

They debated whether to stay with the boat or swim miles for help, and the father won out with his plea to remain in place and hope to be rescued. Both were wearing T-shirts and jeans and had lost their shoes.

"We're going to make it," the father told the son.

Once the Cobia went down, they were adrift. The boat was found to have its plugs in, and the cause for its sinking was not discovered.

Meyering did the freestyle and breaststroke while his father mostly floated on his back and kicked. They hoped to make it to St. Pete Beach, but the currents and tides were not cooperating. Meyering tried flashing an SOS in Morse code with his light. Nobody responded.

They continued to drift and tried to latch on to a channel marker, but they just missed it.

Hypothermia came as they bobbed in the water. They were cramping, dehydrated, battered, bruised and sick. Meyerink joked during their plight that if they made it out alive, he would retire.

His son said, "I laughed and said, 'If we get out of this, we are just going to play golf from now on and fish from piers'"

They didn't lose their sense of humor or their lives.

Until they found a beacon to hold on to, the son said, he had serious doubts about survival.

"We were going to wash out under the Skyway bridge if we couldn't grab hold of something," he said.

Grabbing the beacon was easier said than done. The barnacles on it scarred their arms as they struggled to take hold. The son used the rope to tie them to the beacon.

Sunrise on May 20 came at 6:38.

"I saw the sun," said the father, "and said, 'That's it. We're safe.' It was the most beautiful thing to see."

Yet the father began spitting up blood, and several boats passed them by. They either didn't notice or respond to Meyering waving frantically and screaming, "Help!"

"Their throttles were wide open as they passed," said the father.

"I got frustrated," said the son. "Dad was as white as a ghost."

Then a 32-foot boat came their way, pulling alongside about 8:30. The couple, whose first and last names they are not sure of, called for help. A St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue crew arrived shortly thereafter.

They were taken to Tampa General Hospital for a full day of treatment and observation and given a cab ride home.

Meyerink said, "We were told by one of the men that day, 'I've fished a lot of people out of the water, but they are not usually alive.'"

To recall their story was to relive it. After finishing, Meyerink said, "I love my son dearly."

His son hugged him and said, "Dad, I love you."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com. Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.