brothers john and bob dubois from mission viejo, california. on this overcast day in alaska inland, the water is providing a bountiful catch for the six tourists on this steel hulled fishing boat. here s another one coming up. but their luck begins to change from big fish to big trouble. everybody get one of those on, please. turns out the motor located under the deck has malfunctioned and broken apart. its metal pieces ripping a hole in the boat. we were just having fun with the camera back and forth. and then it evolved into much more. i just kept the camera running. one of the diesels apparently sheered a shaft and we re taking on water. electrical problem, we lost the radio for communication. to make matters worse, the
my daughter and i were taking a daughter/daddy trip and part of the trip brought us through philadelphia. they decide to take a ride on the duck boat. it was a novel experience for both of us. are you having a good time, gang? this commercial for ride the ducks shows everyone onboard enjoying the tour from the streets to the river on what is typically a care-free and exciting experience. but on july 7th, 2010, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, this footage shows the duck boat sitting in the delaware river in the middle of an active shipping channel after problems with the boat s engine. the smell i was smelling when we first got in the river was kind of getting stronger. the engine overheats and the captain drops anchor at about 55 feet. then the smoke started pouring out of that small opening down below and the captain put duct tape on it and i kind of made a joke out of
it just didn t seem any way possible to survive something as tall as a three-story building just mowing us over out on the middle of a river. only a few minutes go by before kevin, his daughter, ruby, and everyone else onboard realize the inevitable. we started grabbing for life preservers and such chaos on there. and, you know, my poor little daughter didn t have any idea what to do. so, i did as best i could to get us to where we could at least have a chance, and i look up and i see the first mate already jumped off the boat, and he s already swimming for it. i m like, oh my gosh. kevin and ruby don t have time to put on a life jacket. the barge slams into the duck boat as if swallowing it whole.
some people like this woman seem almost paralyzed with fear. it was heartbreaking to watch this woman and she was terrified and very unstable. took about two or three of the crewmen to actually help her down. but after several hours, most are safely onshore. we were like one of the first boats that got off, and it was probably two, three hours after that that the rest of our group got off. they were the very last boat. the classmates and their chaperones reunite on land. we were watching as the boat was sinking. in the beginning when we first got off, we saw it move all over the harbor because all the currents were dragging it all over the place. by the time we were able to get on the rescue boat back to athens, it was probably around 4:00, 5:00 in the morning and at that point, our ship was completely on its side and it was going down. the ship lies crippled in the night, only hours from plunging to its final resting place.
million settlement. for kevin that day in july changed his outlook on life forever. oh, my gosh. it was it was kind of like a second chance on life, really, in a way. i mean, it s something i think about every day. but, yeah, i certainly feel lucky to be alive, and i m more lucky that my daughter s alive. coming up a fishing trip brings big fish and even bigger problems. a hole in the boat. look out, you guys. rocking the boat, please, don t rock this!