RHODE ISLAND (4 July 2007) -- By 11 p.m. on Sunday, the Coast Guard had called off the search for Phillip Stevens, almost 35 hours after he was last seen fishing in choppy water near Brenton Reef. But members of the Freediving Club were not ready to give up the search for their friend, the president of the Massachusetts chapter and a regular organizer of tournaments involving Rhode Island spear fishermen. "We wanted to do everything we could to recover our brother," said Robert Marvelle, of Newport, who joined the Rhode Island Freediving Club four years ago at Stevens' urging. "We were persistent. It was very important to us not to let him just sit out there." They discovered his body yesterday at 1:30 p.m. at Prices Point, east of Brenton Reef, after six hours of searching. Four hours later, a member of the Warwick Police Department dive team recovered the body, and it was transported in a state Department of Environmental Management patrol boat to the Castle Hill Coast Guard station, where the state medical examiner identified the body, according to DEM spokeswoman Gail Mastrati. The search for Stevens, 59, of Watertown, Mass., had begun Saturday at 4:30 p.m., an hour after he had failed to meet his wife at their scheduled time. His kayak and spear were later found on shore. The Coast Guard immediately launched a Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod and a 25-foot response boat from Castle Hill to search for Stevens. The Coast Guard cutter Chinook, from Long Island Sound, the Coast Guard cutter Tigershark, from Newport, a 47-foot motor life boat from the Point Judith Coast Guard station and Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft, from Providence were also dispatched, searching through the night Saturday and all day Sunday. Police dive teams from Middletown, South Kingstown, Newport and Warwick joined the search in the sea, as DEM staff scoured the shoreline. Stevens had been wearing a weighted wetsuit and fins when he went snorkeling in 14 feet of water about 20 yards out. But by Sunday night, the chances of finding him alive were considered poor, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Etta Smith. | | Phillip Stevens was the president of the Massachusetts chapter of the Freediving Club and a regular organizer of tournaments involving Rhode Island spear fishermen. "We search for survivors," Smith said yesterday, saying Stevens had been surface diving in 66-degree water along jagged rocks. "At that point we had to suspend the search." The Coast Guard had made 11 search attempts over 300 square miles. After Stevens' disappearance, the Freediving Club canceled the competition scheduled for Sunday. But members remained in Newport, and resumed their search yesterday at 7 a.m. Stevens had been an enthusiastic supporter of spear diving, an organizer of tournaments and a skilled recruiter of new talent, Marvelle said. The call for rescuers drew as many as 20 club members with boats, kayaks, and scuba and snorkel gear. "It was a very big loss to our community," Marvelle said, "one that will be felt for a long time and hard to recover from." Jay Moore, president of the Rhode Island chapter, said Stevens had appeared characteristically healthy and enthusiastic Saturday morning when he went out to scout for a strategic fishing spot for Sunday's competition. "Everything seemed to be OK. He was out there diving and doing his thing," Moore said. "Whatever happened, happened quick, and it went really bad for him." SOURCE - Providence JournalSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
