July 9, 2026, The Seward Folly Staff

On the morning of June 26, at around 10 a.m., Fischer Strickland, 19, a deckhand on the Emerald Fjord with Aurora Charters, and his friend Edwin Williams found themselves in the middle of a dramatic rescue. The couple they saved, Jim and Karen, were fishing for rock fish on their boat, the Grim Reaper, when disaster struck near Cape Resurrection.

Strickland and Williams had a day off and were running fast on a 26-foot Munson landing craft over a steep chop in the inner bay. They almost turned around, but ended up pushing the speed, skimming over the steep smaller waves.

“We were in the Sea Beast with a drop-down bow,” Strickland said. “We own property in Day Harbor — that’s where we were heading that morning. It was pretty choppy out. We never leave as late as we did — normally we’re out by 6 or 7 a.m., but we left at 9, and the bay was just horrendous. For some reason, we just hammered through and went fast over it.”

Despite the rough start, the water at Cape Resurrection was surprisingly calm.

“It was maximum two-foot waves, very calm, no wind, just a beautiful day, sunny weather,” Strickland said. 

Fischer described how quickly things escalated: “We heard the Mayday call go out, and 30 seconds later, we saw the lady on the bow waving her arms frantically.”

Fischer described how close it all was: “When the first Mayday from the Grim Reaper call went out, it sounded almost like a joke, very quiet. If I’m giving a Mayday, you’ll know it. This one was just very quiet, and he only said ‘Mayday’ once or twice, not three times. A Major Marine boat responded first, saying they were eight miles east of Barwell and en route. I don’t think we said anything to the Coast Guard — we just turned around. A few Kenai Fjords boats showed up, but they were too large to get into shore.”

 “It’s just crazy how it all worked out. All the things we would never do, we did. And it worked out like that,” Fischer reflected.

The rescue boat, Sea Beast, owned by Edwin, was in the right place at the right time.

The Grim Reaper got washed up on a couple of rocks, just at Cape Resurrection. Fischer explained what happened: “They were able to use their motors and kind of power through the rocky area, but that led to hull damage. They started taking on water. It’s pretty hard to tell where, ’cause it got beat up on the beach for a couple hours. Ended up with a lot more damage, and their bilge pump wasn’t working. In addition, their props were ground down to almost nothing. I don’t even know how they ran it down to Emerald Cove.

 “We followed them into the cove, just north and inside of the Cape. They were taking on water pretty heavily…. the back end of the boat was down, and if he would have let off the power at all, the boat would have gone down right there.”

Fischer detailed the couple’s vessel: “I think it was a 24-foot Hughes Craft that they had extended with a transom extension by two feet to make it 26 feet, and they put twin 115 outboards on it.” 

Once the Grim Reaper made it into Emerald Cove, the urgency didn’t let up.

“They beached it, bow first, and we watched the lady jump off and stand on the beach. Her husband… was still on the boat. She goes to the gym every day — she’s in good shape. The man just turned 70, overweight, had a heart attack a year ago, and takes all sorts of medications,” Strickland explained.

Fischer described the next tense moments: “She got off the boat, and he started cutting their life raft, their dinghy, away. He couldn’t reach two of the straps, so we decided I needed to go to the boat and make contact. Make sure everything’s okay, and get this dinghy in the water. Maybe get them in the dinghy and bring them out.”

“So, I get in the kayak and paddle from the Sea Beast. That’s the nice part about it — the bow drops down into the water, and we keep a kayak on board. I got on the Hughes Craft, which was now sideways on the beach, getting rocked pretty hard. The man couldn’t reach the straps, so I started cutting them away, got the dinghy off, and threw it to the lady, who was halfway in the water. While I was doing that, the man went back inside the cabin, which was already a quarter full of water — enough that it was sloshing back and forth pretty powerfully.”

Fischer continued, “I walked around the port side, which was the high side, and got onto the back deck, standing in water. The door was closed, so I ripped it open — the man was inside, and the boat was taking on more and more water with every wave. Everything was floating: coolers, seats, life jackets, tackle box, toilet — you name it. I held the door open with my hip, ripping stuff out and throwing it as far as I could. The man was being thrown around on the floor; his head would go underwater with a wave, then come up.”

Strickland barreled through the mayhem and asked, “‘Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?’ I wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up an injury. He said he was fine, just needed to get out. So I got him onto the back deck and reassessed him. Now his wife was there, holding onto the dinghy. Evidently, she can’t swim — at least, that’s what she said. But when your life depends on it, that’s a little different.”

Fischer noted, “They did have life jackets — Mustang brand — because years ago, they assisted in a rescue where the people had Bass Pro ones that didn’t go off… when I pulled his Mustang, all the air just shot out one side — it didn’t inflate. She tried to inflate hers, and it didn’t inflate at all.”

“They didn’t want to be separate from each other at all. I inflated my vest and swam him — the guy was just limp — to the Sea Beast. He was completely beat up, and that’s a common response for people. Once rescue is there, they just stop doing anything. The wife swam herself over, and I was able to pull her aboard, too,” Strickland said.

The man Fischer rescued later told him he would have been dead. There was so much stuff in his way on both sides of him for either door. There was no way he would have made it out.

Fischer reflected on the experience: “I work with Aurora Charters, and I go out for fun all the time, like we did today. I’m out there so much that at any given point, it could be me and my crew. I just hope there’d be someone there to do as we did.”

Once Jim and Karen were safely aboard, the Sea Beast headed back to Seward at 40 knots.

“EMS and fire were waiting,” Strickland said. “They got checked out for cold water exposure but didn’t need any help. I didn’t get checked out — I went home, changed, and we turned around to start picking up floating debris. We were out picking up the debris field.” 

Storm Chasers went out that evening and towed the boat back. 

The rescue wasn’t the end of the story for this group. 

This past Tuesday, ten days after the ordeal, Fischer and Edwin took the couple out fishing.

“We wanted to redeem what they had lost, so we took them out for fun fishing today, and then went to dinner with them. They’re from Wasilla,” Strickland said.  

“It could happen to anyone. That’s all we have out there — each other. You just hope there’d be someone there if it were ever me,” Strickland concludes. 

He added an important detail: “They had their spare Bass Pro and West Marine life vests inside the cabin,” suggesting that mariners make sure their flotation devices are in good working order.

Strickland finished with a tip: “So we all gotta watch out for each other out there. Especially now, we don’t have Coast Guard,” referring to the lack of a local unit in Seward. “If the Coast Guard helicopter comes, they can search for maybe 45 minutes, then they hit bingo fuel and have to go home. Keep up to date on all your safety equipment. I take a lot of safety courses, and I’d recommend if you’ve never done a man-overboard drill, fire drill, or any sort of drill — do them.”