NAV EX 3rd QTR Spec. Ed. 2018 NavEx 3rd Qtr - Spec Ed 2018 - FINAL | Page 4

TRAGEDY
Continued from page 3
USCG Aux Photo by Todd Wilkinson
ABOVE: Brock Stephens (left) and Darrel Kerr finalize an operations schedule for auxiliary boat crews providing a safety zone around
the Branson duck boat wreck site. RIGHT: An Auxiliary facility pushes off from the Showboat Branson Belle’s dock to ferry Coast Guard
personnel to check the perimeter safety zone around the Branson Belle.
Scott Stoermer, Captain of the Port and four Marine
Safety Inspectors soon arrived on scene, and we
received our “marching orders” – we would assist the
inspectors in gathering witness statements from the
Belle’s crew, many of whom were directly involved
in rescuing survivors from the duck boat, as well as
recovering the deceased. We established a station
in the atrium of the ship, with the ship’s gift shop
providing a surreal location for our work. The Belle’s
crew members trickled in throughout the morning
and into the afternoon to give their statements;
while we began looking at the other mission we were
tasked with – providing Auxiliary vessels and crews
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for a temporary safety zone around the wreck site,
in conjunction with boats from the Missouri Highway
Patrol.
Ironically, this wasn’t the Division’s first incident with
the Branson Belle. In December 2010, the Belle ran
aground on a cold winter night on Poverty Point
due to high winds and choppy water. Stoermer, then
SUMR Chief of Response, called Tippett, Division
Commander Elect and Stephens, Vice Division
Commander Elect, and asked how many facilities the
division could have ready to get underway, and by
what time. “We had two vessels on the ramp, ready
to go by 0500,” recalled Stephens. Now the Belle,
NAVIGATO