Rescue at Sea:  A Sea Lab Scientist's Heroic Actions

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Having worked on the waters and coasts for over twenty-five years, Dr. John Dindo is well aware of the importance of obeying the rules of boating safety and watching out for one’s fellow boaters. Never did he think, though, that he’d have to spring into action not once, but twice in two months!

On March 1, Dr. Dindo and Estuarium Manager Robert Dixon were conducting research on bird nesting sites on Cat Island. While there, they noticed an empty boat, lazily circling the water. Suspicious, they immediately called the Coast Guard, while Dr. Dindo jumped in his own boat to investigate the situation. "I thought maybe somebody had a heart attack and was below the sight line of the boat," Dr. Dindo explained. Instead, he found an empty vessel, and a search of the nearby water revealed nothing. About an hour later, in the frigid waters of the Bay, a Coast Guard helicopter found crab fisherman Tim Neilsen, clinging to an empty five-gallon 


Dr. Dindo conducts research on Cat Island.
 
gas can.  He had been in the water for five and a half hours, having stripped off his black t-shirt hoping to improve his chances of being spotted. Suffering from hypothermia, he was taken to Providence Hospital, where he praised Dr. Dindo and the Coast Guard. "I couldn’t have done it without them," he said gratefully.

But the boating adventures of Dr. Dindo didn’t stop there. On April 23, while on an educational research cruise with 16 students from B.C. Rain High School, Dr. Dindo was alerted by Captain Rodney Collier of a man overboard. Two men in a fishing boat in the middle of Mobile Bay had been swamped by high seas, their fishing tackle and boat contents streaming in the water. One of the men was able to climb aboard using the Verrill’s ladder, but the other, 68 year-old John Owens, was incapacitated. As the students watched from a safe distance, Dr. Dindo leapt into the water to help Mr. Owens aboard by way of the Verrill’s winch. Not only did the hapless fisherman have a fish hook and line stuck in his back, it was discovered later that he had had a small heart attack while in the water. "I owe Dr. Dindo my life," Mr. Owens said later.

Remarking on this second rescue by Dr. Dindo, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jerry Saffold said, "Somebody comes across a situation and sees people in distress, in need, and helps them out, I think it’s a wonderful thing, it’s great they do it."

Said Dr. Dindo on his extraordinary adventures, "It’s not heroism; it’s just the right thing to do."

But it was perhaps summed up best by young Benjamin Morris, a boy who had read of Dr. Dindo’s exploits in the paper and later heard him give a talk to the Audubon Society. "You are my hero!" he wrote