Brother Martin grad helps in Gulf rescue mission

by Kim Roberts

By Kim Roberts
Clarion Herald

A few hours into an early-morning watch aboard the Texas A&M Maritime Academy’s 540-foot training vessel, the TS Kennedy, Texas A&M cadet and Brother Martin alumnus William Flores was part of a team that spotted something out of the ordinary in the Gulf of Mexico during his summer sea semester.

Approximately 500 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas, the cadets identified three individuals floating in a small boat, frantically waving their arms and what initially looked like an orange flag.
“At around 6 a.m., one of the cadets saw something on the horizon, and we all grabbed binoculars to see if we could make out anything out of the ordinary in the water ahead of us,” Flores said. “Then I saw something in the center of our track line. It was too far away to say for sure what we were looking at, but as we got closer, we saw three men waving something orange to signal us.”

“We could tell they were in distress,” he said. “We alerted our captain immediately.”

Stranded for 15 days

Captain Wade Howell, the commander of the training ship that carried a total of 171 cadets, led the rescue of the three men stranded at sea for 15 days until this group of cadets happened upon them as the sun was rising on the morning of June 8.

Flores said the men were sunburned and running low on rations, and the commanders and adult Texas A&M crew brought them aboard their ship, fed them and provided medical care.

Upon further investigation, they found out that the 20-foot boat had broken down while the men were fishing and drifted for 15 days to the middle of the Gulf, and all the men wanted to do was fix their boat and return home to their families in Cuba, he said.

The Coast Guard was radioed to pick the men up, and they were eventually transferred to their custody near Key West, Florida, and reunited with their families. Flores said the men looked overjoyed at the prospect of seeing their families again and for all of the help that the cadets and crew provided.

Things got real

“This whole experience is one I will never forget,” Flores said. “This was a real-life training opportunity, the kind you read about in books. Everything was calm and normal one minute, then things got real, real fast, and we were able to be part of a life-saving rescue effort.”

Flores added that everything happened quickly. He realized this was a life-or-death situation and that these men were depending upon them at that moment to rescue them.

Flores’ mother, Gretchen Flores, St. Matthew the Apostle parishioner, said her son has always had a servant’s heart and is willing to answer the call whenever anyone is in need.

“From his early days working in our parish with Coach Dave (McCuller) and all the time he spent with the CYO, to his years at Brother Martin, William has always committed a lot of hours to working within the community and our parish serving others,” she said. “I know that he, and everyone on the ship, made a difference in the lives of these men and the lives of their families through the grace of God putting them in the path of that boat.”

After the rescue, the cadets continued with their 62-day summer semester at sea. Their first port stop was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; then, they were on to Boston, Philadelphia and are currently en route to Quebec, Canada, via the St. Lawrence River and will head back to their port of origin in Galveston in early August.

The senior maritime transportation major will graduate upon his return to campus in August and plans to work offshore with a supply boat company.

“I guess you could say God put us in the right place at the right time,” Flores said. “I feel like we were put there to save their lives, and I’m thankful we could help them when we did. I feel pretty confident that if I’m faced with something like this again when I’m on a ship, I now have some knowledge of what to do.”

[email protected]