Four fishermen were pulled from near disaster off the coast of Grays Harbor on November 17, 2025 after their vessel began taking on water and was reported to be sinking, and local mariners and Coast Guard crews moved with the speed and skill that saves lives. Good Samaritans aboard the commercial fishing vessel Lady Nancy recovered the four men from the water and performed lifesaving CPR on one who was unresponsive before Coast Guard aircrews hoisted them to safety and transferred them to Hoquiam for medical care.
This was a textbook example of Americans helping Americans: neighbors at sea risking their own safety to pull fellow sailors from the water, then handing them off to professional rescuers who completed the job. Reports say three were treated for hypothermia and one was in serious condition and later life-flighted for further monitoring, underscoring how fast a routine day on the water can become a fight for survival.
Local coverage from community outlets spelled out what national headlines too often miss — ordinary people did the heavy lifting while our Coast Guard provided the critical backup and transport. The Hoquiam community, volunteer crews, and quick-thinking fishermen should be front-page heroes, not footnotes in a cycle of federal press releases that forgets the human cost of regulation and neglect.
The Coast Guard’s Air Station Astoria and Station Grays Harbor responded quickly with a helicopter hoist that was both precise and professional, a reminder that our uniformed rescuers are lifesavers we must never underfund. Video from the scene shows the helicopter crew hoisting survivors from the good Samaritan vessel and delivering them to awaiting EMS — the kind of no-excuses performance taxpayers should be proud to support.
Incidents like this are not rare in our busy Pacific waters; the Coast Guard has repeatedly been called on to respond to sudden sinkings and capsizings along the Washington coast, proving that maritime life is dangerous and the margin for error is small. If Washington, D.C., wants to show it cares about working Americans, it will back our Coast Guard with resources, cut through needless red tape that burdens mariners, and support the industries that feed our coasts instead of slapping them with more regulations from afar.
Every rescue like this is a reminder of what real patriotism looks like: neighbors stepping up, first responders answering without hesitation, and communities rallying around people who earn an honest living on the water. Pray for the men and their families, thank the crews who saved them, and demand that our leaders remember who keeps America fed and free — the brave fishermen and the Coast Guard who watch over them.
