With 3 dead, tough questions loom for survivor
Brutal truths about former S. Florida player saving himself in boat mishap
“I wouldn’t say we didn’t realize it," Schuyler said. "I think we all realized everything that was going on. It was just very unfortunate. There was just no way to get on top of the boat; there was nowhere to stand.”
As Smith became increasingly delirious and aggressive, he tried to swim away from the boat. Bleakley and Schuyler held onto him as best they could, but the 250-pound Smith finally broke free. According to Schuyler, he then removed his life vest, did a swan dive into the water and never resurfaced. His last words were aimed at Schuyler: “I’m a kill you,” Smith had screamed.
By daybreak, the two best friends remained. Bleakley and Schuyler clung to the overturned boat, having no idea where they were, what was ahead or what lurked beneath them. Bleakley continued to dive underneath the boat, still trying to recover whatever useful thing he could find. With each dive, he also continued to drain energy from his body. He was able to retrieve a bottle of Gatorade and a small bag of pretzels, which the two shared.
For the majority of the time, Schuyler said that he was able to secure a prime position on the overturned boat — sitting on the hull, straddling the motor, bear-hugging the area just behind the propeller. In this seat, he was more stable than in any other position on the upside-down boat.
“It was much more controllable,” Schuyler said.
Schuyler’s multiple layers of clothing, even though wet, were said to be one of the biggest keys to his survival. In such a situation, your body works to warm the layer of water that is trapped by wet clothing. This, in turn, insulates your body and sustains core body temperature.
Bleakley, still in only a T-shirt and swim trunks and exhausted from swimming under the boat so many times, eventually succumbed to hypothermia approximately 12 hours after Smith. In the book, Schuyler tells an emotional story of helplessly holding onto his best friend as he dies slowly.
A glaring question, in retrospect, is why Schuyler, dressed in layers, did not lend some clothing to his best friend.
“He never said anything,” Schuyler said. “I think if he would have asked me, I would have definitely changed for a little bit, but it didn’t go through my mind.”
Once alone, Schuyler finally resorted to venturing into the water and underneath the boat to scavenge for more food and drink. Earlier he had been afraid to go under, but with no one left to help him, he did what he knew he must in order to preserve his life a little longer.
Nearly two days after the boat capsized, Schuyler was rescued by a Coast Guard cutter who found him alone, sitting atop the hull of the boat, hugging the engine.
Regardless of how it all went down, Schuyler saw three friends die in front of him. No person should have to go through something so horrifying, and no one should have to sit face-to-face with his own mortality for 43 straight hours.
Still, no matter how others have portrayed it, Nick Schuyler is not lobbying for the title of hero. And while none of us can say, with any certainty, what we would have done if we had been in his shoes — lost at sea and fighting for our lives — it is worth questioning what you would have done if you had endured such an ordeal and were then asked to recall it. If you had been the lone survivor, would you have included the brutal details? Or would your version have left out the part about leaving your dying buddy in the water, backing down when it came time to step up, monopolizing the prime spot and never thinking to give your best friend the shirt off your back?
Said Schuyler: “I’m not a hero. I’m just a survivor. I am the only one of four guys to make it out of it. That’s not a very good percentage.”
Maybe there was no divine intervention, and maybe Nick Schuyler isn’t the valiant martyr that so many want to see. It may not have been pretty, but he did what he had to, prevailed in the end, and then told it like it was — and that is what makes this story remarkable.
Carrie Stewart is a freelance writer based in South Florida. Her work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, ESPN.com, AOL Fanhouse and in ESPN the Magazine.
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