Marilyn B. Haar, 18, student, saved Lois T. McKethan, 17, Virginia H. Davis, 26, and R. Maurice Seybold, 50, sales director, from drowning, Keller, Georgia, July 3, 1953. At dusk during a heavy storm a 40-foot cabin cruiser in which Lois, Miss Davis, Seybold and his wife, and Miss Haar and her parents were riding in Florida Passage of the Intracoastal Waterway was caught on its anchor-rope, overturned, and partially sank in deep water 230 feet from the bank. Miss Haar’s father, who was at the helm, sustained a fractured skull. The stern cabin occupied by Lois, Miss Davis, and Miss Haar and the galley beneath the foredeck, in which the Seybolds and Miss Haar’s mother were quartered, filled to a depth of five feet. Miss Haar and the other young women struggled to the surface amid bedding and other furnishings. Visibility was very poor. Repeatedly submerging herself, Miss Haar located a window, opened it, and kicked loose a screen outside the window. She rose briefly for air, informed Lois and Miss Davis of the exit she bad made, and then swam downward to the window opening to clear away possible obstructions outside the cabin and lead the others in their escape. As she passed through the opening, her shoulders became caught on the aft dock railing. Miss Haar thrust herself clear of the railing and window and rose beside the hull, which projected three feet above the water. Directed by Miss Haar, Miss Davis submerged herself and swam through the window. She emerged, and Miss Haar drew her to the hull and helped her take hold. In attempting to leave the cabin, Lois struck her head on the railing but finally worked her way clear of the window. She rose struggling eight feet from the hull and drifted in a strong tidal current. Miss Haar swam to Lois through waves two feet high and towed her 12 feet to the hull. Mrs. Seybold tried to swim through a companionway to the wheelhouse and was drowned. Miss Haar crawled forward on the hull to the position of the galley. Lowering herself into the water, she swam beneath the foredeck and tried to open a hatch of the galley but could not and returned to Lois and Miss Davis, who were badly chilled. Submerging to the wheelhouse, Miss Haar opened a bin and got bold of two life preservers, which she drew to the surface and gave to the others. Shortly after nightfall the cabin cruiser turned over on its side. Miss Haar and the others were lifted out of the water and crawled onto the side of the wheelhouse. Miss Haar and Miss Davis broke a window of the wheelhouse. Crawling along the hull to a porthole of the galley, Miss Haar informed those inside of the location of the window. She beat on the side of the hull with her hands, guiding her mother and Seybold as they swam separately through the companionway to the wheelhouse and climbed from the window. All sat huddled together for warmth and clung precariously to the wheelhouse the entire night as the cabin cruiser swung about in various positions on its anchor-rope. At times sharks were sighted near the boat. Men in rescue boats reached the scene shortly after dawn and recovered the bodies of Seybold’s wife and the father of Miss Haar. The others were taken to land. Lois, Miss Davis, and the mother of Miss Haar were suffering from shock. Seybold and Miss Haar were chilled. All recovered. 42937-3915
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