The February boating accident that claimed the lives Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper and former Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith was triggered by improperly anchoring the boat in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Per the Associated Press, the boat capsized when Cooper tried to throttle the vessel ahead to try to dislodge a stuck anchor. Cooper was the owner of the boat.
The report also attributed “carelessness and operator inexperience” as additional problems that contributed to the incident.
The lone survivor of the tragedy, which also claimed the life of former University of South Florida football player William Bleakley, is former USF player Nick Schuyler.
Schuyler told investigators that when the men attempted to pull up the anchor to return to shore, they discovered it was stuck.
Bleakley suggested using the boat’s motor to pull forward to pry it loose. However, the vessel went underwater when Cooper throttled the boat.
Schuyler credited Bleakley for saving his life by swimming underwater to retrieve life vests after the boat capsized.
Extreme hypothermia is considered a likely factor in the men’s deaths.
Report: Fatal Boating Accident Cause Revealed
Posted by NBC Sports on March 27, 2009, 2:29 PM EST
37 Responses to “Report: Fatal Boating Accident Cause Revealed”
RIP to all!!
Lions winning division for #93 this year!!
“Schuyler credited Bleakley for saving his life by swimming underwater to retrieve life vests after the boat capsized.”
Life vests float though? Where they stuck under the boat?
Duh they were clearly stuck under the boat. Why did you even post?
@cincy007 The vest were strapped down when the boat flip he had to go under to release them.
Worse news. To think they could have just cut the rope. It was probably a spot decision to try and tug out of it, and a quick escalation of events after that. I’m out of words.
Probably stowed away (another error).
“Life vests float though? Where they stuck under the boat?”
They were probally strapped and tied down in the boat, you just dont leave life vests unsecured.
So avoidable. Ugh. Accidental may be too kind. Unintentionally self-inflicted is probably more appropriate.
Sad.
This is a terrible, terrible story. Simple carelessness.
Cooper was probably unwilling to lose another anchor, as he had lost one while fishing the previous weekend, according to the report.
If the life vests were under the boat… wouldn’t it have floated? Next time when my car has a flat tire… i’m going to throttle it…
Clevelandsucks… – you are a waste of space on this earth! Not to worry though, with that kind of thought process you are sure to not last very long.
A horrible tragedy, it’s unfortunate that all men could have been saved if a $40 anchor would have been cut loose. RIP to all and my sympathies to the families.
It’s funny that there are more comments directed at lifevests being secured than the actual article. Thanks for the chuckle though Cincy, I needed one at this point in the week.
Drunk and inexperienced. Have too much money and not enough brains. Sad that that had to happen like this. Should have ben wearing the life vests and somebody should have had some common sense but, then again they are football players.
RIP
On a serious note, one would think that life vest manufacturers would/could/should install a small gps chip inside the vest. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but the put the same thing in passports/cellphones/cars/pets/etc….
Life vests on boats like that are stored in an easily accessible compartment. They are usually in whats called a “throw bag”. Said bag, usually has all kinds of safety equipment. Including vests, whistles, flares, and an EPIRB.
I have backed my boat off the anchor to dislodge it. If you move forward over the line you risk pulling the bow down into the water and the rest is now history.
These guys weren’t necessarily stupid, they were inexperienced. NEVER forget that the ocean is an unstoppable dynamic force that can and will kill you if you make a single slight mistake.
Leave cincy alone. He already has to root for a bad team….
And now he has to deal with Flacco for the next 15 years!
I know this might be stating the obvious, but why not just cut the anchor free, or detach it from the boat? I suppose he assumed that his idea of throttling ahead would detach it, and that it was a decent assumption…but obviously not. Perhaps he didn’t want to lose his anchor.
Sadly, in my opinion, this all boils down to is that these men lost their lives to save an anchor. What a shame.
So many questions about where the life vests were, and no one questioning why these guys weren’t WEARING them in the first place…
RIP fellas…
The govt needs to make boating licenses mandatory for all size vessels.
Every tom, dick, and harry thinks they know what they are doing out there. Operating a boat is nothing like driving a car, and someone with proper boating experience could have unfouled that anchor in a snap. Leave to football player to try and power his way out full throttle. Boating is all about finesse.
Mind you, I feel terrible for them and their families, but it sounds to me like this was totally avoidable.
I love the comment by some posters saying “oh they were just football players.” So they mustve been too stupid to excercise any kind of common sense. Right. And I’m sure some of you at your 12 dollar an hour customer service job taking inbound calls all day and shit makes you smarter people..
And I love how after this story came out everybody became a god damn boating expert..They shoulda done this, they shoulda done that, I woulda done this or I wouldnt have done that. Whatever, how bout shut the fuk up. The guys were just being guys, tryng to have a nice saturday afternoon and get out in the sun and water and fish for some Amberjack. They werent hitting up some ghetto club an drinkin 40′s or anything
The boat was too small…..They were too far out…They weren’t experienced enough…It could have happened to anyone….They should have known were the throw bag was..Boating tragedies happen all the time, don’t make jokes cause they were NFL players…Has nothing to do with no more than people inexperienced….Just out having fun…..
I don’t quite get why they would remove the life jackets.
To Mike Hunt:
First: your username is so profoundly professional, clearly you must make 14 dollars an hour at your job. Bravo to you sir!
Secondly: this is a forum/blog where people are free to post their opinions on the subject matter. Even off-the-wall comments and attacks on other peoples take on the situation, like the presumptious conclusions you were able to draw, are welcome.
Enjoy your time here, and have a nice day!
I’m thinking most of us would have done something similar. This will haunt Schuyler for the rest of his days. As someone said, a quick series of events in unusual circumstances.
RIP Young Men.
Sit right down and I’ll tell a tale of a fateful ship… Three south florida boys were sinking in tides that rip… tides that rip…..
Side note: Mary Ann (hooker) never was reported on the boat!!
But were they able to save the life jackets?
On a serious note, one would think that life vest manufacturers would/could/should install a small gps chip inside the vest. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but the put the same thing in passports/cellphones/cars/pets/etc….
Good idea you could register the life vest with the coast gaurd.
MakingitRain…..yanno, i come to this site to deliver sarcastic laden comments,(eagles fan and my old man taught me well) or read them and laugh…I never am sarcastic when a tragedy is involved, but that is a damn good idea..even if it saved one life out of ten…anything to increase the odds of survival….Kudos dude…well done
a. they werent originally wearing the vests.
b. some of them ditched the vests after they became disoriented.
learn from the mistakes of others…
these guys were too far out in the gulf and were inexperienced.
So sad. RIP.
It’s yet another case of rookies getting in over their heads with a number of mistakes (EskinSux has a decent list)…not wearing life vests when out in some fairly rough water at that point was a biggie. Up here in Northern Ontario, we get tourist fisherman who get killed accidentally every year doing stupid stuff – jumping into the water to chase a $25 rod, or guys who fall overboard with their fly unzipped taking a leak and drown. For Cooper, Smith and Bleakley, it’s entirely possible that a case of “athlete invincibility” played a part…
You forgot in the article to put the tied the anchor at the stern when they attempted to use the engine to pull it free.
dingomandingo says:
March 27th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
On a serious note, one would think that life vest manufacturers would/could/should install a small gps chip inside the vest. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but the put the same thing in passports/cellphones/cars/pets/etc….
They already have that but they don’t cost $14.95 like the lifejackets they had on that boat.
I love how they blame the dead guy. No, it had nothing to do with freakin storm, right? captain ahab couldn’t have gotten out of that. I have seen several experienced sailors say they should have done just what they did before the report came out.
Hi Mike! I am new to this blog. I was deeply sadden about the accident, unfortunately a careless one that caused two deaths. I tried to follow-up on any further investigation regarding the football players. Were there any? Funeral arrangements were not mentioned or any dedications to memorialize the players, were there any such happenings? I know this is late, but I was just wondering and see if my non-profit organization can do anything. Have an enjoyable holiday with your family.