By RICHARD DEGENER, Staff Writer
Many factors that can mean life or death at sea were working in Capt. David C. McAuliffes favor Tuesday morning as he left Atlantic Citys Farley State Marina.
They werent enough.
The 48-foot aluminum boat McAuliffe, 34, was taking from Atlantic City to Somers Point sank near the Great Egg Harbor Inlet. The Cape Hatteras was found Thursday. McAuliffe, of Egg Harbor Township, is missing and presumed dead.
McAuliffe had all the required safety equipment, a radio to communicate with land and radar equipment to see through the rainy weather on a day of strong northeast winds with gusts to 45 knots. The National Weather Service had a gale warning up that morning.
The shifting sands of the Great Egg Harbor Inlet, made worse by Hurricane Sandy, were dangerous. But McAuliffe had a decade of experience on the water with a license to captain 50-ton vessels, twice as large as the Cape Hatteras. The boat he was on was built for rough offshore weather.
His emergency radio satellite beacon, a lifeline to the shore, activated as designed when his boat sank. Some mariners fail to register their emergency beacon with the federal government, which results in the Coast Guard wasting valuable time tracing the boat. But Cape Hatteras beacon was registered.
When the Coast Guard got the alert, we knew the boat, who owned it and contact information, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Cindy Oldham said.
Also working in McAuliffes favor was the close proximity of so many Coast Guard assets. Air Station Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Township sent helicopters, and small boat stations in Atlantic City and Cape May sent vessels. The New Jersey Marine Police and Good Samaritans also joined the search.
Whats more, McAuliffe was a captain for the local Sea Tow franchise for the Atlantic City area. These are the people who help rescue mariners in distress and salvage sunken vessels along the New Jersey shore. He had help from his own people.
Also in McAuliffes favor is that Sea Tow