I remember watching the movie Open Water and just hoping that life would never put me in a situation like that. Then on Thursday I had the opportunity to catch Oprah and found it to be quite disturbing. The topic covered a real life open water tragedy that involved two NFL football players, a former college player and a friend to these gentlemen, a man named Nick Schuyler the owner of a gym which is where he came to know the NFL stars. I've never been much of a football fan. I remember wanting a Raider's cap just because it was "in", so prior to Oprah's show, I had never even heard of Corey Smith and Marquis Cooper, let alone Will Bleakley. But now it seems I will never forget their tragic story.
On February 28, 2009 the four men set out on a fishing trip to what was Marquis Cooper's favorite spot-a spot set 70 miles off the Florida Coast. Marquis wanted to go out there one last time before he began camp. The fish seemed to be biting but the weather was not as cooperative. According to Nick it took nearly four hours to reach their destination. In the late afternoon, with such choppy waters and winds, Marquis decided to turn the single engine boat around, it seems they all sensed a storm might be coming but during the process, the anchor got stuck. An incident that happened one week prior on the same waters. That time they decided to cut the line and let the anchor go. But this time, Nick stated, Marquis did not want to lose another anchor. A decision that would turn out to be tragic.
"We tried a couple different maneuvers and turned the boat around and pulled it from every which angle," he says. "At that point, I was pretty much worthless because I had been sick so long." After trying different approaches, they decided to untie the rope and gun the engine. The boat began to rock and eventually the entire thing flipped over. They tried using manpower to flip it back but physics fought against them and won. The next 43 hours were hours that no one will ever really know what happened-even with Nick Schuyler being the only survivor. I say that because based on the simple facts alone being disturbing, the way in which Nick describes the deaths of Marquis and Corey is even more so. With the relentless elements working against them, hypothermia began to set in. Marquis was the first one to show signs, beginning with his silence and delayed responses after the other men yelled his name. He had been hanging onto a cooler they brought with them. Soon after, hallucenations began and Marquis began to take off his jacket and attempt to go back in the water. With the help of the other men, they were able to pull him up on the flipped boat which was not easy. They themselves were trying to stay on. According to Nick, he was the one who bear hugged Marquis for about an hour to keep him from fighting to get up, until he couldn't fight anymore. That is when Nick says he had to choose between Marquis's lifeless body and Corey. He had to let Marquis go. Soon after, Corey, began to show similar signs of hypothermia, saying things that he normally wouldn't say, screaming and becoming "aggressive", an adjective often associated with black males. Not in his right mind, Corey kept "leapfrogging" off the boat while Nick and Will continued to scream and hold him. At that point Nick says he sliced his arm on the motor during the process and let go of Corey as he basically did a "swan dive" into the sea. That was the last time they saw him.
Now Will, who was also Nick's best friend was invited at the last minute after another friend cancelled. He was the only one who died without a fight. Which triggered so many questions in my head.
After watching that the interview I was left feeling little sympathy for Nick Schuyler and much sympathy for the families of Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith. Having to hear how aggressive and out of their minds they were before they died while Nick and Will's mentality remained somewhat in tact considering the circumstances. Before Will passed on, he and Nick were able to say I love you to each other. Something I'm sure the bereaved families wish they had've done.
Oprah began to ask Nick if he heard mention of the idea that he wrote his book Not Without Hope, to profit off of the tragedy. I personally can't imagine a monster who would do such a thing but I also don't know how Nick, who in his own words was so sick that he was pretty much "worthless" at one point turned out to be the only survivor. I guess we'll never know what really happened out there on the sea for those two days or whether the other three gentlemen would have slightly different stories to tell.
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