Wheeling native recounts daring Alaska rescue

A Wheeling native and St. Viator graduate is being hailed as a hero after helping rescue five Alaskan fishermen who were stranded on their beached fishing boat, which was being thrashed against rocks in 50 mph winds.

Lt. Mark Heussner graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2003, and the rescue mission his crew performed nearly two weeks ago might have been the most intense of his life.

“Somehow the vessel had been set onto the rocks and driven ashore by the wind and waves,” Heussner said. “It was the middle of the night. The winds were blowing toward the cliff at 50 or 60 knots.”

Heussner is part of a MH-Jayhawk helicopter rescue crew based on Kodiak Island in southern Alaska.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 11, Heussner woke up to a report of a mayday call from a 68-foot fishing vessel, which had ran aground about 36 miles from their base.

“It was a distress call that was relayed from another boat in the area,” he said. “They were declaring an emergency.”

Flying as the co-pilot with three other Coast Guardsmen aboard, Heussner found the Midnite Sun in a difficult spot with five fisherman onboard already in their survival suits.

“The pilot said that was the hardest rescue case that he had done up in Alaska,” Heussner said. “The boat was getting pounded by the surf, rocking back and forth.”

Heussner and the other pilot, a 15-year veteran, had the unenviable job of steadying the rescue helicopter just 50 feet from a jagged cliff in whipping winds as it took about 20 minutes to pull the fishermen to safety.

“We were hovering and watching the 20-foot waves come over the boat,” he said. “Luckily nobody was injured. All five came up off the boat in one piece.”

The daring rescue was not the first for Heussner and fellow Coast Guardsmen, who were commended by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski on Feb. 19 for saving more than 14 fishermen in a span of about two weeks.

“It definitely keeps you on your toes,” he said.