Northrop and Johnson Fort Lauderdale is proud to announce the nomination of M/Y Argyll, 153’ NAYS, for the International Superyacht Society (ISS) Distinguished Crew Award. This prestigious honor is designed to “recognize yacht crew whose distinguished acts of service best exemplify the standards to which professional yacht crew aspire."

 From left to right:
Men: Timothy Lock, Tane Rewi, Andre VanRensburg, Capt. Robert Corcoran, Mark Dubyna, Anuar Vasquez
Ladies: Melissa Carroll, Angie Batchelder, Deanna Valente

Earlier this spring, while in transit from St. Thomas back to Miami, Bosun Christopher Burton was on watch aboard M/Y Argyll when he spotted a small boat a couple of miles off the port bow. Burton hailed Capt. Robert Corcoran and they diverted to assess the situation. Chief Engineer Anuar Vasquez communicated with the captain of the boat and learned that they were out of gas, lost a propeller on one of their two outboards, and had been drifting for a few days without food or water.

With Chief Engineer Vasquez’s help, Capt. Corcoran quickly assessed the situation and determined no one was in imminent danger and the boat was not sinking, so Capt. Corcoran and his crew jumped in and began executing their survival training.

Capt. Corcoran directed his crew to secure the yacht and gather all the extra water onboard, any fruit or other perishable food, blankets and first aid supplies. They passed more than four cases of bottled water to the refugees, as well as a large bag of food.

"They were eating the food as soon as they got it aboard," Capt. Corcoran said. "It was quite a sight to see the food opened and consumed so quickly."

Then they placed a satellite call to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West and waited for their arrival after drifting about 8 miles away from the initial spotting. The Coast Guard vessel stopped about 100 yards away and dispatched a dinghy to make contact with the refugees.

"Had they been in any distress, we would have done more," Corcoran said. "It was a great experience, I couldn’t be happier with the crew and their eagerness to provide relief.”

Photo courtesy of Northrop and Johnson Fort Lauderdale