Nightmare on the Bay--text of newspaper article

People are telling me that they can't read the newspaper article (below the posts), Nightmare on the Bay; so I'm adding the text here; please read this before you read Almost Orphaned; Almost Orphaned is more of the story that I couldn't include in the newspaper article because of space limitations; this is the text from the article:

In August 1954, my parents and I had a harrowing experience on the Chesapeake Bay that nearly cost us our lives.

It began simply enough. The three of us, as we frequently did, decided to spend a few days at our small waterfront cottage on Cape St Claire.

Our first day there marked my parents' 25th anniversary. We had planned a leisurely day of fishing on the bay. I had never been fishing and The Boss, my father, bought me a beautiful fishing rod that morning. It was just the three of us because my older brother and sister were off doing other activities.

Mother, who didn't know how to swim, had never been in my father's boat because of her fear of the water. But, for some reason, she went that day. As always, before I could put a foot into the boat, I had to have my life jacket completely buckled.

The fiberglass boat was about 12 feet long and it had a seven-horsepower outboard motor. On our outing , we traveled a safe distance for the size of the boat and motor. However, when we stopped to fish, the boat drifted into deep water because we had no anchor.

After about 30 minutes on the water, The Boss was showing me how to hold the rod when the water became choppy. He knew we had to head back to shore. But there was a problem: he couldn't start the motor. Then the sky started turning dark. Initially, I was not afraid. I had been in the boat on family outings many times without incidence, even in the rain.

However, this time The boss' face looked unusually tense. Suddenly, he yelled, "Sit on the bottom of the boat." The sky grew even darker and the waves grew bigger. In what seemed like a matter of minutes, four huge waves poured over us; when the fourth wave was cresting, we knew were going down. Mother told The Boss, "I cant make it." I saw panic in my father's face (I had always thought he wasn't afraid of anything). I was terrified. The boat filled with water and we were thrown into the bay.

It was so dark that I couldn't see my parents. But it wasn't long before the storm ended just as suddenly as it had started; the sky returned to a beautiful blue. We desperately searched the horizon for a boat that might rescue us. but there were no boats around -- except ours which was floating upside down. Whenever we tried to mount the fiberglass hull, it sank.

Though I could now see my parents, I was certain that we were doomed. I cried hysterically. The Boss had a life-preserver cushion under his left arm and his right arm was around Mother's waist; her hands were clenched in a death grip on her own life-preserver cushion. Her life jacket wasn't buckled securely and had been washed off by the water's force. She was paralyzed by fear, unable to speak or even turn her head. The expression on her face scared me so much that I avoided looking at her.

In a calm and authoritative voice, my father said, "Signe, this is no time for crying; this is a time for faith and courage." He didn't look or sound frightened. "I don't have any faith," I shouted with anger. "We cant get out of here!" My father said, "You do have faith, Signe; ask God to help us find a way out of here. Have faith and He wont disappoint you." I said, "I'm not going to do it. I asked Him not to dump us in the water and He did!" The Boss said, "Pray out loud, Signe; have faith and courage." My father was such a disciplinarian that I obeyed.

Over my prayers, The Boss began shouting for help. The storm had swept us to an area past the Bay Bridge that was wooded and unpopulated.

Before long, a Navy ship passed nearby. My father said that he was certain the boat's crew had seen us and would send help.

A short time later, a yacht was headed our way with a father and his two adult daughters aboard. They told us they had heard the Navy's marine-band broadcast of our location. They had jumped into their yacht from Gibson Island and rode right to us.

They pulled me in by a rope first because their ladder couldn't reach the water. Mother's fear made it impossible for her to release her death grip on the life-preserver cushion to grab the rope. My fear returned.

Upon reflection, it's a wonder that my parents survived. By the time of our rescue, my father was exhausted from calling for help and treading water to keep himself and Mother afloat; he had been holding her up with one arm. The boss had been coping with his own fear, Mother's terror and with a panicky and angry-with-God child. But as always, he came up with a solution.

He told Mother he was going to take his arm away from her waist, but not let go completely. The Boss went under the water, put his head under her body, and used his legs to boost her so our rescuers could pull her in. It worked. Then they pulled him in. He was so shaken that he couldn't speak.

Eventually, a large motor boat skippered by a man whose wife had heard The boss' cries for help, arrived at the yacht. The man in the motorboat took us home because we didn't have a pier for the yacht to pull up to. He towed our little fishing boat along, too.

While we decided to spend the rest of the week at the shore as we had originally planned, it took a while for our family life to return to normal. Being just 9 years old. I was the first to bounce back. My parents, however, were another matter. For several days, Mother would dress and eat, then retire to the sofa for the rest of the day; the incident had drained her mentally and physically. The boss wept constantly. I had never seen him like that before.

For years, (particularly in August), my parents, who are now deceased, often reminded me of the incident at the shore. They would say that it was my prayers (said in anger) that saved us.

As for me, I think about the 'what-ifs." If my father hadn't insisted that I buckle my life jacket completely before stepping into the boat, I would not have survived. If I hadn't prayed, I wouldn't be able to say that I asked the Lord for help and He sent me a Navy ship, a yacht and a motor boat.