It started as a boating trip to get their boat down south for Bahamas season on Friday night, but it quickly took a turn.
"We saw some smoke to the east, some black, some coming up from the horizon. Anytime you see black smoke in the ocean, it's not a good sign," Dr. Robert Thousand said.
Thousand, an endodontist in the St Augustine area, was out on the boat with family when he started heading toward the smoke-filled tugboat with his radio in hand.
"I called Coast Guard and to see if they had any reports of a ship on fire," Thousand said.
Thousand said that's when the Coast Guard asked for his assistance, since they were about an hour out.
Thousand's 11-year-old daughter said she was nervous as the smoke was getting closer.
"I was worried that when we were going to rescue them, something was going to happen to us, like something happened to them," Macey Thousand said.
Just yards away from the tugboat that was on fire, six men were spotted in a life raft.
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Thousand said it was about to sink, and they quickly got the men in their boat.
"They were still in their boots, still full of black smoke," Thousand said.
Thousand said the six crew members told them they abandoned ship when they saw smoke fill the engine room.
"They just left everything. Some of them had their cell phones, some of them didn't. Some didn't have passports on them," Thousand said.
Thousand said they met the Coast Guard at the Ponce Inlet who took over helping the crew.
"In the ocean, you're on your own, there's not the safety net you have on land," Thousand said, "You've got to help the fellow man out there."
Thousand said the tugboat was transporting a barge out of New York. The damaged tugboat is now in Green Cove Springs.
Cox Media Group
