Claims rescue attempt was feeble and shockingly deplorable
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A commercial and music producer, who is said to have been aboard the Celebrity Silhouette when Rudolph 'Tone' Dowell and Maxwell 'Sand Crab' Browne drowned, had offered Royal Caribbean International his services to do a benefit concert for the families of the two men, but since then has not received any word from the company.
Royal Caribbean International is the owner of the Celebrity Silhouette and the Independence of the Seas. The latter is the cruise ship that was involved in the April 2, 2014 drowning incident.
In a StarTribune article written by C.J. headlined “C.J.: Producer is witness to shocking deaths at sea”, dated Wednesday, April 16, 2014, Shaun LaBelle, the commercial and music producer, felt as though he needs a vacation to recuperate from the one he recently took aboard the celebrity Silhouette after witnessing the recovery of the bodies of two dock workers in St. Kitts.
The writer, who is a close friend of LaBelle, quoted the entertainer as saying: “I was on deck when I heard the captain come on the loudspeaker and say Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, crew only. I had a pretty good idea from working as a musician on a cruise ship in the ’80s that this meant trouble. I immediately saw crew members running to the railing and looking down. I ran to the railing and saw the large wake below with a small blue boat completely overturned.”
The writer noted that Labelle said he later read that another cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, pulled out before the workers responsible for undocking the ship cleared the berthing area.
“As a result the sea currents created by the Independence of the Seas caused the smaller berthing boat to capsize, and the men were apparently sucked below the water and drowned, a horrible death.
“A crew member told me there were two men missing, and I immediately started waiting for the cavalry to come to their rescue. There was no cavalry that day, except for a few boats almost 40 minutes later. I found the feeble rescue attempt shocking and deplorable. There were no emergency alarms or any real sign there was trouble, that I heard. It also appeared the port was sadly unprepared for any real emergency. There were no ambulances on the dock, no sirens or any real plan of action. It seemed like no one had a clue,” LaBelle said.
Seemingly upset by how few stories there were about the incident, the writer said LaBelle asked her to help him contact national media and she advised him to tweet NBC’s Matt Lauer.
“A couple of days later, LaBelle hadn’t heard from the ‘Today’ anchor - but he was amused by a test of wills he was having with Royal Caribbean on Facebook. He started posting stories to its page and asking the company to express regret over the deaths and to be transparent. There were seven posts, and seven times he believes these posts were removed (although the last posting may have remained, because people kept making comments on it).
C.J. said that on Monday she sent Twitter’s@RoyalCaribPR atweet asking for a comment about why LaBelle’s postings were being removed.
After my tweet, she said, Royal Caribbean International sent LaBelle a note via Facebook: “Shaun - Our hearts go out to the families of the crew members for their loss. We were stunned and saddened by the incident. We offered our full assistance during the search for the two private company crew members and continue to offer our assistance as the incident is investigated.”
LaBelle said, “Finally. I had been asking them for an apology in my postings. The worst part was watching them drag two lifeless bodies out of the water. I will never forget that. Awful! I have offered Royal Caribbean my services as an entertainer to do a benefit concert for the families of [the men SKNVibes.com identified as] Rudolph ‘Tone’ Dowell and S.L. Horsford. I have not heard back.”
At about 5:15 p.m. on that fateful day, Dowell and Browne drowned in the Caribbean Sea in the vicinity of Port Zante after the boat in which they were capsized while they were in the process of releasing the lines for the departure of Independence of the Seas, one of two cruise ships that visited St. Kitts.
Dowell was an employee of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) and Browne, captain of the capsized vessel named PIX, was an employee of S.L. Horsford & Co. Ltd.
It is said that Dowell at the time of his demise was performing his regular duties as a linesman, while the PIX, owned by S.L. Horsford, was contracted to the ships’ local agents, Delisle Walwyn & Co. Ltd. to transport Dowell to carry out his duties.
This publication learnt that divers from the Newtown area had retrieved the men’s bodies later that evening and they were pronounced dead by District Medical Officer Dr. Mervyn Laws.
A police communiqué issued hours after the incident, stated that the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force’s Coast Guard and the SCASPA were jointly conducting investigations into the matter.
However, on Thursday (Apr. 3), the Minister of International Transport, Senator Richard ‘Ricky’ Skerritt, told media representatives at a press briefing that he was in contact with a senior official of the ships’ owners in Miami, Florida, who pledged to assist the authorities with their investigations.
“Video footage from the security camera system of the second berthed cruise ship which was due to leave port one hour later, will be made available by early next week for review by the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force. I am also aware that the Masters of both ships have already emailed their written reports on the incident,” Minister Skerritt explained.
He also reported to the press that two maritime safety officials of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, owners of the two cruise ships, are expected to arrive in St. Kitts within the next few days to assist police and maritime officials with their investigation.
The Transport Minister however did not field questions from the media, stating that “Because the police are still in their early stages of their investigation and out of respect of the grieving families of the three deceased from both incidents, we are not in a position to entertain any questions on these investigations at this time. I think that you will understand that this is a very difficult time for all concerned”.
The third deceased to whom the Minister referred is the late Askeo Jared Farrell Williams, who reportedly died of traumatic shock as a result of thoracic fractures.
The 31-year-old West Farm resident, who was also a SCASPA’s employee, was discovered dead in the elevator shaft at the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw International Airport on Sunday (Mar. 30).
The men have since been buried but, to date, no word has reached SKNVibes at to the progress of the investigations.
