By Jessie Burchettejburchette@SalisburyPost.com
A routine commercial fishing outing off the N.C. Coast turned tragic with a Faith man surviving an overturned boat while his friend, a former Rowan County resident, was lost at sea.
Lonnie Brown has returned home to Faith. He was rescued Saturday morning after clinging to the overturned vessel for almost 12 hours.
Brown’s friend and fellow fisherman, Steve Kluttz, apparently did not survive. Brown and Kluttz, both longtime commercial fishermen, were gigging for flounder when a freak blast of wind and a wave capsized the boat.
The Coast Guard searched the area Saturday but suspended the search.
Around 7 a.m. Saturday morning, the crew of another boat spotted Brown atop the capsized boat. They took him to the Coast Guard Station at Fort Macon. From there, he was transported to Carteret General Hospital in Moorhead City.
A published report quoted a search and rescue watchstander saying that Brown suffered fatigue due to exposure.
Kluttz is a former Rowan County resident and relative of Brown, split time between Wilmington and Harker’s Island.
Now recuperating at his home off Balfour Quarry Road, Lonnie Brown shared some of his experience through his sister Cindy Poole.
Brown, 44, said he has been fishing for about 30 years and had never encountered anything like what happened Friday night.
Brown and Kluttz were in a johnboat and had done some gigging when the freak wind hit. Water came up got in the boat causing it to capsize.
Brown was able to grab hold of the edge. He tried to help the 62-year-old Kluttz get hold of the boat. He estimated that less than a minute later, he did not hear from Kluttz again.
He spent the night hanging on to the boat which was pushed for miles while the wind and waves beat at him.
Poole said Monday afternoon that her brother is recuperating from the ordeal and struggling with the loss of his friend.
She said he wants to get the message out too people, how quickly something like that can happen. Although they both had fished for years, knew the water, it took just a matter of seconds for things for the tragedy to occur. “They’ve been fishing all their lives … the wind turned on them,” Poole said.
According to published reports, crews from Coast Guard stations at Fort Macon and Elizabeth City searched for Kluttz using boats and a helicopter for six hours Saturday but were unsuccessful.
Police, Cape Lookout Park Services and the N.C. Wildlife Commission also searched the area.