Heroes walk among us in many forms, but one unlikely suspect is Nicholas Masi III. The 45-year-old skipper saved the lives of two of his three friends after his 24-foot boat, “Job Site 2”, anchored about 5 miles off Kennebunkport for a day of fishing, when it began swamping and rolling as if about to capsize. Thinking quickly, Masi (of Biddeford, Maine) calmly told his three companions who were also on the boat to put on survival suits after calling for help, giving precise co-ordinates. However, he was unable to save his closest friend, Douglas Isenberg (47), who died at the scene. Masi and Isenberg had been friends since second grade, so it was a great loss for Masi. “I hear they're calling me a hero, but my best friend is gone," he said. Masi has used a wheelchair since he was paralyzed in an accident while working as a construction worker.
Masi and his three friends had decided to go fishing on Friday, September 30th, when boat’s anchor line had become tangled in the propeller, and the battery died so that Masi couldn’t drive it back to safety. He then instructed the others to put on their survival suits, but didn’t have time to put on his own. Instead he wore a life jacket.
Once the boat had capsized, Masi instructed his friends to stay close to each other and to the boat, using a cooler to help keep them afloat. "I'm alive because of one of my best friends," Hunter, one of the men who had been with Masi, said.
A nearby boat on its maiden voyage, the Lady Erica, came to Masi’s rescue and threw out a line to Masi until everyone was safely on board. However, when they threw the line out to Eisenberg, he didn’t appear to be conscious. Masi said that the last thing Isenberg did was try to push Masi toward the Lady Erica to safety.
"I heard him saying, 'I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't,'" Masi said. "I screamed at him and I said, 'Douglas, we're OK. Help is here. Pull yourself together. You're OK.'" Isenberg’s cause of death has not yet been determined, but it is possible that he had a heart attack, as one of his greatest concerns had been that something would happen in the water to put Masi in harm’s way.
Despite the death of a noble man and a good friend, Masi is a hero not only to the people on that boat, but to those of us who need someone to believe in.
[Picture courtesy of http://bangordailynews.com/]
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