Hurricane Ida took everything from me.

My name is Scott Southerland, and I’m from Gulf Breeze, FL. I lost just about everything I own this past Sunday when my boat sank during Hurricane Ida. I’m sure many of you have seen the pictures in the paper, on the news and on the internet. My friend and I were onboard when the vessel sank. Luckily we both made it out unscathed, but several thousand dollars worth of music equipment and computers, all my childhood photos, and most of my personal tools as well as clothing did not make it.

We were there pre storm doing our best to move the boat away from the predicament it was already in. The week before the storm the vessel was being moved to a more permanent home in a slip down in Villa Venyce. As we headed East through the Bob Sikes Bridge, the weather turned on us and we were forced to leave the boat behind the Grand Marlin on Pensacola Beach. The boat had no working propulsion and was only meant to be an affordable means of housing for me as my living arrangements have recently changed.

So after a few hours of wrangling with anchors and a come-a-long, the vessel broke free from the almost beached condition it was in. The problem was that by now we were out in the tropical storm force winds that were felt here in the Florida Panhandle. In a last ditch effort to save the boat and get it to safer waters I paddled my surfboard out and put a collar on a pylon and attached a sturdy mooring line with lightning striking in the near distance.

Then, as conditions deteriorated, we quickly found ourselves bouncing up and down on top of the sand colored submerged concrete fish houses located just off of the Grand Marlin. I went below deck to retrieve something and found out the hull had been breached. The water was coming in and started to seep through the floor boards and into the cabin. I called to my friend on deck. He came down and we desperately tried to crank the gasoline driven water pump that I had onboard to no avail. I grabbed a trash bag and stuffed a handful of important papers in it preparing for the inevitable. Within seconds all of my belongings were floating around of us as the section of the boat we were in was filling up to the ceiling. Thankfully the rear of the boat was not as flooded. Heading that way to a safer escape, I got shocked from the two car batteries I had earlier hooked up to an inverter to charge my phone.

In the end we were able to swim to shore without serious injury. All I got out with was my phone, the garbage bag of important papers and my longboard surfboard. I fully intended to take out an insurance policy as soon as I could but had not yet been able to do so.

As bummed out as I am about the situation there is no time for grief or depression here. I have only 3 days to salvage the boat myself before the state assigns a salvage company to do the work of removing the wreckage. If it gets to the point that someone else does the salvage I’m looking at being on the hook for up to 25,000 dollars. This is on top of the fines I already have incurred which is around 1000 dollars. If I can salvage it myself the FWC officer said the judge may even drop my fines.

I have not been back to the wreck yet to assess the damage to the vessel. I will know more once we see just how big the holes in the hull are. If they are not too bad I will be able to pump out the sea water and hopefully tow the boat either to the slip it was originally headed for or to the boat yard to be demolished.

I’m not trying to raise enough money to buy a new boat or anything like that. I would just like to replace my belongings that can be replaced, pay off fines incurred and possibly fix the holes in the hull. Regardless of any of that I am now homeless and must find somewhere to live in a post COVID rental market that seems to be out of control and very competitive to say the least. Asking for help is a humbling experience and not one taken lightly. If you find it in your heart and budget to donate to my GoFundMe page, I can assure you the funds will be appropriately dispersed by myself to do the things I mentioned above. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Sincerely,

Scott