This account of the incident was taken and slightly modified from the original Coast Guard Report, written by the vessel’s owner, Winston Ledee. “We were on board my fishing boat “Great White II” out of American Yacht Harbor, running West – South of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands towards my fishing area at 4:30am in the morning. I was driving the boat and my mate, Tony Neely, was on board, smoking a cigarette. I was looking at the GPS and the next thing I knew I was in pain and in the dark.

I called out to Tony and he said that he could not move. I called for the Coast Guard on the radio but didn’t get a response so I found my glasses and called by brother, Gregory Ledee. The boat was filling with water and I was worried that Tony would drown so I put him in a life jacket, grabbed the life ring, and waited for a wave so we could get in the water. We waited in the water until some of the other fishing boats in the area came by. Sea Tow Virgin Islands responded, too. Their crew removed Tony from the water and took us both to shore. An ambulance was waiting for Tony. Sea Tow Virgin Islands went back to the scene and salvaged the vessel, which was a total loss.”