Harbormaster Stephen Mone and Stephan Hill were present at a meeting on Friday with Governor Charlie Baker and other state and Scituate officials to discuss the storm. Hill’s heroics were proudly pointed out.
Stephan Hill, the general manager of the Mill Wharf Restaurant at Scituate Harbor, and office manager, Michele Wood, had gone into work Thursday, despite the powerful nor’easter that was on its way.
“Whenever there is a big storm, Michele and I are always here,” Hill said. “We live close by so we go in and make sure there is no damage, field phone calls, and that the pipes don’t freeze. It’s a big place and you have to keep an eye on it.”
Their dedication and work ethic no doubt saved a man’s life.
“Earlier I had noticed the harbormaster’s boat was tied to the gas docks at the marina in front of us,” Hill said. “I knew they were trying to keep it in a safe area from the storm. As the day progressed, I noticed it had completely swung around and that three of the four lines holding it to the dock had snapped, and that it was smashing against the dock.”
He called the police to report what was going on.
Scituate Harbormaster Stephen Mone arrived at the docks in response to a call about the vessel.
“I went down to check on things,” Mone said Firday. “When I got there the boat was smashing into the dock.”
This was during high tide during Winter Storm Grayson. The waves in the harbor were up to 4 ft. high.
Mone had called the assistant harbormaster, Mike Bearce, for assistance but Bearce was across town and unable to get there because of car issues due to the storm.
So Mone went alone.
Hill was standing in the lobby of The Mill Wharf restaurant watching as Mone’s truck pulled up.
“He could only get so close because of all of the water in the parking lot,” Hill said. “He just marched over and jumped the gate to get to the docks. The whole time the docks were up and down, up and down. The boat was flailing all over the place.”
As Mone walked through the flooded parking lot, he said his boots filled with the freezing water. He approached the boat and noticed the three lines were gone and only one line was keeping the boat to the dock.
“I climbed into the boat and set up some dock lines so I could re-secure the boat. I climbed out of the boat and back onto the dock.”
Mone admitted he was breaking his own rules – responding to a call on the docks alone, and without wearing a lifejacket.
This was something that didn’t escape Hill, who continued to watch Mone, feeling that something could go wrong.
“He was all alone and he didn’t have a life jacket on,” Hill said.
Mone was nearly finished securing the lines to the cleat on the dock, when a wave hit the dock and it shook.
“I lost my balance and went head first into the water,” Mone said.
Hill saw the wave shift the dock and the boat, and he saw Mone go into the water.
“It happened so fast,” Hill said. “I just started screaming to Michele to call 911 and I was out the door. I had to go through all that water to get to the docks.”
When Mone went into the water, he said everything was in slow motion.
“I was thinking, ‘oh my God, I’m going in the water and I cannot stop this,’” he said. “I went under and came up between the boat and the dock. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get out.”
Different options on getting out of the water raced through Mone’s mind, he said.
“This all happened in a split second.”
Thinking he should get away from the swaying boat, Mone swam around the corner of the boat to the dock.
“I put my hand up on the dock and tried to pull myself up and see if there was something I could grab hold of,” he said. “I saw a cleat, which is what you tie a boat to. I swam over to the cleat and I see a person in the parking lot and it looks like they’re coming towards the docks. I’m praying they see me. I think I was yelling, ‘help me.’ I didn’t know if he had heard me. The wind was really rough.”
Mone reached the part of the dock where the cleat was and reached out to hold onto the cleat.
“I had been in the water a few minutes at this time,” he said.
The person he saw was Hill, who was running toward the dock, but had to wade through the flood water, climb over the railing and make his way down the rocking dock.
“While I was holding onto the cleat and he was coming towards me I started seeing pictures of my kids in my mind,” Mone said. “That’s when I knew I wouldn’t last much longer. I thought I was done.”
He said it was the will to live that kept him going.
“I was yelling, ‘I can’t hold on anymore,’” Mone said.
While in the water, Mone said he went numb.
“There is the initial shock of the water; it’s like a stabbing pain. Then it’s numb. There’s no feeling. I began to lose control of my fingers from the cold.”
When Hill got to the docks he threw himself down and tried to grab Mone, who was holding on to the cleat for dear life.
“He had kicked off his boots because they were weighing him down,” Hill said. “He had jeans on and a heavy coat. He was saying, ‘please save me.’ I was trying to grab him some place so I could get him up onto the dock. Luckily, he had a belt on and I could grab it. And I grabbed his leg.”
Hill credits Mone for keeping his cool and not panicking.
“He knew we had to work together to get this done,” Hill said. “He didn’t try to grab me and pull me in.”
The rescue felt like an hour, Hill said, but was probably only a few minutes.
“As soon as I got him up on the dock I was done. It took everything I had,” Hill said
Wood saw Hill lying out on the dock and feared the worst; she called 911 again, Hill said.
Hill said he wasn’t aware of the cold or the snow on the dock where he was lying.
“I couldn’t feel anything; I was just trying to catch my breath.”
Once out of the water, Mone looked over to Hill, who was exhausted and out of breath.
“I was afraid something was going to happen to him,” Mone said. “We asked each other if we were okay.”
Still focused on his job responsibilities, Mone was able to grab the lines and tie up the boat.
“It was one last thing I had to do,” he said.
It was about this time Mike Morrisey, a chef at another restaurant at the harbor, went over to help. Morrisey had seen what happened from a distance and ran over just as Hill was getting Mone up onto the dock.
“Mike helped me get Stephen up the dock and over the gate and through the parking lot,” Hill said. “It was great to have him there.”
Mone was brought to the Mill Wharf where his soaking wet clothes were removed.
“They got my clothes off and wrapped me in table cloths,” Mone said. “When I got out of the water my hands and feet were blue.”
First responders showed up and gave Mone some clothes to put on.
“I had to put plastic bags on my feet because I had to walk outside to get to the police cruiser to take me to Front Street to get me to the ambulance,” Mone said.
He was evaluated at South Shore Hospital and released that same day, he said.
“I felt great; I was fine. The color came back to my hands and feet. I had swallowed some sea water and they were afraid it got into my lungs, so they took some X-rays. It didn’t.”
The Weymouth harbormaster had heard about Mone’s accident and stopped by the hospital to check on him. He ended up giving Mone a ride back to Scituate.
“There’s a small group of us and we’re all pretty close,” he said of the other South Shore harbormasters.
Later that same evening, Mone was back on the job. He and Bearce were out at the Maritime Center checking on the docks there.
“I was back to work Friday morning,” he said.
Mone cannot express his gratitude to Hill.
“Stephan saved my life; not kind of, not sort of, he saved my life,” Mone said. “There was nowhere for me to go. In another minute I wouldn’t have been there. I am so grateful to Stephan.”
When asked on Friday how he felt about the whole thing, Hill said he didn’t think it had really set in yet what had actually happened.
“Maybe in a few days I’ll be overcome with emotions; I don’t know. I’m still trying to get my bearings back.”
He also doesn’t look at himself as a hero.
“It was a group effort with Michele, Mike and me," said Hill. "And I think anyone would have done that. Maybe they would have just called 911 but in this sort of situation you couldn’t just do that.
“The bottom line is it worked out and had the ending we all wanted. Walking those docks can be difficult. People fall off them in the summer and can have a hard time getting back up. When it happens in the winter during a nor’easter they’re found four days later.”
Mone and Hill were present at a meeting on Friday with Governor Charlie Baker and other state and town officials to discuss the storm. Hill’s heroics were proudly pointed out.
“When I saw Stephan I gave him a huge hug and thanked him for saving my life,” Mone said. “I told the governor I’m supposed to be saving people like Stephan, not the other way around.”
Follow Ruth Thompson on Twitter @scituateruth.