Scituate resident William Gray sailed for five years as an engineering officer in the merchant marine. His son only needed nine days on the open seas to top all of his father’s stories.
On Dec. 9, Zack Gray, 23, was one of six crew members on the Ocean Titan cargo vessel who helped rescue seven crew members after their freighter sank off the coast of Britain. Zack, a Scituate native, graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point, N.Y., last June.
“They do a great job of training these kids, so it wasn’t shocking that they made the rescue,” said William Gray, a sales director in Cohasset. “It was shocking that it happened on his first trip as an officer.”
At about 3:30 a.m. on the day of the rescue, the cargo vessel Florece collided with the tanker Afrodite in the Bay of Biscay, about 250 miles southwest of Land’s End in England.
An hour later, Zack, the ship’s third mate, and the rest of the crew on the Ocean Titan arrived in time to watch the Florece sink. The vessel’s commander, Capt. Christopher Hill, said there were “near gale force winds and 12- to 14-foot seas on a pitch-black and bitterly cold winter North Atlantic night.”
Despite the conditions and the full load of cargo on their vessel, the Ocean Titan crew was able to get a line down to the seven shipwrecked people, who were together on a raft. The Ocean Titan staff pulled the raft near the Titan’s pilot ladder.
A safety line was then lowered to the raft’s occupants, who grabbed the rope ladder and climbed aboard the Ocean Titan.
“I knew long before the rescue that I had on board one of the best crews, top to bottom, that I had ever set sail with,” Capt. Hill said of his crew that included Zack Gray.
Zack’s parents said they didn’t hear about the rescue until they read the story online. They spoke to their son several days later.
“He said it was pretty wild,” William Gray said. “He said it was freezing cold and it was dark. This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day.”
Zack’s parents can track his whereabouts on marinetraffic.com. The latest report said the Ocean Titan is on its way to Sacramento, Calif.
Zack grew up in his family’s home on First Parish Road, attending Wamaptuck Elementary School and Gates Intermediate School.
As a student at Boston College High School, he was named to the 2007 Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic boys lacrosse team.
Zack Gray is a former Black Jack. In 2011, while at the Merchants Marine Academy, he made the 1st team All League in the Landmark conference, was Player of the Year in the Landmark conference and was selected as an All American in 2011.
