Three months after they saved a boater in cardiac arrest near Ship Rock, harbormaster Bill Chace and police officer David Simcoe were hailed as heroes by the select board last Monday as they were presented with the Westport Police Department’s Lifesaving Award for their actions on Saturday, July 4. But both men said they were just a small part of the incredible coordination needed to make the rescue successful.

“We’re just one spoke in the wheel,” Simcoe said.

“In a town where police and fire do heroic stuff every day, this is quite an honor for us,” Chace added. But “it’s important to point out that this was really a team effort. This could have been ... any combination of us and the result would have been the same.”

The rescue occurred Saturday afternoon, July 4, when emergency dispatchers got a cell phone call from a family member of the middle-aged man who said that he had become unresponsive while swimming near Ship Rock.

According to police chief Christopher Dunn, family members brought him back up on their boat, called 911, and Chace and Simcoe arrived shortly after.

Out of 35 boats in the area, responders quickly found the correct vessel and brought the man aboard the harbormaster’s Carolina Skiff.

“Officer Simcoe immediately began CPR and applied an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) while Capt. Chace navigated to the state boat ramp, where Westport Fire/EMS was standing by. Office Simcoe continued CPR throughout the transport until EMS assumed care. This male subsequently regained a pulse, was transported to Charlton Memorial Hospital, and ultimately survived.”

The two men, Chief Dunn said, showed incredible coordination, professionalism and care:

“I am extremely proud of their actions and believe they brought great credit to themselves, their respective departments, and the Town of Westport.”

While thanking the town for the award, both Simcoe and Chace said they were just small parts of the team that made the rescue happen.

“The incident starts with a phone call from the victim’s family,” Simcoe said. Usually, 911 calls bring up the location on google maps but “when you’re at Ship Rock, you get a dot in the middle of the water.”

“So the dispatcher has to extract information from this person of exactly where they are. While that’s happening, [the dispatcher] is typing into a program to get the fire department underway, and also letting police and the harbormaster underway. At the same time, the harbormaster has to make a determination of what vessel to take. Then once we get underway we have to get to Ship Rock. I’m now peppering the dispatcher with questions — what color is the vessel? How many people are on the vessel? Where exactly is the vessel because there’s 35 vessels at Ship Rock on that day.”

While all that’s happening, “we were also coordinating with the fire department and the police department, the fire department to clear the ramp  where we’re going to extract this person. And we have to put this person in the boat. This all took place in 12 minutes.”

It’s not one person or two people that just make this happen,” Simcoe said. “There’s an entire team.”

Chace agreed. He said one of the best parts about working with police and fire officials is the coordination and open communication that occurs every day, and he said he’s proud to be part of the team.

“This is validation for us and we really appreciate it.”