A father and son were holding on for their lives last Wednesday night, clinging to an Igloo cooler and each other after their boat sank in Boston Harbor. Two Boston Police Harbor Unit officers rushed to the scene and saved them, which led to an emotional reunion this weekend in the Seaport.
Joseph Azeredo and his son Tommy Azeredo warmly embraced officers Stephen Merrick and Garrett Boyle as the foursome reunited on the dock Sunday at the Boston Police Harbor Patrol headquarters.
“And when I see those guys, it's like I see God," Joseph Azeredo recalled of when the officers reached him in the water last week. "I want to thank you very much...I never seen in my life better cops than this.”
Tommy Azeredo said he was terrified, and he wasn't sure they'd survive the harrowing ordeal.
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"Once we saw these guys come in, we were thanking God the whole time, saying a little bit of prayer, because we didn't know if we were going to come home to our families” he said.
"They are heroes," Tommy Azeredo added of Merrick and Boyle. "They are heroes."
The officers smiled alongside the men Sunday, with Boyle responding, "It's nice to be someone's hero."
Merrick and Boyle found the 76-year-old man and his 41-year-old son exhausted off the coast of Graves Light, an island about eight miles from Boston's Seaport, and quickly got them on board their police boat.
The rescue was captured by body-camera video and has since been widely circulated. The Azeredos recounted their distressing experience Sunday, at times overcome with emotion as they shared more details about how they ended up in the water.
Joseph Azeredo said the pair was out lobstering, pulling traps in by hand, when a line got tangled up in their motors. He handed his son a knife, and Tommy Azeredo jumped into the water.
For 25 to 30 minutes, Tommy Azeredo said he struggled in the water as he tried to cut the rope. At one point, the knife he was using broke, so his dad went to find another.
When he was in the cabin, Joseph Azeredo said he heard a big bang -- their boat had hit the rocks. Once Tommy Azeredo was back on board, he noticed the rear of the boat was quickly taking on water.
They put out a mayday call over the radio but didn't hear any response. They called police and then "everything went dead," Joseph Azeredo said, adding it all happened so quick. The 28-foot Grady was sinking within minutes.
As the boat was turning while going under, Joseph Azeredo was thrown into the water, while Tommy Azeredo was trying to escape a cabin quickly filling with water. They lost sight of each other during the commotion. Joseph Azeredo said it all happened so quick.
"I looked around, start yelling for [Tommy]. I don't see him, and I think..." he said, trailing off as he was overcome by emotion.
“I was thinking about my family. I didn't think I was going to see them again. I can hear my father screaming for me," Tommy Azeredo recalled. It was terrifying man. It was very terrifying.”
According to Tommy Azeredo, people have asked in the days since the rescue why he wasn't wearing a life vest, like his dad, which can be seen in the body-camera video.
He was actually wearing one during the ordeal, he said, but he had rip it off to escape the sinking boat, noting that the life jacket was pushing him up, and he was drowning.
Without his life vest on, it was the green Igloo cooler keeping him above water, and he was sure to mention that Sunday.
"I just want to say a shoutout to Igloo coolers because if that wasn't there right next to me, I was all beat up from getting banged up on the rocks, that's what actually saved my life," Tommy Azeredo added. "And then I swam to my father, just bear hugging him, trying to keep him calm. We seen a few boats go by, obviously they couldn't hear us screaming because obviously the motors were on."
While the duo was stranded in the water, Merrick and Boyle were speeding over from Georges Island after receiving the 911 call. They estimate it took them about seven minutes to reach the men at Graves Light, and they could see how weary the Azeredos were as they approached.
“We’ve gotten calls that sound serious and then you get there and it’s not really that big a deal,” Boyle said. “But we were pulling up and Steve was like ‘oh yeah, this is serious.’”
"When these things happen, these guys will tell you, it’s very stressful," Merrick added. "It’s life or death."
The father and son managed to escape with only scrapes and bruises, but the incident will have a lasting impact.
It was a "life changer," Tommy Azeredo said.
“No more lobster,” he added. “We’re selling those. We’ll just stick to fishing...That's what we'll do.”
“If my wife let me buy another boat,” Joseph Azeredo quipped.
Tommy Azeredo said this would have been particularly tragic for his mom, if things had turned out differently, because his sister just died from COVID in January and his mom has been struggling. He also mentioned a few times that his mom wanted him to hug and kiss the officers. He said if she had been at the dock Sunday, she would have been clinging to the officers who saved her son and husband.
