The owner and captain of a Puerto Rico-based 50-foot Sea Ray power boat named Shangra Lee and his five passengers went back to Puerto Rico in the Shangra Lee’s dinghy, leaving his rescuer unpaid after hitting a reef off Savana Island, located off the west end of St. Thomas, around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
St. Thomas-based Sea Tow owner Alan Wentworth heard the mayday call and rushed to the accident in his 33-foot salvage boat and crew. He found two people, including Capt. Hugo de la Uz or de la Cruz, depending on the source, in a 25-foot dinghy.
Four women were left behind in the rapidly sinking Shangra Lee.
“They were screaming. They were panicking,” Wentworth said.
Parris said one of the women was a minor.
Wentworth said he was able to get the two passengers off the bow but the two in the cockpit of the sinking boat were frozen in place. Wentworth drove his 33-foot salvage boat up on the stern of the sinking boat to get the other two off board, he said.
Jessica Parris, acting assistant director of the Department of Planning’s Enforcement Division, said that a recreational vessel also assisted.
According to Wentworth, when the captain got back to Crown Bay and Wentworth offered him the items he had salvaged from the Sea Ray, de la Uz said he didn’t want any of it.
Wentworth said the captain told him the boat was uninsured and he could keep what he found.
“I don’t know if he realizes how close his family was to extreme peril,” he said.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Andrew Simpson said the captain and his passengers returned to Puerto Rico in the dinghy.
Wentworth and Parris both said de la Uz indicated he had the Shangra Lee on autopilot and had fallen asleep when the accident happened.
The Coast Guard deployed two helicopters and a St. Thomas-based boat for a search and rescue mission.
Parris said the boat was on its way from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas. Photos show it was decked out for the holidays with a Christmas tree on its bow.
Wentworth said de la Uz didn’t pay him for his efforts. He said he had three people and two boats on the scene for five hours. He said his usual rate of pay is $350 an hour.
On the Villa Marina Yacht Harbour in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, where de la Uz is listed as a member, he responded to remarks listed below two pictures of the sinking boat with, “lo importante es que estamos todos bien. Lo material se reemplaza.” Translated by Google, this means, “the important thing is that we are all fine. The material is replaced.”
De la Uz could not be located for further comment.
Wentworth said he and his crew picked up all manner of floating debris, including life jackets.
Wentworth said the boat’s fuel tank ruptured, dumping diesel fuel into the ocean. DPNR put the figure at about 100 gallons.
“There was no noticeable plume,” Planning spokesman Jamal Nielsen said.
When Wentworth went back to Savana Island on Sunday, he found the boat in pieces on the reef, he said.
Parris said, “The boat was destroyed. It came apart.”
She and Wentworth said some parts floated away and some remained on the reef.
While Wentworth said there was damage to the reef, Roy Pemberton Jr., director of Planning’s Fish and Wildlife Division, said the reef suffered only minor damage because what was left of the boat was wedged between boulders.
“The damage was to the vessel itself,” Pemberton said, adding that some algae came off the boat’s bottom and landed on the reef.
He said rough seas prevented booms from being deployed.
The captain faces a fine from DPNR that will include penalties for not reporting the accident and the bill for cleaning up the mess he left behind.
The Yachting Journal website gives a Bayamon, Puerto Rico, address for de la Uz as the owner of the Shangra Lee. Parris had both de la Uz and de la Cruz as the names but several boating-related websites list the captain’s surname as de la Uz.
An advertisement in the September 2002 issue of Motor Boating Magazine listed the Shangra Lee for sale for $339,000. A current Oodle marketplace list of similar boats for sale in Miami gives the value at $159,000.
Editor’s note: The Source originally reported de la Uz fled the scene of the accident. He did not. He went back to Crown Bay, picked up his passengers and returned to Puerto Rico in his dingy without paying for Wentworth’s services or making any arrangements for cleaning up the mess from the accident.
