The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency honored five Marine Patrol troopers and the agency’s Southern Division for their role in the massive search-and-rescue response following the deadly Dauphin Island Regatta storm earlier this year.
On April 25, sudden, severe winds capsized about 10 sailing vessels in Mobile Bay during the annual regatta, throwing at least 40 people into the water. ALEA Secretary Spencer Collier described conditions that day as shifting from calm to extreme within minutes.
“Troopers did not hesitate in the call for help and they placed their own lives in danger to help those in need,” Collier said during a ceremony at the Alabama Marine Patrol office at Perdido Pass in Orange Beach. “Conducting rescue missions in conditions such as these is treacherous, but troopers chose to enter into an area of near hurricane-force winds to help others.”
Collier presented Meritorious Service Awards to Troopers Scott Lee, Jason Stachan, Bill Carol, Jessie Peacock and Wade Fail for their part in the response. Over roughly 10 days after the storm, troopers and other searchers combed more than 9,500 square miles of open water and shoreline looking for six boaters who went missing when the storm hit. Five were eventually found.
One boater, a 71-year-old Mobile resident, was never located.
The Dauphin Island Regatta, a decades-old sailing tradition on Mobile Bay, draws hundreds of participants each spring. The 2015 storm prompted a review of race-day weather protocols and renewed appreciation across the region for the marine law enforcement and Coast Guard crews who respond when conditions on the bay turn dangerous without warning.
ALEA officials said the recognition ceremony was meant to highlight the risks marine troopers accept as part of routine duty along Alabama’s coastline, and to formally thank the Southern Division for a rescue effort that authorities credited with saving dozens of lives in a matter of hours.