DAPHNE, Ala. — Volunteers with Daphne Search and Rescue are sharing an emotional account of the search that led them to a young man who went missing in Mobile Bay southwest of Point Clear, describing a moment on the water they say they will not forget.
The all-volunteer team deployed its sonar-equipped search vessel, Impact, on a Sunday morning in mid-July after a young man known to the crew only as “JRoe” went missing in the bay the evening before. Multiple agencies had already searched the surface and skies overnight without success, and by the time DSAR’s boat reached the water, the mission had shifted from rescue to recovery.
As Impact glided over unusually calm, flat water, a sonar technician aboard the vessel watched the bay floor scroll across a monitor while the boat’s coxswain held tight, evenly spaced search lines designed to leave no gaps in the search grid. Crew members inside the cabin kept their eyes on a mirrored display, watching for anything that stood out from the natural contours of the bottom.
Within minutes, an anomaly appeared on the screen — faint, but within the range of what the team was looking for. As the boat reached the end of its line and turned to re-enter the search area, a single dolphin appeared on sonar and stayed with the vessel as it approached the anomaly. Moments later, as the boat passed the spot from a different angle, as many as four dolphins showed up on the display. Within seconds of the pod’s arrival, a near-perfect outline of a human form began to take shape on the crew’s screens.
The dolphins stayed close by until the team dropped a sonar marker and anchored over the location. Divers then went down guided by a sector-scanning sonar and a dedicated underwater communications line, and within minutes the diver had reached JRoe and began the process of bringing him home. The dolphins that had trailed the boat throughout the search were not seen again.
“We had truly hoped to be a part of a miraculous rescue, but take comfort in being able to return a young man to his family and accomplish our mission of ‘Bringing Home the Lost,’” the organization said in a Facebook post describing the search.
Daphne Search and Rescue extended its condolences to JRoe’s family and friends, and thanked the multiple agencies that took part in the overnight search before the recovery team located him the following morning.