Faced with unfavorable options and forced to make a decision that could cost human lives, Capt. Larry Brudnicki commanded the crew of his U.S. Coast Guard ship through two successful rescue missions during the famed "Perfect Storm" of Halloween 1991.
"I knew if I didn't do anything, the Air National Guard crew would be dead when the sun came up in the morning," said Brudnicki, 59, who retired from the Coast Guard in 2002 and moved to Sunapee with his wife, Carol. "But if I put rescue swimmers in the water, and then I couldn't get them out, my men could die, too."
Brudnicki, who is being inducted into the U.S. Coast Guard Hall of Heroes during a ceremony today, was the commanding officer aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa during a rare confluence of storms that conquered a commercial fishing crew and has since captured imaginations as the subject of a book and a Hollywood film.
Brudnicki and his crew rescued three people who were clinging to a sinking sailboat off the coast of Nantucket and then went on to save an Air National Guard helicopter rescue crew that ran out of fuel while attempting a mission and crash-landed into the ocean.
Brudnicki retold the harrowing tale of the worst weather in a century during an interview yesterday at his home near Sunapee Harbor. "We were like a 1,600-ton cork," Brudnicki said. "We're 40 feet above the water and we're looking up at the tops of the waves."
The sheer power of the ocean continuously rolled the ship from side to side, at angles of 45 to 55 degrees. "Once you get past 45 degrees, it's easier to walk on the wall than it is to walk on the floor," Brudnicki said.
Built in 1943, the Tamaroa was longer and sat deeper in the water than newer Coast Guard ships, giving it more stability. "It was very lucky for them that our ship was the one on patrol," Brudnicki said of the helicopter crew. "If one of our newer ships had tried to do what we did, they would have rolled over."
When the Tamaroa reached the helicopter crew, it was about 2 a.m. Brudnicki had to make a decision: send swimmers in after the four men, two of whom were injured, or find another way to get them out of the water. "I didn't know if I would be able to get anyone out of the water because the weather was so bad," he said, so he decided to use the ship's cargo net.
"Instead of fishing for fish, we were fishing for men," he said. "We'd never done that before and haven't done that since. I'm not sure it was the prettiest rescue, but it worked."
The four men were pulled safely on board. The Tamaroa spent the next three days searching for a fifth man -- the first para-rescuer who had jumped out of the helicopter -- but after an eight-day search, it was determined that he most likely died from the impact with the water.
There was never a rescue mission involving the Andrea Gail, the commercial fishing boat that was the focus of the 2000 movie with George Clooney. Searchers found only one remnant of that ship -- an emergency beacon that washed ashore in the "off" position.
Since his 2002 retirement from the Coast Guard in California, which was attended by all four of the men he rescued from the ocean that night, Brudnicki has worked as a professional speaker, telling the "Perfect Storm" story to corporations all over the world.
"The messages inside the story are about leadership, teamwork, decision-making and risk management," he said, "and those are principles that apply to every corporation."
Today, Brudnicki will be inducted into the U.S. Coast Guard Hall of Heroes during a ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., where Brudnicki graduated in 1972. A plaque commemorating his heroism will be hung on the Wall of Gallantry at the academy. The Brudnickis' three children, Jenny, Karyn and Keith, will join them at today's induction ceremony. 
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