Rotary Club Life Ring Helps Rescue Boater From Shinnecock Canal

When he was a child, Tim Corwin recalled, the Shinnecock Canal was lined in wood and had ladders placed along its sides. The Red Cross taught swimming lessons and “afterwards, we’d jump into the canal,” he remembered.

The specter of someone falling in the canal nowadays, with ladders a bygone era appurtenance, and the current strong, spurred Mr. Corwin, a member of the Southampton Rotary Club, to work with counterparts in the Hampton Bays Rotary Club to ensure safety. That work paid off earlier this month, when a man was rescued using a life ring the two clubs provided.

It’s the first rescue as far as he knows, Mr. Corwin said, allowing that in the past there have been drownings in the canal. When the locks are open, he explained, the current is very strong.

“My understanding is the boat lost power and I’m not surprised, in that mega current, that a man fell out,” Mr. Corwin said. Hampton Bays Rotarian Julie Crowley explained that the boat began to run up against the canal side, and the boater fell trying to push it free.

A good Samaritan threw a Rotary Club life ring to the man and he was able to hang on to it until the Bay Constables could pluck him from the water.

It’s been about three years now, Mr. Corwin said, since the two clubs joined together to raise money to purchase 22 life rings to place along the sides of the canal. The rings are attached to an alarm that sounds when they’re pulled from their life saving stations, Mark Strecker, president of the Hampton Bays Rotary Club, explained. It gets people’s attention so they can assist, he said.

A post dating to 2017 by then-president Tom Crowley notes contributions of material from Riverhead Building Supply and “lots of volunteer labor” to see the project come to fruition.

“Nothing but positive comments have come from the community since this work was completed and both clubs have a strong feeling of pride in accomplishing such a worthwhile project,” Mr. Crowley wrote.

A boater himself, Mr. Corwin noted, “Many times I’d go by and I’d see kids there with their legs dangling, and people fishing.” If the child fell in and someone jumped in to save them, given the perilous current, “We’d have two drownings,” Mr. Corwin said, describing his desire to bring the two clubs together to undertake the project.

“We put the life rings in with the hopes they would someday provide that kind of assistance, and we’re just thrilled to be able to do so,” Mr. Strecker said.

Ms. Crowley highlighted the rescue on the Hampton Bays Rotary Club Facebook page, but, she emphasized, she didn’t do it to credit the program.

“It’s important to increase awareness about how dangerous the canal can be,” she said. “Most people see them as a calm water flow … It looks very peaceful and pretty, but can turn at a moment’s notice.”