Cooperative Living June 2024 - 12

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
Called to Serve
Smith Point Sea Rescue celebrates 50 years
by Audrey T. Hingley, Contributing Columnist
N
onprofi t groups are oſt en borne
from need, and Reedville's Smith
Point Sea Rescue in Virginia's
Northern Neck is no exception.
In 1973, a father and his two
young children were cruising the Little
Wicomico River on their way toward
the Chesapeake Bay when their boat
began to leak and then became partially
submerged. Th e family spent a chilly
November night
in the Chesapeake
Bay near Reedville
clinging to the bow,
one of the few parts
of the craſt that was
still above the water
line, before eventually
being rescued.
10 * Cooperative Living * June 2024
" Th ere were no cellphones and not a
lot of [boat] radios back then, " explains
Robert Gwaltney, a duty captain with
Smith Point Sea Rescue. Gwaltney
says that following the rescue, a local
physician, Dr. Robert E. Beatley, called
the home of Wendell Haynie where the
survivors had been taken, and ordered
that a tub be fi lled with hot water for one
of the children, whom he determined
was suff ering from hypothermia.
Th e incident led Beatley and his wife,
Vera, along with residents Dr. Al Hurt,
a dentist, and Haynie, to incorporate
Sea Point Sea Rescue as a 501(c)(3)
nonprofi t, all-volunteer organization
in 1974. Of the initial group, Julie
Pritchard, Smith Point Sea Rescue's
fi rst secretary, and Dr. Hurt remain.
Th is year the organization celebrates
its 50th anniversary as the last remaining
all-volunteer sea rescue unit on the
Chesapeake Bay. Its 39 members are all
volunteers who never charge for their
services.
COVERING VIRGINIA
AND MARYLAND
Th e rescue squad, based in Reedville,
Va., covers the Bay and its tributaries,
including both Virginia and Maryland
waters. A fl eet of six rescue craſt s now
boasts the group's newest addition,
Rescue III, a custom-built 43-foot allweather
rescue vessel that features stateof-the-art
marine electronics.
Deployed just this past April, Rescue
III contains an infrared camera and an
co-opliving.com
PHOTOS COURTESY SMITH POINT SEA RESCUE
PHOTO BY AUDREY T. HINGLEY
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2024

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