Not All Heroes Wear a Cape- Blank Rescues a Man From Water

I started receiving messages on Wednesday afternoon letting me know about the exploits of Oliver Blank, who will be a senior at MDI High School later this month. After chasing down the story, here's the account from Oliver's mom, Margaret Houghton.

"About 9:00 Tuesday night (July 30th)  a skiff with two men in it capsized in the very foggy Great Cranberry Island Harbor. Oliver was riding the 9:30 Mailboat after working at the Islesford Dock Restaurant. When the boat entered the harbor,  people could hear someone yelling for help and eventually located the two men clinging to the over turned skiff.

The mailboat captain Greg Theriault attempted to maneuver the boat over to them, while another boat managed to get close enough for one of the men to swim to, but the other man did not know how to swim and would not let go of the boat, even after a life jacket was thrown to him. The captain stated that someone was going to have to go in to help him. Oliver looked around at the other passengers and realized that he would be the best option.

He stripped down to his shorts, put on a life jacket and jumped in. He tried to get a life jacket on the man, but the man was too cold and tired to help. Oliver held on to the man, reassuring him. Eventually the other boat got to them and and Oliver held the man up and help lift him into the boat. The people in the boat with the man stated that he did not need medical help and that they would get him home and warmed up. Oliver was assisted back onto the mailboat and continued his ride home."

Note - In a Facebook post Captain Greg Theriault stated that he never stated that someone was going to have to go in and help the man