Salvage Crew Frees Beached Boat

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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Mother Nature and a team of salvage crews managed to free a stuck fishing boat from the sands along Fort Lauderdale Beach late Monday afternoon.

The workers with TowBoatUS freed the commercial fishing boat which ended up beached just north of the Port Everglades jetty Friday night.

CLICK HERE To Watch Carey Codd's Report 

The Coast Guard originally claimed it had collided with the jetty. However, the boat did not appear to have any gashes or evidence of a major collision with rocks.

Captain Chip Bethell said the truth wasn't as dramatic, but what happened next was. He was on board the Joyce Lynn Two when the man at the helm went off course in an effort to avoid the shallow waters near the entrance to Port Everglades.

"I grabbed the helm from him. I tried to maneuver the boat off the shoal. The boat was uncontrollable, she was to far aground. Every wave drove that boat further onto the shoal," said Bethell.

Once the boat ran aground he said chaos erupted on board.

"The stern was to the weather and the waves were just rolling over the stern," said Bethell. "They were rolling across the deck and into the cabin."

As the waves battered the boat, Bethell said the equipment slid all over the place.

"All the crab totes, the coolers, everything they had tied down on deck broke lose and became projectiles. Every wave took totes, slamming them into the side of the boat, the front of the boat," said Bethell.

Bethell called the Coast Guard who safely evacuated two men from the boat. When they tried to get Bethell's son, there was a problem.

"Just as my son was transferring to the Coast Guard boat, a big wave picked up the Coast Guard boat and slammed the boat against us and my son got crushed in between them," said Bethell.

Ted Bethell was pulled onto the rescue boat and rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery.

"With a lot of prayers and a lot of luck, he'll heal completely and everything will be fine and everything might be a bad memory," said Bethell.