The Steamship Authority ferry Islander plies the waters between Cape Cod and Martha’s Vinyard daily, and periodically the Coast Guard requires they do surprize rescue drills. Yesterday, during one such drill, the lifeboat flipped over as it was launched, trapping a crew member underneath, his leg entangled in a rope.
On the deck, while horrified passengers scanned the water looking for signs of the missing crewman, Farley Doucette, a high school teacher from Forked River, N.J., who was finishing up a vacation on the Vineyard and going home, stepped out of his shoes and handed his cell phone to a friend. He swam under the overturned boat and extricated Mr. Brooks’s leg from the rope.