By R/C William E. Florida’s Palm Beach Sail & Power Squadron a unit of the United States Power Squadrons has honored sixteen student heroes from neighboring Riviera Beach Maritime Academy. A month before this event, these seafaring students were cruising toward Key West and the Dry Tortugas on a 10-day training mission aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan. Suddenly they became central figures in a highly publicized rescue involving three stranded fisherman adrift off the Florida Keys. High school sophomore T.J. Quails, with only ten minutes remaining on his watch, spotted signal flares in the evening sky. He immediately alerted his ship’s captain who notified the United States Coast Guard.
