Flare brings Mainer's rescue

The boat started foundering shortly after 9 a.m. yesterday, before Bruce Dyer, 43, could put on his wet suit. A lobsterman since the age of 12, Dyer had grown up exploring the Maine seas. But as the Morgan Leigh, his 36-foot fishing boat, plunged into the water 12 miles off Kennebunkport, Dyer invested all of his hope in an orange flare.

Scott Sevigny, a high school social studies teacher from Fort Kent who was fishing for cod on the family motorboat, spotted the beacon. He looked into the horizon and saw the split-second glare, which he initially thought was a reflection of another boat's windshield. But when he noticed the plumes of smoke, he and his crewmates -- his father, his uncle, and two friends -- gunned the boat, the Unreal, to the scene.

When the Unreal arrived a few minutes later, crew members found Dyer lying in his life raft, shivering and complaining of leg cramps. They took him on board and gave him a bottle of water while they radioed Coast Guard officials.

"The look on his face I will never forget. His eyes just got wide and looked like they just welled up," Sevigny recalled, speaking by telephone from Maine. "I had trouble holding back tears."

"He pretty much was in a state shock," said Sevigny's uncle, Dana. "It was his lucky day."

While the five came to Dyer's rescue, authorities contacted his parents to inform them that they had received a distress signal from his boat.

"I thought it was the end," said Royalene Dyer, 65, of Brunswick, where her son lives.

Bruce Dyer was too distressed yesterday to speak about the incident, his mother said.

Royalene Dyer said her son did not know what caused the boat to sink so rapidly, and Coast Guard officials said they were still investigating. Dyer said her son noticed the boat moving slowly and realized that water had flooded the interior. Within seconds, the boat was veering to the side, she said, and he jumped into the life raft.

Paramedics transported him to a hospital in Biddeford , but it did not appear that he had any major injuries, officials said. His mother said his temperature dropped to 86 degrees and he was treated for hypothermia.

The rescuers said they did not consider their actions heroic.

"It was something that I think any mariner would do when they see another mariner in distress, " Scott Sevigny said. "I think he would forward the same courtesy to anyone else in distress."

"When I'm out there, I'm always looking out there for the other guy," said Sevigny's father, Bernard. "You're aware of your surroundings."

Javier Hernandez can be reached at jhernandez@globe.com.