Tales of a seafaring hero

Capt. Fred Bockmiller’s name will always be linked to the April 2004 rescue of a scuba diver who was lost at sea and in the early stages of hypothermia.

The 74-year-old Costa Mesa resident was the captain of the tall ship Argus on that foggy Sunday afternoon when he and a handful of Boy Scouts performed the impromptu rescue. Last month, Bockmiller attended the wedding of the diver he saved, Dan Carlock.

Bockmiller has been featured in Reader’s Digest and invited to tell the heroic story on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” But he hasn’t had the chance to share some of his earlier sea tales with such a large audience.

From 1950 through 1954, Bockmiller served in the United States Air Force, where he was an electronics and electrical inspector. During the Korean War, he served with the 452nd Bomb Wing.

Bockmiller transferred his love of electronics to boats, becoming a repair and maintenance expert. He varnished. He painted. He fixed engines. He even became a yacht broker, helping to find homes for old and new yachts.

His marketability vastly improved in 1979, when he received his captain’s license from the United States Coast Guard.

“I was so in love with the sea and boats,” Bockmiller said. “The feeling of being on boats was unlike anything else.”

While aboard a 70-foot ketch near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Bockmiller had one of the scariest moments of his life. It was 1967, and he was in the midst of a six-week trip, when hurricane-like winds up to 80 knots shook the boat off course. He emerged from the storm shaken but still alive.

Bockmiller had another close call while working on a maintenance project on the mast of a ship. He lost grip of the rope that kept him aloft and fell 30 feet before catching the rope again.

After these incidents, Bockmiller’s friends gave him the name “Fearless Fred.”

Most of his boating adventures were safe, however. Bockmiller regularly delivered boats to and from Mexico and up the coast of California. He commanded motor ships, sailing yachts and diving vessels as a freelance captain.

Often times, yacht owners would take their vessels on races and have Bockmiller return them to their home harbor. He often would begin trips from Newport Harbor, which, he said, looked very different a few decades ago.

“There were fewer boats back then, and everyone knew each other,” Bockmiller said. “In those days, almost all the boats were wood. And people generally knew the rules of the road.”

“You had funky boatyards,” he added. “You knew the owner, and the owner knew you.”

Bockmiller said many boaters congregated at the Stuffed T-shirt, a restaurant-bar located in the Cannery Village neighborhood. (The eatery has since been replaced by a residential complex)

The atmosphere at Stuffed T-Shirt was representative of the lifestyle around the harbor in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Bockmiller said.

“It was a slow, friendly, delightful place,” he said.

In 1989, Bockmiller and his crew aboard the yacht Hidalgo won first place trophies for his class in the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race.

Bockmiller, who lived in Newport Beach for more than 45 years, lives in Costa Mesa and is still a boat owner. He is also the oldest captain of the Argus, which docks at the Newport Sea Base and is celebrating its 100th year in 2005.

For 26 years, Bockmiller has taken Boy Scouts on the Argus and trained them in sea safety and rescue missions. He has never had a first-hand experience like the rescue last year.

“I’ve been blessed with that,” he said.

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20051127iqjgqtkn(LA)Fred Bockmiller, right, with a man he rescued at sea in 2004 and the man’s wife 20051127iqjh9ikn(LA)Fred Bockmiller, right, with a man he rescued at sea in 2004 and the man’s wife