The Cornett Family
On December 29, 1997 Michael Cornett along with his two sons Michael Paul, age 16, and Daniel, age 13, and their 14 year old cousin, Bobby Hurd, died when their sailboat Morning Dew smashed into jetties off the Charleston, South Carolina coast.
The Coast Guard received a mayday call from the Morning Dew at 6:00 AM. The Harbor pilot boat was sent to search the area. When the pilot boat search found nothing the rescue efforts ended. Not until 11:00 AM when the bodies of two of the boys washed up on a nearby beach did the Coast Guard send out their own boats. The boys had died just shortly before their bodies were found.
Eventually all four bodies were found. Could these lives have been saved if the Coast Guard had dispatched a full blown search and rescue effort when they first received the mayday call?