Missing Person – Presumed Fatality

On Wednesday, May 24th, a ranger was conducting a security check at the north anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge when she heard radio traffic from an officer reporting a man in the water and asking for assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. Two men from San Jose had been fishing along a rocky bluff at Fort Baker when a large wave knocked one of them off the rocks and into the bay. The other man immediately went for help. Rangers requested assistance from park lifeguards in personal watercraft. Lifeguards and U.S. Coast Guard air and marine units immediately began a search of the water, with additional assistance provided by the San Francisco Police Department’s marine unit and a California Highway Patrol helicopter. An extensive search was conducted, but without results. The bay was at low tide at the time of the incident but strong currents and winds, coupled with a water temperature of 55 degrees, were impediments to anyone trying to swim to shore.