'I had no intention of ever leaving this boat'
By DARA KAM
Special to The Palm Beach Post
Thursday, September 01, 2005
"I had no intention of ever leaving this boat"

BILOXI, Miss. — Harvey Shows tried to flee Katrina by moving his 55-foot steel-hulled boat, Luna Sea, from Pass Christian, west of Biloxi, east to Mobile, Ala. He never made it past Biloxi. Instead, he and his boat wound up perched atop rubble about a quarter-mile from the nearest waterway, the Mississippi Sound.

"Some people are survivors," the 79-year-old Mississippi native said Tuesday as he rested on a mattress on the floor of the boat, his toy poodle, Cocoa, stretched out beside him. Lady, a black Labrador mix, survived the voyage, too. During Shows' flight from Katrina, the boat's steering mechanism failed, leaving him at the mercy of bullet-like rainfall and winds in excess of 100 mph during the storm, which dislodged casino barges and razed entire neighborhoods from one end of the Mississippi Gulf Coast to the other.

After losing his anchor during the storm, already unable to steer the boat, Shows was helpless during Mother Nature's wrath. Shows said the 30-foot storm surge propelled his boat through an arch in the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi and pushed him hundreds of yards north to where the boat now sits. "The water shot it through there like a funnel," Shows said. Purple and red bruises covered his arms as he sipped juice from a foam cup in the sweltering afternoon heat. Lady rested on the bow of the boat.

Inside, debris from the storm littered the soaking-wet cockpit. A life preserver bearing the boat's name rested on deck, still lashed to a cleat. Shows said he thinks his home in nearby Waveland, Miss., was destroyed by Katrina. He was unsure whether his van, which he had moved to higher ground, had weathered the storm.

He said he plans to remain on his boat until he can strip it of anything valuable and secure it until shipyards reopen and it can be moved and repaired. The owners of what remains of the decimated properties surrounding him dubbed him the region's unofficial guard, he said. Shows also said he traveled with a 9mm pistol for protection. Despite his harrowing tale, Shows said he doesn't consider himself fortunate to be alive."I had no intention of ever leaving this boat because I knew my survival was dependent on it. I knew what I was doing. I've been a seaman all my life. I've been a captain on ships and tugboats. I was on aircraft carriers. I was a pilot on the Mississippi."

He paused and placed an arm over his forehead."But this has taken a lot out of me." Shows said he went to sea during World War II as a 15-year-old. He also served in Korea and Vietnam. Getting aboard the grounded Luna Sea is an adventure in itself. Shows climbs up two teetering concrete blocks, places one foot in a loop knotted into a rope hanging over the side of the boat and swings the other leg over.

An incredulous passerby stopped to examine the Luna Sea, curious about how it got there."He's on there now and didn't drown?" Tony Gibson said, shaking his head. Shows said he walks to the nearby hospital for his meals and walked about a mile and a half to his sister's home, which was no longer there. He has been unable to contact either his sister or his niece, who lives in the vicinity. One of his three children lives in Jackson, Miss., another lives in New Orleans and the third is at sea, he said.

At times visibly shaken, Shows said he was "annoyed" with his situation.
"When you get old, you get emotional. And I hate it. And I'll straighten up."