WOOLWICH

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today presented framed plaques to two young Woolwich men, whose bravery saved the lives of two teenagers on a frigid, windy New Year’s Eve.

Pingree honored Blake McElman and Jay Cavanaugh in a midafternoon ceremony. She praised the efforts of the two 21-year-olds.

“Many people in Maine make their lives in unforgiving and swiftly-changing environments,” she said during a House session on July 25. “But what also characterizes our state is that our people look after each other and are willing to go a long way to help one another. McElman and Cavanaugh certainly showed that to be true, and then some. I’m very proud to have them in my district.”

Neither McElman or Cavanaugh ever saw again the two 19-year-old worm-diggers, who had become caught on a ledge in rising tide, were soaked and suffering from hypothermia. They don’t even recall their names. No matter.

“I’m glad we could save those kids,” McElman said Thursday. “They were 15 minutes away from being swept off that ledge. There was no way they were going to get to shore.”

McElman figured it took at least 45 minutes for he and Cavanaugh to make their way from their aunt’s home — where they were setting off fireworks and celebrating New Year’s Eve — to the two men. They had made a 911 call but the warden covering the area told them he couldn’t get a boat down there for at least an hour and a half, McElman said.

Had not they been outside lighting fireworks, McElman said, they never would have known the two young men were in distress.

“It’s a good thing they legalized fireworks,” he said.

Cavanaugh recalled the moment.

“We could hear somebody yelling off Oak Island,” he said. “At first I thought it was a joke — it was New Year’s Eve. But they kept yelling. I turned to Blake and said, ‘maybe they really need help.’”

There was a couple of feet of snow on the ground, and the young men were about 500 yards away from the home of McElman’s Aunt Jane, where they were celebrating. McElman and Cavanaugh were wearing L.L. Bean boots, flannel coats and jeans. McElman lives in the next house down — 600 yards away.

“I have a canoe tied up because I duck hunt,” he said. “We went through a lot of snow. We were both falling and slipping and we got soaking wet.”

Once the two friends got to Cavanaugh’s house, they changed into dry woolen pants, and geared themselves with headlamps, flashlights and life jackets.

Once they got to within site of the two young men, they paddled the one-quarter mile to them, breaking ice along the way.

“They were on a ledge, both soaking wet,” McElman said. “They were both 19 years old. Apparently, they didn’t have the tide right. They would have frozen because they didn’t have a cellphone or lighter or anything.”

Once they got the two younger men back to McElman’s house, it took both of them to pull off their wading boots.

Cavanaugh said he was surprised that the emergency 911 call didn’t prove more successful. The Sagadahoc County Sheriff ’s Department referred them to a warden, who was not able to help, he said.

“They were soaked,” he said. “These kids were going to die. The real shocker to me was, we didn’t get to the right people. The local fire department could have been down there  uicker.”

Both McElman  and Cavanaugh said they appreciate Pingree’s gesture.

“I think it’s great,” McElman said, “and Jay’s excited, too.”

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