NEWPORT -- Philip Wormington awoke in his bunk in the wee hours Tuesday to the sound of breakers slamming into the fishing vessel Lori Ann -- formerly Little Linda -- and knew instantly it was in trouble.

And how.

Skipper Travis Vitale, 25, of Eureka, Calif., had fallen asleep, allowing the 54-foot vessel to run aground just outside Nye Beach.

"It was crazy," Wormington said Tuesday. "Travis kept putting it in gear and trying to back off, but that wasn't happening. There were breakers coming over the stern and all the way into the galley."

The pair contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, donned survival suits and waited. Finally, fearing for their lives, they launched the lifeboat and made it safely to shore.

Crews worked Tuesday against a rising tide to pump fuel off the vessel and inspect it for damage. The news was good, said Petty Officer Luke Potter of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The boat had grounded on a "nice, sandy beach" and was undamaged. The crew was safe. Only a tiny amount of its 1,800 gallons of diesel spilled -- and it was quickly contained.

"All things considered, things are going really well," Potter said.

"Generally, these things will take a couple of tide cycles to work out. Usually you need an external force to coax it back to sea," Potter said.

Wormington, 39, of McKinleyville, Calif., said he and Vitale had hoped to refloat the boat at high tide Tuesday afternoon, said But the insurance company put the kibosh on those plans.

An attempt to tow the vessel from the beach will begin this morning.

Wormington chuckled about the saga that began about 2 a.m. Tuesday, but he admitted, the experience was harrowing at the time.

"I won't lie, I cried. I thought I was done. I grabbed my cell, my wallet, and put it in my survival suit. I thought, 'There is the town. At least when my body washes up, they'll know who I am.'"

Luckily, that was not the case. The Coast Guard was waiting when the two made it to shore.

"We didn't launch our boat right away just due to the proximity of the vessel to the shore," said Petty Officer Robert Decker, who is stationed at Yaquina Bay.

"In such limited depth of water, our vessel would not be able to get in safely. We were trying to get them to stay on the boat until we could find the best avenue to get to them."

Tuesday, as the Coast Guard investigated, Vitale searched for a buyer for 5 tons of albacore tuna they'd caught in the past 11 days of fishing.

That bounty had a lot to do with the predicament the two found themselves in, said Vitale, owner of the Lori Ann.

"Too many hours up," he said, sheepishly. "I went to sleep for little bit and then I heard it. Bang!"

-- Lori Tobias; loritobias@aol.com