North Carolina's ferry boat crews have been reminded of the importance of adequate staffing after an incident two weeks ago in which a ferry captain died at the wheel of his vessel and his backup wasn't on the boat.

Jack Cahoon, director of the ferry division of the N.C. Department of Transportation, said that none of the passengers aboard the ferry Cape Point at the time was in any danger.

Cahoon said the ferry had left the dock at Ocracoke Island headed north for Hatteras Island when Capt. Lowell "Lou" Schroder collapsed from an apparent heart attack. A crewman in the cabin put out a call for help, and a registered nurse, a paramedic and a professional tugboat captain -- all passengers -- responded, along with the ferry's engineer and another crew member who was out patrolling the deck.

Normally, Cahoon said, the ferry would have had a second captain aboard, but Schroder had let that worker get off the boat at Ocracoke.

The tugboat captain took the wheel first, and the engineer, who is trained to handle the vessel in an emergency, said he would take over. But the tug captain assured that he could operate the boat so the engineer could help tend to the captain.

Within about six minutes, Cahoon said, the south-bound ferry pulled alongside the Cape Point, and one of its captains stepped aboard, went up and took control of the boat. The Coast Guard arrived a few minutes later and sent aboard an emergency medical technician and another crewman, who stayed on board until the ferry reached the dock, where an ambulance was waiting.

"At no time was anyone's life at risk," Cahoon said.

Chief Boatswain's Mate Arnold Head of the Coast Guard's Hatteras Station, who responded to the incident, said the boat was running in 8 to 10 feet of water. Both Head and Cahoon said that if the boat had run aground, it would easily have been backed off the shoals.

Schroder of New Bern was 64 and was a temporary employee hired for the summer, Cahoon said.

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