Hope fades for missing 3 but Coast Guard keeps searching

St. Petersburg, Florida -- The Coast Guard told us there would be no further briefing Monday night unless there was news.

Family members were hoping there would be some announcement that the three men, Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and William Bleakley, had been found safe and were on their way home. The announcement never came.

However, earlier in the day hopes were high after Nick Schuyler was found and flown to Tampa General Hospital. The Coast Guard thought it might be closer to finding the men who were still missing.

Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close told reporters after Schuyler had been rescued that he sent two of his men to the hospital to get more information. Once the Coast Guard had that information, it was better able to focus its search for the three missing men.

Close said the agency is still actively searching for those men. He says the search area is a lot smaller based on where they found the boat.

Marquis Cooper's cousin, Ray Sanchez, still believes the story could have a happy ending, even as hopes fade with each passing hour. He says his cousin is a powerful swimmer. He says he is a good man and, Sanchez believes, he will definitely get out of this ordeal alive.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard isn't giving up. Captain Close says the agency will use all the appropriate assets in the case given the circumstances, given the weather conditions and given the drift patterns and the models of where they think the men might be.