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Man rescued from capsized boat two months after going missing at sea Man rescued from capsized boat two months after going missing at sea
(about 2 hours later)
A man whose family reported him missing at sea more than two months ago has been found sitting on the overturned hull of his 35ft boat far off the North Carolina coast. An American missing at sea for 66 days was rescued from his capsized boat 200 miles off the North Carolina coast, telling coastguards he survived on drinking rainwater and catching fish.
US Coast Guard officials in Portsmouth, Virginia, said they received word from a German tanker at 1.30pm on Thursday about a man and his boat approximately 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras. Louis Jordan, 37, who was reported missing by his family in January, was spotted sitting on the overturned hull of his 35ft boat by the crew of a German tanker.
A coastguard helicopter crew from North Carolina flew to the ship and airlifted Louis Jordan to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, said Lt Krystyn Pecora, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard’s 5th District office. A coastguard helicopter crew airlifted him to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, and he was said to be able to stand and walk without assistance, but has a shoulder injury and was dehydrated.
She said Jordan, 37, had a shoulder injury, but she did not have any additional information about his condition. His 1950s single-masted sailboat had lost its mast in a storm, which also damaged his communication equipment. It was not known how long ago it capsized.
Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss said Jordan’s sailboat had lost its mast and capsized. The tanker crew said it found Jordan sitting on the hull. Doss said it was not known where or how long the boat had been capsized, but said Jordan told them he ate fish he caught to survive. His family had feared the worst. Until January, Jordan had been living on his docked sailboat at the Bucksport Plantation marina in South Carolina when he told relatives he was “going into the open water to sail and do some fishing”.
Jordan had been living on his docked sailboat at the Bucksport Plantation marina in Conway, South Carolina, until January, when he told his family he was “going into the open water to sail and do some fishing”, said his mother, Norma Davis, of Jacksonville, North Carolina. The family had not heard from him since, she said. “We expected him to come back and he did not return,” his mother, Norma Davis, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, told the Associated Press. “We knew something had happened. To us it’s just a miracle. We’re just so thrilled that he was found alive”.
“We expected him to come back and he did not return,” Davis said in a telephone interview. “We knew something happened. To us it’s just a miracle. We’re just so thrilled that he was found alive.” According to Jeff Weeks, manager of the marina where Jordan’s boat was docked, he had spent months sanding and painting it. Weeks said Jordan appeared knowledgable about wild fruits and mushrooms, and fished for his meals in inland waterways, but his January trip may have been his first time sailing in the open ocean.
Jordan had spent months sanding and painting his docked 1950s-era, single-masted sailboat in Conway, where the marina manager, Jeff Weeks, said he had seen Jordan nearly every day. Jordan was the only resident in a section of about 20 boats docked behind a coded security gate, Weeks said. “He might sail up and down the Intercoastal Waterway, but he didn’t have the experience he needed to go out into the ocean,” Weeks told AP.
“You’ll probably never meet a nicer guy,” Weeks said. “He is a quiet gentleman that most of the time keeps to himself. He’s polite. I would describe him as a gentle giant.” Records show Jordan sailed out of the marina in Conway on 23 January on board the sailboat Angel. Coastguard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said officials in Miami were notified by Jordan’s father, Frank, on 29 January that he had not been seen or heard from in a week.
Jordan appeared to be knowledgable about wild fruits and mushrooms and fished for his meal in inland waterways, Weeks said. But his January trip may have been his first time sailing in the open ocean. Alerts were issued from New Jersey to Miami to be on the lookout, and his financial data was also searched to determine whether he had come ashore, but there was no indication that he had. A search was begun on 8 February but the coastguard abandoned its efforts after 10 days. Despite reports from other sailors claiming to have seen Jordan’s boat, none of the sightings was confirmed.
“He might sail up and down the Intercoastal Waterway, but he didn’t have the experience he needed to go out into the ocean,” Weeks said. As he had not filed a “float plan” - the nautical equivalent of a flight plan – giving details of his route and destination, there was not enough information to narrow down the search.
Records show that Jordan sailed out of the marina in Conway on 23 January aboard the sailboat Angel. Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard’s 7th District, said officials in Miami were notified by Jordan’s father, Frank, on 29 January that he had not been seen or heard from in a week. One week later, Davis confirmed that their son was still missing. Jordan told coastguard officials he had survived by eating rations he had already packed and catching fish.
Fajardo said alerts were issued from New Jersey to Miami to be on the lookout for Jordan and his boat. Officials also searched financial data to determine whether Jordan had come ashore without being noticed, but found no indication that he had, she said. “We don’t know where he capsized. We won’t really know what happened to him out there until we talk to him at length,” said coastguard chief petty officer Ryan Doss.
A search was begun on 8 February, but Fajardo said the coastguard abandoned its efforts after 10 days. Despite reports from other sailors claiming to have seen Jordan’s boat, none of the sightings was confirmed and the case was suspended. In an emotional phone call to his father, released through the coastguard, Jordan is heard telling him: “I haven’t heard you in so long”. His father replied: “Oh man, it’s nice to hear your voice. People have been praying for you”.
The coastguard said Jordan had not filed a “float plan” – the nautical equivalent of a flight plan – to determine his route or destination, and Fajardo said there had not been enough information to narrow down his whereabouts. Jordan says of the boat: “I couldn’t fix it, I couldn’t sail back with my boat – I’m so sorry, it’s such a huge loss”. His father reassures him: “Hey, Louis, you’re fine son. I’m so glad that you’re alive. We prayed and prayed and we hoped that you were still alive. So that’s all the matters”.
Davis said she was looking forward to celebrating her son’s return. “We do plan on having a wonderful Easter celebration with family and I can’t wait to get him back,” she said. He was found 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras, off North Carolina.
NBC reported that coastguard official Lt Krysten Pecora told a press conference at Sentara Norfolk general hospital: “Obviously his family is overjoyed to see him after such a long time out there. I just attribute that to his strength and willingness to live and keep on going. It’s a pretty remarkable.”
His mother told AP: “We do plan on having a wonderful Easter celebration with family and I can’t wait to get him back”.