Stuart Bee prayed that rescue would come before his ship slipped completely under water. The 62-year-old sailor had been washed out of his boat by a wave while he was sleeping at about midnight on Saturday, leaving him fighting for survival in the Atlantic, 86 miles off Florida.
Mr. Bee set out at 4 pm on Friday and was reported missing on Saturday by friends. On Sunday morning, 11 hours later, he was found by a container ship. "What day is it?" he asked Lacruiser Relativo, the container ship's second officer who threw him a lifebuoy and helped him aboard.
"My ship suffered engine failure. There were long and sharp noises and I was asleep when the water gushed in the back and forced me up the front," Mr. Bee told the US coast guard after his rescue. He said he swam in jeans and heavy work boots through the boat's forward hatch (船口) and surfaced, with no life jacket or any flotation. Mr. Relativo said later, "He stuck to the only part of his boat that was not sunk. He told me that he thought maybe that it was to be his last night and that if it was, had he lived his life well enough? He said he realized he had a beautiful life, out there watching the moon on the open water. It was dark but he found an inner peace as he looked at the sky."
Leisa Bee, his niece, said, "Another half hour and his boat would have completely sunk and no one would have found it or him. I keep looking at the pictures of his rescue and I can't stop crying. My uncle lived on that boat, so his home is gone now and all his possessions, though he did manage to keep his wallet. When he called my family, he said, 'Hey, you'll never guess what happened to me!' I had no clue of the thousands of people who'd been praying for me."