A cruise ship sailed 120 miles off its planned route last week to rescue a 74-year-old sailor who was stranded nearly 500 miles off the coast of Oregon, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The man, a Canadian mariner, was trying to sail from Hawaii to Vancouver, British Columbia, when his boat was crippled in rough seas. The crew of a passing cruise ship, the Silver Whisper, ultimately got him to safety.
The sailor, who had made the Hawaii-to-British Columbia trip four times before, ran into gale-force winds and 30-foot seas, according to the Coast Guard. The mast on his 29-foot vessel, the Alice, snapped, and his engine would not start. He had also injured his shoulder, which left him hurt and adrift hundreds of miles from land.
Coast Guard watchstanders picked up his call for help and launched a rescue effort. The problem was the distance, since the sailor was nearly 500 miles from shore in punishing conditions. Reaching him in time would take help from the air and from any ship that happened to be nearby.
That is when the crew of the Silver Whisper heard the call and changed course. They went 120 miles out of their way to reach the sailor, who was drifting 489 miles off the Oregon coast, FOX 2 Detroit reported. The crew pulled him aboard, and the ship’s medical staff cared for him until they reached shore.
How the Rescue Came Together
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With the Alice disabled, the Coast Guard had to figure out where the sailor was and who could reach him fastest. Watchstanders deployed a long-range aircraft to fly over the scene and report back on the boat’s condition and the state of the seas. They also turned to AMVER, the Coast Guard-sponsored network that flags commercial ships positioned near someone in trouble.
The Silver Whisper turned out to be close enough to help, and its crew agreed to divert. They steered 120 miles off their route while a second Coast Guard aircraft launched to assist from above, the Coast Guard said. The crew found the sailor 489 miles offshore and brought him aboard, where the ship’s medical team treated him on the way back to land.
Why the Sailor Made It Home
The Coast Guard credited the rescue to the Silver Whisper crew and the teamwork of its own watchstanders and Guardsmen. However, it saved much of the praise for the sailor himself, pointing to how well he had prepared for a dangerous crossing. He had made the same trip four times before and carried gear that let rescuers stay in contact with him.
Chief among that gear was a satellite communicator, which kept him connected to rescuers even as the Alice came apart around him. Scott Giard, the Coast Guard’s Northwest District Search and Rescue Program Manager, said the man’s “foresight to bring a satellite communicator averted a tragedy.”
For a 74-year-old alone in 30-foot seas, that single device is likely the reason he made it home.