It’s everyone’s worst nightmare – falling overboard in the middle of the night while everyone else is asleep and your boat just keeps going until it’s out of sight in the darkness. The remarkable thing about this true story is that John Aldridge, a commercial lobsterman from Montauk, New York, lived to tell the tale, but only because he thought to capture air in his boots to help keep himself afloat and also because a Coast Guard helicopter, running low on fuel, spotted him 12 hours later.
Aldridge’s nightmare started on a summer night four years ago, about 45 miles off Montauk. He went up on the deck of his lobster boat, Anna Mary, to move a heavy ice cooler. The handle snapped, Aldridge lost his balance, and the next thing he knew he was in the water without a life jacket. The co-captain and other crewman were asleep below at the time. From the water, he watched the Anna Mary cruise on, out of sight.
“You hit the water, you’re in such disbelief,” Aldridge told the AP. “Nobody in the world knows you’re missing. Right now, in the middle of the ocean, today’s the day you’re going to die.”
Aldridge has just published a book, “A Speck in the Sea,” about his 12 hours in the water, waiting to be rescued. The Coast Guard rescue swimmer who finally reached him described Aldridge as a salty character: “He’s a hardcore commercial fisherman.” For his part, Aldridge is back at work on the Anna Mary. For more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article153026659.html
