Missing sailor found adrift in Atlantic Ocean reunited with family at Coast Guard base
A sailor who had been missing for more than a week was rescued Wednesday when another mariner came across his battered vessel about 270 nautical miles from the shores of North Carolina.
The sailor had departed from New Jersey en route to Bermuda before soon losing communication on Nov. 6 with his family, who alerted the U.S. Coast Guard that he was overdue, the agency said in a Thursday news release.
Once he was found alive, the Coast Guard transferred the man to shore aboard one of its cutters. The rescued sailor was then reunited Thursday with his family at the Coast Guard's training center in Cape May on the tip of southern New Jersey.
The identity of the boater was not released.
“We are pleased that this case resulted in a family reunion,” Coast Guard Atlantic Cmdr. Wes Geyer, search and rescue mission coordinator, said in a statement.
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The sailor's rescue came days after the U.S. Coast Guard's Atlantic area command post had issued an urgent message broadcasting the description of the man's boat to other mariners.
The Coast Guard also conducted a wide search of an area of the North Atlantic Ocean that Geyer said was "nearly twice the size of Texas."
But it was ultimately a civilian sailing vessel named the Time Bandit that happened upon the adrift mariner 270 miles away from the Outer Banks island of Hatteras. Recognizing that the sailing vessel's tattered sails and missing boom - the horizontal pole extending from the mast's bottom - matched the description of the overdue mariner’s boat, the good Samaritan made contact.
The rough seas made an at-sea transfer unsafe, so the Coast Guard dispatched a cutter from Cape May in New Jersey to transfer the missing sailor back to land.
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Coast guard urges mariners carry emergency beacons
In announcing the man's rescue Thursday, the Coast Guard also urged all sailors venturing offshore to carry proper equipment that can get them rescued quickly.
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon are distress beacons for boaters that, when activated, can send alerts across the globe to a Search and Rescue (SAR) network designed to send rescuers to pinpointed locations.
Geyer said those devices must be registered by law with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.) Beacons can be registered here.
"This device can help pinpoint your exact location should the unthinkable ever happen," Geyer said in a statement. "The seas are very unforgiving."
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]