Louis Jordan
Fisherman Recalls Miraculous 66-Day Survival at Sea
Monday, April 06, 2015
Louis Jordan's adventure at sea is being called an unbelievable tale of survival. The fisherman survived 66 days in the Atlantic Ocean on a broken boat.
The 37-year-old was reunited with his family this weekend after a freighter spotted him on his disabled sailboat and rescued him some 200 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The U.S. Coast Guard then lifted Jordan onto a helicopter and flew him to a hospital.
Jordan's ordeal began on Jan. 23 when he set out to fish from South Carolina. His fishing trip went wrong when a giant wave hit his boat in the middle of the night.
"My boat got capsized, the boat flipped around, did a 180 on me, while I was sleeping at night," Jordan recalled.
"I woke up in the middle of the night, and I was flying through the air somersaulting, and all my junk, and all my equipment, all my GPS devices, even my stove, had dislodged and it was flying with me. We are all rolling around in this water," he said.
Jordan injured his shoulder, but survived nearly 10 weeks by rationing his water and food. He caught fish and drank rain water to stay alive. He told reporters he read the Bible to help pass the time at sea.
"I have never prayed that much," Jordan said.
His parents did report him missing, but the search was called off after 10 days.
Louis' father said he was just beginning to accept that his son was dead. With that, it was an absolute shock to learn Louis was alive.
"I started to think, it's over, I lost my son," Frank Jordan said.
At their reunion this weekend, Jordan's mother, Norma Davis, was in tears.
"It was wonderful," she said. "My baby had come home."
