This is a story with a happy ending...
Lost at sea
By Kevin White
Story Created: Dec 10, 2007 at 10:38 AM CST
Story Updated: Dec 10, 2007 at 10:38 AM CST
ORLANDO, Florida, Dec. 10, 2007 (NBC) -- Two conch divers have a survival story that will top any fisherman's tale.
"I asked God to please keep me safe and let somebody just come and rescue us," said Derek Smith.
The men say they got separated from their mother ship by rough seas. They quickly ran out of fuel, had no water and their only food was the conch they had just caught.
The men nibbled on the raw conch, sipped salt water and did the only other thing they knew to do.
"I prayed hard the night I said somebody's coming for us," said Smith.
And somebody did.
"Kevin was in the back here and Derek was on the front of the bow waving they were waving their shirt," said Dan Crossley.
Crossley was out for a leisurely day of fishing when the autopilot he had set on his boat ended up leading him straight to the two drifters, 26 miles off the coast of Florida.
"I drove up and they were talking so loud and so fast I couldn't make out what they were saying and then they said 'oh man, I can't believe you came here!"
Crossley gave the divers the sandwich and sodas he had on board and took them straight to the Coast Guard. A few hours and a few meals later both of the fishermen were in good health and grateful.
"Only person that have me here is the Father," said Kevin Ferguson. "So I thank him and I also thank Dan because he sent Dan to rescue us."
"Their odds were going down," said Crossley. "I feel lucky to have found them."
The divers weren't sure how they would get back home until the owner of the Nassau restaurant where they worked offered to buy them plane tickets.
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NSB man rescues Bahamians at sea
Conch divers had been lost for days
By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer
In 20 years of deep-sea fishing, Dan Crossley hadn't experienced anything like this.
It started as a routine day trip on a day when his wife wanted him to stay home and put up Christmas lights.
It ended with Crossley -- who's a telephone company technician in his more mundane life -- bringing safely to land two Bahamian conch divers who had been lost at sea for more than half a week.
"The word surreal fits," Crossley said Sunday night from his New Smyrna Beach home.
"I was just going to go because the weather was right," he said of his trip, which started from Ponce Inlet at7 a.m. Sunday. Crossley was headed for deep water about 38 miles out.
A detail from the morning sticks in his mind: A boat crossed his path as he headed to the ocean and he adjusted the autopilot on his 28-foot sport fisherman by 3 degrees.
He wonders what would -- or wouldn't -- have happened if he hadn't.
As it was, he didn't make it to his destination because, with about 10 miles to go, something caught his eye: two frantically waving figures silhouetted by the sun's glare to the southeast. He approached and, in a way, all that was left was to learn the details.
"I've been fishing for over 20 years," Crossley said. "I knew what was going on."
He had come across two Bahamian conch divers -- Derick Smith and Kevin Ferguson, both in their 40s -- who had been at sea since mid-week after getting separated from a larger ship near the islands of Bimini.
"They were dehydrated and they were weak. They weren't emaciated," he said. "They actually had the energy to stand there."
He called the Coast Guard and gave the men a ham-and-cheese sandwich, fresh water and a couple of cokes he had on board.
In the end, Crossley ended up putting Smith and Ferguson on his boat and towing their 15-foot dinghy until they were about four miles from shore and the men could be safely transferred to the Coast Guard.
"People have asked me how I felt," Crossley said. "I just feel I'm grateful that I could find them. . . .The longer you're at sea the odds go down."
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer James Reaves said the dinghy had run out of gas, leaving the men stranded in the ocean for four days. They were in good condition at the Ponce Inlet station Sunday afternoon, Reaves said.
"They're fine," he said. "They're really hungry."
Crossley said late Sunday the owner of a restaurant in Nassau where one of the men regularly works and which serves the conch for which they were diving was going to pay to get them home to their families.
As for not getting help from her husband with the Christmas lights, well, Sharon Crossley says he gets a pass. "My husband did a good thing today," she said. "I'm not mad at him anymore for going fishing."
Lost at sea
By Kevin White
Story Created: Dec 10, 2007 at 10:38 AM CST
Story Updated: Dec 10, 2007 at 10:38 AM CST
ORLANDO, Florida, Dec. 10, 2007 (NBC) -- Two conch divers have a survival story that will top any fisherman's tale.
Watch The Video (visit: Lost at sea | KSN.com - News, Weather, Sports - NBC - Wichita - Great Bend - Garden City - McCook - Kansas | Also in the news)
"I asked God to please keep me safe and let somebody just come and rescue us," said Derek Smith.
The men say they got separated from their mother ship by rough seas. They quickly ran out of fuel, had no water and their only food was the conch they had just caught.
The men nibbled on the raw conch, sipped salt water and did the only other thing they knew to do.
"I prayed hard the night I said somebody's coming for us," said Smith.
And somebody did.
"Kevin was in the back here and Derek was on the front of the bow waving they were waving their shirt," said Dan Crossley.
Crossley was out for a leisurely day of fishing when the autopilot he had set on his boat ended up leading him straight to the two drifters, 26 miles off the coast of Florida.
"I drove up and they were talking so loud and so fast I couldn't make out what they were saying and then they said 'oh man, I can't believe you came here!"
Crossley gave the divers the sandwich and sodas he had on board and took them straight to the Coast Guard. A few hours and a few meals later both of the fishermen were in good health and grateful.
"Only person that have me here is the Father," said Kevin Ferguson. "So I thank him and I also thank Dan because he sent Dan to rescue us."
"Their odds were going down," said Crossley. "I feel lucky to have found them."
The divers weren't sure how they would get back home until the owner of the Nassau restaurant where they worked offered to buy them plane tickets.
=========================
NSB man rescues Bahamians at sea
Conch divers had been lost for days
By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer
In 20 years of deep-sea fishing, Dan Crossley hadn't experienced anything like this.
It started as a routine day trip on a day when his wife wanted him to stay home and put up Christmas lights.
It ended with Crossley -- who's a telephone company technician in his more mundane life -- bringing safely to land two Bahamian conch divers who had been lost at sea for more than half a week.
"The word surreal fits," Crossley said Sunday night from his New Smyrna Beach home.
"I was just going to go because the weather was right," he said of his trip, which started from Ponce Inlet at7 a.m. Sunday. Crossley was headed for deep water about 38 miles out.
A detail from the morning sticks in his mind: A boat crossed his path as he headed to the ocean and he adjusted the autopilot on his 28-foot sport fisherman by 3 degrees.
He wonders what would -- or wouldn't -- have happened if he hadn't.
As it was, he didn't make it to his destination because, with about 10 miles to go, something caught his eye: two frantically waving figures silhouetted by the sun's glare to the southeast. He approached and, in a way, all that was left was to learn the details.
"I've been fishing for over 20 years," Crossley said. "I knew what was going on."
He had come across two Bahamian conch divers -- Derick Smith and Kevin Ferguson, both in their 40s -- who had been at sea since mid-week after getting separated from a larger ship near the islands of Bimini.
"They were dehydrated and they were weak. They weren't emaciated," he said. "They actually had the energy to stand there."
He called the Coast Guard and gave the men a ham-and-cheese sandwich, fresh water and a couple of cokes he had on board.
In the end, Crossley ended up putting Smith and Ferguson on his boat and towing their 15-foot dinghy until they were about four miles from shore and the men could be safely transferred to the Coast Guard.
"People have asked me how I felt," Crossley said. "I just feel I'm grateful that I could find them. . . .The longer you're at sea the odds go down."
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer James Reaves said the dinghy had run out of gas, leaving the men stranded in the ocean for four days. They were in good condition at the Ponce Inlet station Sunday afternoon, Reaves said.
"They're fine," he said. "They're really hungry."
Crossley said late Sunday the owner of a restaurant in Nassau where one of the men regularly works and which serves the conch for which they were diving was going to pay to get them home to their families.
As for not getting help from her husband with the Christmas lights, well, Sharon Crossley says he gets a pass. "My husband did a good thing today," she said. "I'm not mad at him anymore for going fishing."
