Nathan Carman and his mother, Linda, embarked on a fishing trip late one September night in 2016, setting sail from a Rhode Island marina.

They were headed to waters near Block Island in Nathan’s 32-foot aluminum boat, named Chicken Pox, in search of tuna. Linda and her son bonded during overnight fishing trips like these, a friend said before Carman was rescued at sea.

The day after they set sail, according to Carman’s statements to the Coast Guard, he heard a “funny noise” in the engine and the boat capsized soon after. “I looked and saw a lot of water,” Carman said in a radio call with the agency after his rescue, adding, “The boat just dropped out from under my feet.”