Man collected rainwater to survive 66 days at sea

Jonathan Costen | WVEC-TV, Hampton-Norfolk, Va.

Show Caption Hide Caption See sailor missing for 66 days rescued by Coast Guard A South Carolina man who had been reported missing for over two months was rescued Thursday after he was found 200 miles off the coast of North Carolina. After his rescue, he shared an emotional phone call with his father.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The story of Louis Jordan's survival is nothing short of amazing.

Jordan, who had been missing for more than two months, was rescued Thursday after he was found 200 miles off the coast of North Carolina, the Coast Guard said.

"I had many moments where I thought I was going to die." said Jordan, 37, of Conway, S.C.

Jordan had been living on his docked sailboat at Bucksport Plantation Marina in Conway until Jan. 23, when he told his family he was "going into the open water to sail and do some fishing," said his mother, Norma Davis, of Jacksonville, N.C. The family had not heard from him since and reported him missing Jan. 29.

"I was planning on going out to get some fish and come back," he told Good Morning America. "I didn't plan on it taking that long."

Instead, his boat became disabled. Jordan survived eating the food he had on his boat, by collecting rainwater and using a net to catch fish, said Lt, Krystyn Pecora, a Coast Guard spokeswoman.

He managed to stay hydrated by going inside his boat's cabin a lot, she said.

"Sometimes I had to wade through water up to my thigh because the cabin was so full of water, and I had to bail hundreds of gallons out," Jordan said. "There was often days of rain, nonstop rain, and I couldn't just dry out my clothes and my blankets."

A German container ship named the Houston Express spotted him around 1:30 p.m. ET Thursday about 200 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Details about how Jordan went missing are still being investigated.

"(There's) no reason to question what happened, and we'll get more information when they (investigators) can speak to him," Pecora said.

Jordan's 35-foot sailboat had lost its mast and capsized, Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss said.

But the boat was upright rescuers found it, Pecora said.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched about 3:40 p.m. from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., met the Houston Express, hoisted Jordan into the chopper and flew him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia, landing at about 7:30 p.m.

Jordan injured his shoulder, Pecora said, and Jordan later said at one point on rough seas he was flying through the air inside his cabin and worried that he had broken his shoulder. He was released from the hospital early Friday in good condition with no obvious sunburn, dehydration or other signs of distress; the shoulder appears to be only bruised.

"It's amazing," his mother said. "It's been very difficult not knowing anything, and I just feel like all of our prayers have come true. They've been answered."

Jordan had spent months sanding and painting his docked 1950s-era, single-masted sailboat in Conway, where marina manager Jeff Weeks said he saw him nearly every day. Jordan was the only resident in a section of about 20 boats docked behind a coded security gate.

"You'll probably never meet a nicer guy," Weeks said. "He is a quiet gentleman that most of the time keeps to himself. He's polite. I would describe him as a gentle giant:" measuring 6-foot-2 and weighing 230 pounds.

Jordan appeared to be knowledgeable about wild fruits and mushrooms and fished for his meal in inland waterways, Weeks said. But his January trip may have been his first time sailing in the open ocean.

"He might sail up and down the Intracoastal Waterway, but he didn't have the experience he needed to go out into the ocean," Weeks said.

Alerts had been issued from New Jersey to Miami to be on the lookout for Jordan and his sailboat, said Marilyn Fajardo, another Coast Guard spokeswoman. Officials also searched financial data to determine whether Jordan actually had come ashore without being noticed, but they found no indication that he had.

A search was begun Feb. 8, but Fajardo said the Coast Guard abandoned its efforts after 10 days. Despite reports from other sailors claiming to have seen Jordan's sailboat, none of the sightings were confirmed and the case was suspended.

"He walked over to me as soon as I landed on deck (of the container ship) and had a small smile on his face," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle McCollum, who had the first contact with Jordan. "My initial impression of him was he was in pretty good health. … We were expecting worse."

Jordan said he initially didn't believe the container ship was real when he saw it. The ship's crew didn't see him until he began waving his arms.

"I waved my hands real slowly, and that's the signal 'I'm in distress. Help me,'" he said. "I blew my whistles. I had three whistles. They never heard them. I turned my American flag upside down and put that up. That says, 'Rescue me.' "

The Coast Guard said Jordan didn't file a "float plan," the nautical equivalent of a flight plan, to determine his route or destination, and Fajardo said the Coast Guard didn't have enough information to narrow down his whereabouts.

Davis said she is looking forward to celebrating her son's return.

"We do plan on having a wonderful Easter celebration with family, and I can't wait to get him back," she said.

Contributing: The Associated Press