A Bible, a blanket, rainwater, raw fish kept him alive for 66 days at sea

By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 04.07.15

Word Count 768

Louis Jordan (right) walks from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia,

after being found off the North Carolina coast, April 2, 2015. He had spent 66 days at sea, adrift in his damaged boat. Photo: AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley

Louis Jordan had been missing for so long, some people were certain he must have died.

Two months after he disappeared on a fishing trip off the coast of South Carolina, several

memorial services had been held for him.

His family had resolved not to accept that he was dead until he had been gone for at least

four months. Still, they were extremely worried.

As the weeks passed, they kept hoping he would turn up. They decided to wait at least until

Easter before giving up and admitting he must be dead.

Family's Prayers Answered

In the early morning hours of the Good Friday holiday, their prayers were finally answered:

Their son, weather-worn and 50 pounds thinner, walked out of a hospital and into his

parents’ arms.

“A lot of us didn’t believe we’d see this day,” said Glen Davis, Jordan’s stepfather.

Jordan, 37, was spotted Thursday afternoon and rescued from his crippled boat, a 35-foot

fishing vessel named Angel. He was found about 200 miles off Cape Hatteras, North

Carolina.

Jordan left on a fishing trip from South Carolina in January, but a couple days into the trip,

his boat capsized when he was caught in some rough weather. The capsizing left him with

a broken shoulder.

“I was flying through the air, somersaulting, and everything was upside down and

backwards,” he said on Friday.

His boat’s mast was broken and its electronic steering system was damaged. Following that

incident, his boat capsized at least two more times.

Rationed His Food And Water

Jordan had to drain the water from the boat.

“He was doing a lot of bailing in order to keep the boat up,” Davis said.

Jordan survived on some limited food on board: flour pancakes fried on a propane stove

and raw fish he caught with a hand net, Davis said. He rationed his food and water, drinking

just a pint a day for long stretches. To add to his limited supply of water, he collected

rainwater.

“For such a long time I was so thirsty,” he said early Friday. “And I was almost out of water,

and every day I was like, ‘Please God, send me some rain, send me some water.' And

finally, right before I ran out of water, finally the conditions were perfect.’”

He read the Bible repeatedly, cover to cover, he told rescuers. A blanket from his vessel

protected him from cold winds and the burning sun.

Meanwhile, at home, his parents became more and more worried.

It was not uncommon for Jordan to embark on grand adventures and not call his family for

days or even weeks. The family became concerned, however, after a few cold winter weeks

passed without a word from him. They grew even more worried when they did not hear

from him on his mother's birthday.

What Kept Him Going

Family members began heading up and down the coast, passing out fliers with Jordan’s

photo.

“As time went on, it got more and more hard to think he was out there and he’d survived,

especially some of those cold nights,” said Davis.

On Thursday, the family got the great news they had been hoping for. Jordan's father

textmessaged them that Jordan had been found alive.

Jordan was rescued by a cargo ship, the Houston Express. “They saw me on the front of

my boat, standing up there waving my arms, and they turned that huge skyscraper around,”

Jordan said Friday.

“I got down onto the deck, and he walked right up to me,” said Kyle McCollum, a rescue

swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard, who hoisted Jordan off the ship. “He had this nice smile

on his face and I could tell he was in good spirits.”

In the helicopter, Jordan pulled out two of the things that he said had kept him going: his

battered and jacket-less Bible and the blanket that had shielded him from the sun.

“As soon as we crossed over land, you could see a large smirk on his face. He was

definitely eager to get out of the aircraft,” McCollum said.

"A Great Easter"

“I haven’t heard you in so long,” Jordan told his father. “I was afraid that you guys were

crying and sad that, you know, I was dead, and I wasn’t dead."

“We were,” the elder Jordan replied. “I thought I lost you.”

Back at home in North Carolina on Friday, Jordan was looking forward to eating a nice

meal and seeing family again.

“The last couple weeks really weighed heavy on us,” Davis said. “Now we’re going to have

a great Easter.”

Quiz

1 Jordan passed time while lost at sea in each of the following ways EXCEPT:

(A) reading the Bible

(B) collecting rainwater

(C) performing excercises

(D) fishing with a small net

2 How is Jordan introduced in the article?

(A) by summarizing the details of his disappearance

(B) by making predictions about his return from sea

(C) by comparing him to others who have been lost at sea

(D) by explaining how his family and community responded to his disappearance.

3 How does the graphic next to the first two paragraphs help develop the article?

(A) by showing how Jordan was found

(B) by showing where Jordan was found

(C) by showing how long Jordan spent at sea

(D) by showing why Jordan had disappeared

4 Select the paragraph from the introduction [paragraphs 1-4] that has information included in the

graphic to the right of the first two paragraphs.