Missing sailor found clinging to capsized boat 86 miles off coast

A missing Florida sailor has been found clinging to his upturned boat, having survived a night at sea before being rescued 86 miles off the Florida coast by a passing container ship.

Stuart Bee left Cape Marina at Port Canaveral on Friday afternoon, aboard his 32ft vessel Sea Ray. He did not return and was reported missing on Saturday. According to The Guardian, a large air and sea mission was immediately launched after being alerted by a staff member at Bee’s marina.

The mission did not turn up any sign of the Sea Ray, but vessels in a large area off Florida were told to keep an eye out for the missing mariner. One such ship, the Angeles, spotted the upturned Sea Ray, complete with Bee holding tightly to its prow, the only part of the capsized boat above water.

According to Delaware Online, Bee hugged crew members of the Angeles before disembarking the cargo ship and walking down the gangplank where he spoke to reporters.

“I had an incident out there,” Bee said. “It was pretty dire.”

Bee left Cape Marina at Port Canaveral in Florida about 4pm Friday aboard his boat, that he apparently lives on. He was reported missing shortly before noon Saturday by a marina member who told US Coast Guard officials that Bee does not normally stay out overnight.

“I was out there stargazing,” Bee says. “It was beautiful. And I fell asleep and the water came gushing in, pushed me out to the front.”

Bee says he was able to get out through the front hatch and he hung on to a few floating cushions. He said his boat didn’t sink, but because he was not sure if the boat was going to sink, he held on to the floating cushions.

“For a minute there I was thinking ‘this is very bad’,” says Bee. “There is no one around and I was thinking what I could do to get help.”

After about three hours of hanging on to the cushions, Bee decided to head back into his boat to retrieve something to help him get rescued.

“About three or four times I swam back into the boat, trying to retrieve it, but I couldn’t,” he says. “I was prepared to continue to try that until I could get it but that’s when I saw the Angeles on the horizon – just as a dot.”

He says he watched the ship for about 15 minutes when he realised it was coming toward him.

That’s when he took off his shirt and waved it several times for about 45 minutes as the boat got closer.

“It blew its horn and since nobody was around, I figured that was a signal that they were on watch and they saw me,” says Bee.

Listen to the Coast Guard District 7 command centre watch talk with motor vessel Angeles’ Captain and Stuart Bee over satellite phone Nov. 29,2020.