PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — You can hear the emotion on the phone call as the captain of the motor vessel Angeles and Stuart Bee himself tell the US Coast Guard about his rescue.
The search for Bee began on Saturday when he was reported as a missing person.
The Coast Guard says Bee left Cape Marina in Port Canaveral on Friday and when he didn’t return, he was reported missing on Saturday. Bee told the Coast Guard about what happened that left him stranded clinging for his life in the open water.
"I was asleep, but I had been working on the engine, there was squealing noises and several parts on it… I was working on it," Bee said. "But I was asleep when the water touched in the back and forced me up to the front.”
The Coast Guard says that happened around midnight on Sunday. Water began filling his boat in the middle of the night.
“I didn’t see anybody, I thought this is it," Bee recalled.
As the sun came up, Bee says he finally saw a glimmer of hope.
"I saw a container vessel in the distance and I don’t have my glasses. I couldn’t see if it was coming to me or not but I began waving and took my shirt off and waved periodically," Bee said. "In the course of about a half an hour, it seemed to get closer. It was coming my way.”
Along came motor vessel Angeles. It's a 225-meter long container ship.
”We are very happy for this," you can hear the Captain tell the Coast Guard when he called about the rescue. “He’s alive!"
The Coast Guard shared the photos of the moment the crew on motor vessel Angeles found Bee and his boat. The post has since been shared thousands of times and has made national news. The photos show Bee’s 32-foot boat nearly fully submerged in the ocean.
The crew brought Bee aboard around 11 a.m. on Sunday.