Rescued at sea after 11 weeks

Sailor Missing Since July Rescued Off S. Carolina
Fri Oct 4,12:05 PM ET

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (Reuters) - A Florida sailor, emaciated and delusional after being lost at sea for as long as 11 weeks, was rescued from his disabled sailboat off South Carolina, the Coast Guard said on Friday.

The man, Terry Watson, 43, of Homosassa Springs, Florida, was listed in stable condition on Friday at Georgetown Memorial Hospital, where he was being treated for dehydration and exposure.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Carr said Watson was emaciated and "in pretty bad shape" when brought ashore on Thursday night.

"The guy could barely stand," he said. "I don't know when was the last time he actually ate anything."

Watson left Miami in his 23-foot sailboat Psedorca on July 19. Another boater reported him missing four days later when they became separated while sailing in the Florida Keys.

The Coast Guard launched a search but gave up after covering more than 8,000 square miles in two days and finding no sign of the Psedorca.

A fishing boat captain spotted the vessel, broken-masted and adrift about 40 miles off the South Carolina coast on Thursday and alerted the Coast Guard.

It sent a helicopter to rescue him but Watson, suffering from delusion and shock, refused to leave his boat, the agency said. Rescuers eventually persuaded him to come aboard a Coast Guard patrol boat and brought him ashore.

"He's improving physically," Carr said. "I think eventually he will be OK."

Watson was unable to tell rescuers when the vessel's mast broke or whether he had been at sea since July, Carr said.

"It's quite possible he was adrift the entire time. It's also possible he did pull in somewhere and then headed back out," Carr said.

Watson's boat was towed ashore. The Coast Guard planned to interview him at the hospital to learn more about his odyssey.

His rescue came three weeks after the Navy found a California sailor, Richard Van Pham, adrift off Costa Rica after being lost at sea for four months. He survived by collecting rainwater and eating turtles and fish that swam near his boat.