Survival In The Atlantic Ocean:

When I was in the US Air Force I got extremely lucky and pulled an assignment to Kindley AFB in Bermuda. When I arrived I found that I was replacing another airman that had gone crazy and checked out a .45 caliber machine gun and started shooting people. I was told that he went crazy due to the airman being in the center of the ocean on a small island. I also heard that the speculation was that the island was on three piers under the ocean and could sink at any time. That must have gotten to him and he went nuts and killed a couple people and injured others. I did not believe that but apparently he did. 

After I had been there for a few months I met a retired master sgt. who had a house on a small bay and his enclosed  front porch had been turned into a small restaurant. His wife made one of the best burgers I had ever had. I went there when I could just for the hamburgers. I was talking to the retired sgt. one day and fishing came up. He said he had a row boat that myself and one of my buddies could use in the enclosed bay to hand line fish. 

I was telling one of the cooks at the chow hall about the offer and we arranged a fishing trip to fish in the bay. There was an inlet from the ocean that allowed the tide to come in and go out that was maybe 8' wide. The day came and the two of us pushed the boat out which was wooden but seemed worthy. We were drifting around in the bay each fishing over the edge of the boat. The water was so clear we could see down to the bottom with the fish swimming around. Suddenly we realized we were at the opening leading out to the ocean. 

We couldn't stop being drawn out into the ocean and while the cook tried to stop us with the one ore it broke in two and we realized we were out in the ocean. We drifted and bailed using our tee shirts and soon the waves were 8 feet plus and we could only see the island when we topped out on a wave. We saw this stove pipe channel marker that had 17 painted on it. I later found out that meant 17 miles. As we drifted into the shipping channel a ship came past and this guy had flags that he was waving around. 

We had no idea what he was signaling but we were waving out tee shirts madly. The ship went by and next we saw a coast guard cutter heading our way. As it got closer the sgt. came up on us with a long boat and we tossed him our anchor rope and he towed us back to his place on the bay and safety. 

I was so sun burned on my back that my roommates had to change my shirts. My back was completely raw. But for my buddies I would have been discovered and court martialed. They kept it from being discovered and I never missed any work. I earned myself a nickname of 'Popeye'. There were several comments that if I liked the ocean that much I should have joined the Navy instead of the Air Force. 

I still feel blessed to be here today as we were adrift in the Atlantic literally without a paddle. That was a serious situation which could have proven deadly.