Cruise ship saves 73-year-old stranded at sea
A yachtsman has been rescued by the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, after the 73-year-old’s boat started to take on water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The massive ocean liner picked up veteran sailor Mervyn Wheatley, whose ship encountered serious damage due to an unexpected hurricane that hit on Friday.
Wheatley told the BBC, “It was a shambles. There was food all over the place and water up to the floorboards. I realized that I could not make it the 1,500 miles back to the UK.”
Canadian and UK rescuers went searching for Wheatley, but it was the Queen Mary 2 that plucked him to safety, after he had taken steps to sink his own boat to ensure it wouldn’t be an impediment to any other sailors.
Wheatley’s wife, Penny, said, “He has never lost another boat. The last 36 hours have been a nightmare, because she could have gone down with him on board… There’s no way he would have survived on a life raft in those conditions.”
Wheatley had been competing in the Royal Western Yacht Club race.