Video Report: American Man Lost at Sea
In very sad circumstances, 64-year-old William Thorne perished on a sailing trip to Bermuda. The 41-foot-vessel had departed Marthas Vineyard around 2 weeks ago bound for Bermuda with the owner and two crew onboard; father and daughter.
Shortly after entering the Gulf Stream they encountered unexpectedly bad weather and the owner reports experiencing 25-30 ft waves. During this storm the vessel rolled over and Mr William Thorne was lost overboard. Mr Thorne’s daughter, Amanda, and the vessel owner Mr Dennis White were left drifting for 12 days without any power or means of raising the alarm. The vessel lost the use of her sails and motor during the incident and it took the 2 survivors 3 days to bail out the boat.
During the initial period after the storm a large piece of rigging was left in the water still attached to the yacht and this very easily could have ruptured the hull. After failed attempts to hail 2 passing merchant vessels, the two managed to catch the attention of an 80,000 GRT Oil tanker that was sailing from Philadelphia to Nigeria, by using hand held flares.
The tanker “Triathlon” rescued Miss Thorn and Mr White and landed them safely in Bermuda on November 22. Watch a video report, courtesy of CW New England News, below:
