Fisherman rescued after treading water for hours 8 miles off Cape Cod

A fisherman who treaded water for hours several miles off the coast of Cape Cod was rescued after he was spotted by another fishing crew. The three-man crew aboard the fishing boat Seel Jr. had been in the home stretch of a nine-day trip Saturday when they changed course to lend a hand. 

"A distress call came over the radio about 12:15 more or less from the Western Edge stating to the Coast Guard that he was missing a crewmember," Joao DaSilva recalled. 

Coincidentally, the captain of Western Edge used to own the Seel crew's boat. They traveled in that direction for about an hour. Then suddenly, about eight miles off of Truro, they could hear cries for help.  

"As I'm going up the ladder Phil's like 'it's either a seal or somebody's head. I see something bobbing in front of the boat about 200 feet.' I turned forward and there's the lime green shirt and this dude waving his hand and he's bobbing in the water. I'm like 'that's him! He's right there! He's alive!' We just started crying," DaSilva said. 

Just a few months ago, the Seel crew spotted an orca off of P-Town. The rare sight is believed to be a good omen. It's been a tragic year for the fishing community, making this outcome especially meaningful. 

"It's been a horrific year. It started with Lily Jean up in Gloucester, which was seven lives that were lost to the ocean. Tommy Williams - big part of the waterfront down in Connecticut. We had the Yankee Rose that went down off of P-Town which was out of New Bedford; two guys got lost there. It's nice to pull somebody out of the water alive," he said. 

The man had been treading water for two and a half hours without a life jacket. The Seel crew tossed him a life ring and other floatation devices, and alerted the Coast Guard, on the way with a rescue swimmer to pull him to safety. The man was treated for hypothermia. DaSilva said he's already seen him since back at the dock. 

"Saturday was just special," DaSilva said. "We were there for a reason you know what I mean? And it wasn't to catch fish on that last tow."