2 Florida Teens Stranded In Ocean Saved By Boat Named 'Amen' That Was Heading To New Jersey

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (CBS) -- A New Jersey man who saved two teenagers from rough seas off the coast of Florida tells CBS3 that God brought him and his boat, The Amen, to their rescue. In Florida on Holy Thursday two weeks ago, Heather Brown and Tyler Smith celebrated their school's Senior Skip Day by going to the beach off St. Augustine. But the surf was rough, and a strong current pulled them two miles off shore.

"I asked him, I said, 'Tyler, oh my God. We're stuck,'" Heather said. "'What's the plan?'"

For 90 minutes, they struggled to swim back. They were losing strength. They started praying to God.

"I cried out, 'If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,'" Tyler said.

That's when Capt. Eric Wagner brought The Amen: "We thought we heard a callout, a desperate callout."

Wagner and his crew were bringing the yacht from Florida to his home in Brick, New Jersey. His friend Troy Tennis heard the shout, too.

Wagner said Tennis "started jerking the wheel to the left, saying, 'There's people back there.' We turned around and looked and sure enough, I saw two little dots about 150 to 200 yards away. One of them was waving."

"The name of the boat is The Amen," Heather said. "I started crying."

Wagner said they lifted the teens onto the boat. "We had blankets on them. Their color came back within minutes. That's when I learned they reached out to God at the last minute, and then we showed up."

Wagner said he hadn't even planned to bring The Amen past them, but bad weather changed his route.

"We had no business being where we were. There were no other boats there," Wagner said. "There's no doubt in my mind that it was not a coincidence, that we were put there by the hand of God."

Wagner told us his usual route would have been three miles away from the teenagers. He never would have spotted them. He said they called him Thursday and they are doing well.