Hole in the Ocean: Into the Vortex

Two men set out from Florida, ferrying a fishing boat to Cancún. It’s a routine job that should take a single day. But nearly 100 miles off the coast, the waters turn against them. Without warning, a yawning chasm opens in the middle of the ocean. Johnny Savage and his captain are caught in a horrifying drama. The radio is dead. The life raft is nowhere to be seen. And the warm, turquoise waters around them are teeming with predators… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Chris McDonald | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Jacob Booth, Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [email protected] Our sister podcast Short History Of… has a new book! Pre-order your copy of A Short History of Ancient Rome now at noiser.com/books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:02John Hopkins?

  It's April the 13th, 1998. Ninety miles off the coast of Key West, Florida, the early morning sun hangs low on the horizon, casting streaks of bruised purple, pink, and orange across the rippling expanse of the Gulf of Mexico.

• 1:20John Hopkins?

  Overhead, the sky stretches in a vast, unbroken canvas of blue, disturbed only by the occasional wisp of cloud.

• 1:29John Hopkins?

  The air is still, barely a breath of wind.

• 1:35John Hopkins?

  Cutting through this stillness is a lone sport fishing boat, the Enigma. Captain Eric Bingham stands on the flybridge, squinting towards the horizon, his hands resting lazily on the wheel.

• 1:49John Hopkins?

  Nearby, 26-year-old mate Johnny Savage is sprawled on the front bench. After a late-night fishing session in the marina, he's trying to get some much-needed shut-eye. But sleep won't come. He's too full of adrenaline and anticipation. An exciting trip lies ahead, time spent in the glorious outdoors trying to hook a prize sailfish.

• 2:13John Hopkins?

  But it's not the thrill of a potential catch that jolts him upright.

• 2:18John Hopkins?

  It's a sudden, sharp bang, like the roar of a cannon echoing through the boat.

• 2:25John Hopkins?

  Heart pounding, he listens, trying to work out what's causing it. Then it comes again, louder this time.

• 2:32John Hopkins?

  Johnny swings his legs down and stands, bare feet on the warm boards, the deck humming beneath him. He follows the sound to the salon, the boat's main living area. The room's heavy double doors, which should have been clamped shut, are now swinging open and slamming together with each bounce of the hull. Johnny shouts up to Captain Eric, asking him to slow the boat to idle so that he can fix the problem.

• 2:59John Hopkins?

  Once the aninga eases into a softer rhythm, Johnny latches the doors tight and climbs the ladder up to the bridge, wiping his hands on his shorts. Problem solved.

• 3:11John Hopkins?

  But as he goes to say something to Eric, he stops.

• 3:16John Hopkins?

  His captain is wearing a deeply strange and unsettling expression. He's frozen, eyes wide, staring straight ahead out to sea.

• 3:27John Hopkins?

  Johnny spins around, following Eric's gaze. And what he witnesses is mind-boggling.

• 3:34Speaker 03

  Never seen anything like it before in my life. It was like a hole in the ocean. It wasn't like looking forward and seeing like a cliff, like we're climbing a cliff or anything like that, or we're climbing a mountain. It was just normal seas and then it was a hole.

• 3:47John Hopkins?

  The sea ahead looks like something from a sci-fi movie.

• 3:52John Hopkins?

  Where there was once a carpet of turquoise, there is now a vast depression, a swirling maw. The edges foam and churn, the surface slopes steeply down into a seemingly bottomless dark center.

• 4:08John Hopkins?

  A silent, impossible void where the ocean should be but isn't.

• 4:14John Hopkins?

  There is no time to change course, nothing they can do to avoid the yawning chasm.

• 4:20John Hopkins?

  For a moment, the aninga teeters on the edge, perched on the watery crest like a roller coaster just before the drop. Then the bow tips, and the boat tumbles into the jaws of the sea.

• 4:37Speaker 03

  The Inanga was 56 feet long. And that hole was deep enough that basically it turned vertical and dropped down. And as she fell, I just remember this like, how in the world is this even happening?

• 4:59John Hopkins?

  Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

• 5:21John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet Johnny Savage. In April 1998, he is part of a two-man crew ferrying a luxury fishing boat from Florida to Cancun, Mexico, a routine job that should take a single day. But nearly 100 miles off the coast, the waters turn against them. Without warning, an incredibly rare and terrifying natural phenomenon rips their vessel apart. No one knows where they are. The radio is dead. The life raft is nowhere to be seen. And the warm turquoise waters around them are teeming with predators. And that's before the storm approaches.

• 6:03Speaker 03

  We're 90 miles out. Nobody knows where we are. And the thoughts begin to manifest. You're gonna either get eaten by a shark or you're gonna drown. You're gonna die out here. A new is only a matter of time.

• 6:13John Hopkins?

  I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

• 6:44John Hopkins?

  It's 5 a.m. on April the 13th, 1998, in Key West, Florida. A pale moon still lingers in the sky, casting a silver sheen across the marina.

• 6:57John Hopkins?

  Boats bob gently in their slips, their hulls creaking softly against the docks. An occasional splash breaks the silence, a mullet jumping or a tarpon rolling just beneath the surface.

• 7:12John Hopkins?

  Onboard the Enenga, a sleek, custom-built 56-foot sport fishing boat, Captain Eric Bingham and 26-year-old mate Johnny Savage are preparing for departure.

• 7:24John Hopkins?

  For the past two days, they've been hard at work: scrubbing decks, checking fuel lines, restocking gear, and running through maintenance checklists, getting the vessel ready for the 350-mile crossing to Cancun, Mexico.

• 7:38John Hopkins?

  It's a trip they plan to complete in a single day, but first, breakfast.

• 7:44John Hopkins?

  Eric stands at the galley counter, assembling his signature meal: toasted bagels with smoked salmon topped with slices of fresh tomato and a sprinkle of black pepper. While he waits, Johnny peers out the window.

• 8:00John Hopkins?

  Despite a lifetime spent on the water, the sea hasn't lost its grip on him. As the departure time ticks closer, the sense of anticipation and adventure stirs something in him, just like it did when he was a kid.

• 8:13Speaker 03

  I grew up pretty much the southern part of Virginia Beach. It's an area that's rural, a lot of swamps, a lot of places to fish. As a kid living in the country, when you get bored, didn't have Xbox and all that stuff back then, so grabbed a fishing rod, hopped on my bike, and traveled somewhere to go fishing.

• 8:31John Hopkins?

  What began as a childhood pastime soon turned into something Johnny was keen to pursue as a profession.

• 8:38Speaker 03

  I always got a little bit more excited seeing other people catch fish than when I would catch them myself. And the neat thing about that is how that would end up evolving into a career.

• 8:49John Hopkins?

  At just 16, Johnny landed his first job as a mate on a headboat, the kind that ferries curious tourists out for a few hours armed with rental rods and high hopes.

• 9:01John Hopkins?

  It wasn't long before he graduated to private charters, spending longer days with seasoned anglers who knew their way around a reel. It was out there, miles from shore, that Johnny got a taste for the extreme.

• 9:14Speaker 03

  I wanted to get to the offshore fishing. It's a little bit more intense as far as the action goes. It gets extremely exciting and it's an adrenaline rush, especially when you're catching thousand pound fish, potentially. It's man versus fish.

• 9:27John Hopkins?

  By 25, Johnny had completed an internship with the Department of Defense and was offered a full-time position, but he turned it down.

• 9:35John Hopkins?

  The sea was calling. He wanted to make his name as a full-time mate on charter boats, but in this line of work, there are no CVs. Everything runs on word of mouth. So when Johnny found himself needing a new gig, a friend put him in touch with Captain Eric Bingham, an experienced Aussie seafarer.

• 9:57Speaker 03

  Man, I just fell in love with Eric right away. Just that Australian accent, his personality, and he had knowledge and techniques that I wasn't familiar with. And I saw it as an exciting opportunity to learn.

• 10:09John Hopkins?

  Eric had quite the proposition for Johnny. A three-month trip aboard the Enigma, travelling to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala alongside the family who owned the vessel. Johnny leapt at the chance. And after a trial run to the Bahamas with the host family proved to be a roaring success, the deal was sealed. He'd found his next job.

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• 11:04Speaker 01

  LinkedIn is pretty amazing at helping you grow your small business. We cannot make your email response time faster. We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place. We cannot help you find space for your three desk drinks. Why do you have three? And while we can't help you find the perfect volume for your presentation video, LinkedIn can help you find the perfect audience for your business. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at LinkedIn.com/smallbusiness.

• 11:37John Hopkins?

  After breakfast, Johnny and Eric tidy away the last of their gear. The Ininga is loaded with enough supplies for three months at sea. Cancun is the first stop where the family who own the boat are due to meet Johnny and Eric. Everything's prepped, ready to go.

• 11:54John Hopkins?

  Johnny has even managed to sneak aboard his beloved surfboard, just in case there's a chance to enjoy Cancun's swells.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  I took that surfboard down there and I'm like, "Cat, you know, would it be right for me to bring my surfboard with me?" And he got a look, he's such a good-hearted dude. And he looked at me and goes, "That's all right, buddy, you can bring it, but it's gonna stay in your bunk."

• 12:16John Hopkins?

  Almost everything is in place. But one decision remains. What to do with the EPUB, an emergency positioning device, and the life raft? They're currently both sitting inside the boat. Moving them up to the cockpit would be an option for easier access should they run into trouble. But conditions right now are ideal. The forecast is clear, the sea is calm, there's barely a breath of wind.

• 12:44Speaker 03

  So, we left it inside, just complacency. Our response was typical to the mindset of that day, which was, "Well, nothing ever happens during the daytime. It's just gonna be a beautiful crossing." As a matter of fact, I called my dad the night before and told him, "You know, Dad, I'll call you tomorrow night from Mexico. We're gonna have a beautiful crossing."

• 13:07John Hopkins?

  Just before dawn, Captain Eric fires up the engine. The deep thrum of the diesel motor reverberates through the aninga's hull as she slips from her berth and out into open water. The glow of the marina fades behind them to a soft shimmer. Before long, they're in the Gulf Stream. The sun begins to rise.

• 13:30John Hopkins?

  A blaze of red and gold spills across the sea, transforming the calm waters into a field of molten fire.

• 13:39Speaker 03

  It was beautiful. I remember I was sitting up there just with Captain Eric. He just listened to his funny stories and just chatting and talking about fishing and just the life and the wisdom that a mate can gain from his captain.

• 13:51John Hopkins?

  After an hour or so, the weight of a late night begins to catch up with Johnny. He pulls on his wet weather gear and stretches out on the bench near the helm. But before he can drift off, something jolts him upright.

• 14:06Speaker 03

  We were going along and all of a sudden we heard a noise that was like bam, bam. It's like, what in the world's that?

• 14:12John Hopkins?

  The sound echoes through the boat like gunshots. Johnny sits up and scrambles to the salon.

• 14:20John Hopkins?

  The double doors, normally latched tight, have come loose, slamming back and forth with the motion of the waves.

• 14:27John Hopkins?

  Johnny does a quick fix. It'll need proper attention when they get to Mexico, but it should hold for now.

• 14:34John Hopkins?

  Satisfied, he climbs back to the flybridge to let Eric know it's sorted.

• 14:39John Hopkins?

  But now something else is wrong. Eric is frozen, knuckles white on the wheel, eyes fixed on the water ahead. Johnny, almost in slow motion, turns his head to see.

• 14:51John Hopkins?

  Nothing could have prepared him for what comes next.

• 14:55Speaker 03

  Never seen anything like it before in my life. It was like a hole notion. But it wasn't like looking forward and seeing like a cliff, like we're climbing a cliff or anything like that, or we're climbing a mountain. It was just normal seas and then it was a hole.

• 15:09John Hopkins?

  Ahead of them, a chasm has opened in the water. Impossible, seemingly unnatural.

• 15:16John Hopkins?

  With no time to react, the boat comes to a stop on the precipice of a wave, rocking ominously. Time seems to stand still as the vortex swirls below them.

• 15:28John Hopkins?

  And then...

• 15:30John Hopkins?

  They're falling.

• 15:33Speaker 03

  That hole was deep enough that when her bow went off of it, it turned vertical and dropped down. And as she fell, I just remember this like, how in the world is this even happening?

• 15:48John Hopkins?

  What Johnny doesn't know is that he has just encountered what is known as a rogue wave.

• 15:54John Hopkins?

  Also colloquially called a freak wave or monster wave. It is an extremely rare ocean swell that towers over everything around it, often exceeding twice the height of the surrounding seas, causing enormous echoing troughs in the water. At one time, rogue waves were considered a myth. But in 1995, one struck an oil platform in the North Sea, and for the first time, a rogue wave was recorded and confirmed.

• 16:23John Hopkins?

  Most vessels that meet one don't survive. And right now, it seems the Ininga will be no exception.

• 16:30John Hopkins?

  Falling vertically, the hull smashes into the wall of water with sickening force.

• 16:38John Hopkins?

  Bulkheads shear. A deep crack rips open along the starboard bow, tearing the vessel apart.

• 16:46Speaker 03

  We're 90 miles out. Nobody knows where we are. As I saw just the debris and everything up in front of us, that's when I turned around to Captain Eric and I'm like, she's going down.

• 16:56John Hopkins?

  Even as the vessel fractures and seawater floods its every nook and cranny, Captain Eric's experience comes to the fore. He races to the flybridge, reaching instinctively for the radio.

• 17:08Speaker 03

  I remember seeing him reaching over to his left, which is where our radios were, VHF radios, and he stopped.

• 17:17Speaker 03

  Basically, our first line of defense in this situation to save our life is one word that's said three times, mayday, mayday, mayday. And when he stopped, I knew that wasn't good because he never picked up the radio. The radios were already dead.

• 17:36John Hopkins?

  The impact has wiped out any chance of communication with the outside world. Eric shouts for Johnny to grab the life jackets. Then he turns, heading below in a desperate attempt to retrieve the EPUB, the emergency radio beacon they'd stored earlier.

• 17:52John Hopkins?

  It's their last hope.

• 17:54John Hopkins?

  Johnny rushes to the hatch, desperate to find the life jackets, which might buy them some time. But there is another problem. As he throws open the hatch, chaos greets him. The storage space has been transformed into a tangle of equipment and gear. The life jackets are in there somewhere, but buried deep.

• 18:15John Hopkins?

  Johnny claws at the mess, tossing items aside, his breath growing ragged.

• 18:21John Hopkins?

  He casts a sideways look through the door. The enigma is listing at a sharp angle, and water is pouring in.

• 18:29John Hopkins?

  He can't wait any longer. If he does, he might become trapped. Instead, he runs out onto what remains of the deck to check on Eric.

• 18:38John Hopkins?

  He is having no luck either. The doors of the salon have warped, meaning Eric can't open them. He is pounding on the glass windows, but it's no good. The pains are simply too strong.

• 18:52John Hopkins?

  The enigma lists again, groaning violently as water surges across the deck.

• 18:59Speaker 03

  And that's when I told Eric, I think we need to get away from this thing. And the moment we cleared is when she rolled over, she capsized and rolled over and dropped down.

• 19:15Speaker 00

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• 19:44Speaker 01

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• 20:18John Hopkins?

  It's mid-morning, 90 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida. The ocean shimmers, its turquoise waters glowing as if lit from all angles.

• 20:31John Hopkins?

  Johnny Savage and Captain Eric Bingham tread water, watching as the final remnants of the anega slip beneath the surf, leaving only a spool of bubbles in its wake.

• 20:47John Hopkins?

  A few minutes later, the surface is calm once more. There is no evidence that a boat was ever here. There certainly aren't any others in the vicinity. There's barely even a bird in the sky. Johnny and Eric are alone, helpless, in shark-infested waters.

• 21:07John Hopkins?

  Soon, debris begins popping up around them as the ship dismantles under the ocean's enormous pressure.

• 21:15John Hopkins?

  With a quiet splash, a cool box breaks the surface. It's not a proper inflatable or the emergency beacon, but for now, it's as close as they'll get to a lifeline.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  We grabbed that cooler, each of us grabbed one handle on it, and then we kind of like wrapped our arms around each other in perfect unison. We went into "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." And we just kept saying the full Lord's Prayer over and over and over again. And you know what? When we opened our eyes after that prayer, the anega had popped back up.

• 21:52John Hopkins?

  Their vessel, or what's left of it, has risen from the depths. The stern section floats beside them, upturned, crumpled and half-sunken. Its exposed propellers and rudders glinting in the sun. But it floats.

• 22:09John Hopkins?

  For now, it's a possible perch for Eric, a chance to get him out of the water.

• 22:15John Hopkins?

  And then, another stroke of luck.

• 22:18John Hopkins?

  Just beyond the wreckage, Johnny spots his surfboard, still zipped safely in its bag.

• 22:25John Hopkins?

  With his captain's blessing, he peels away from the cooler and starts swimming towards it.

• 22:32John Hopkins?

  Though he's barely gone a few metres, when agony erupts across his skin.

• 22:38John Hopkins?

  Looking wildly around, he quickly spots the rainbow sheen on the water's surface.

• 22:44John Hopkins?

  Diesel.

• 22:47Speaker 03

  I knew where every cut was on my body when I hit the diesel fuel. Just that burning sensation, it's in my eyes, it's in my nose, in my mouth, in my ears.

• 22:55John Hopkins?

  Every scrape, every nick, every raw inch of skin ignites in stinging pain. His throat burns, and he starts to choke on the fumes. Again Johnny turns to the heavens.

• 23:09Speaker 03

  That prayer was, "Please, Lord, do not let me throw up. I can't afford to lose this food that's in my stomach, because I'm gonna need the energy for the fight."

• 23:20John Hopkins?

  Johnny grits his teeth and battles through. Eventually, he is clear of the noxious fuel, and the surfboard is within reach. Pushing himself out of the water, he clambers on, his skin slick with sweat.

• 23:36John Hopkins?

  The board, combined with its padded case, should keep him afloat.

• 23:41John Hopkins?

  However, the moment he shifts his weight, it's obvious that something is wrong. Passing his hand over the bag's surface, the problem is clear. The surfboard has snapped in half. It'll float for now, but it won't last. With no time to waste, Johnny turns, eager to make it back to Eric. But once again, there is now nothing but a blanket of blue ocean. The stern has vanished back beneath the surface.

• 24:12John Hopkins?

  And so it seems, was the captain.

• 24:16John Hopkins?

  Johnny frantically scans the water, his eyes roaming over the dancing waves.

• 24:21Speaker 03

  And then I saw him in the water. He was holding on to a cushion, one of the bench seats on the bridge. It didn't have much buoyancy to it at all, but it was something to hang on to.

• 24:33John Hopkins?

  Johnny paddles back to Eric, and together they begin to formulate a plan.

• 24:39John Hopkins?

  More and more debris from the sunken ship is rising to the surface, stretching out in a vast line like a breadcrumb trail on the water.

• 24:48John Hopkins?

  Somewhere along that line might be what they really need. The emergency beacon, or the life raft, something, anything, that could increase their odds of making it through this.

• 24:59Speaker 03

  So, I had a discussion with Eric and he said, "All right, go ahead, buddy." And so, I started traveling down that line.

• 25:09John Hopkins?

  Johnny begins paddling again, balanced awkwardly on the broken surfboard, drifting down the scatter of debris. Familiar items float past, the juicy steak fillets they'd packed that morning, still in their plastic bag. Fishing rods, chunks of the shattered hull.

• 25:29John Hopkins?

  At one point, the main debris trail splits into two separate lines. Johnny picks a lane and follows it, eyes fixed on every scrap. When he reaches the end empty-handed, he doubles back on himself and tries the other line.

• 25:44John Hopkins?

  He paddles right to the end, where the wreckage finishes and an endless ocean takes over. But again, he finds nothing that can help.

• 25:55John Hopkins?

  The eperb radio beacon and the life raft haven't surfaced. Or if they have, they're not here. It's a major blow.

• 26:04Speaker 03

  Mission failure, and, you know, my captain gave me an order and I couldn't accomplish it. The thoughts were starting to come to my head of being a failure, being a loser, you know? Man, I was part of that decision to not put this eperb and life raft in the cockpit.

• 26:19John Hopkins?

  Cursing his own past decisions, Johnny battles through the water on his broken surfboard, eventually returning to Eric.

• 26:28John Hopkins?

  When he gets there, the captain has better news for him.

• 26:33John Hopkins?

  More debris has surfaced right next to him. Among the scraps of stern and bow, he's managed to salvage some valuable items.

• 26:41John Hopkins?

  He holds up two life jackets. These are the lightweight sort designed for inland fishing trips rather than an extended stay in the ocean, but they're better than nothing.

• 26:52John Hopkins?

  And perhaps even better still, Eric has found the canister of flares.

• 26:57John Hopkins?

  If a boat happens to pass by, they'll at least have a way of trying to draw its attention.

• 27:03John Hopkins?

  Now, all they can do is wait.

• 27:06Speaker 03

  So Eric, he had his sunglasses on when we went down, so he gave me his sunglasses and he had his ball cap on, so he would kind of watch the horizon and I would look up in the sky. And it's funny, the one thing that we did not want to do was look down. Because when you look down, you just see it's like an endless depth and then you start remembering that you're part of the food chain.

• 27:27John Hopkins?

  For a while, they simply bob on the surface of the ocean, trying not to allow fear to take hold.

• 27:34John Hopkins?

  In fact, despite their desperate situation, Johnny still manages to appreciate the wonder of what's around.

• 27:41Speaker 03

  The water was absolutely beautiful. I mean, it was like that purply-blue Gulf Stream, deep Caribbean water. It's funny that we did take the time to smell the roses and lift each other up.

• 27:56John Hopkins?

  Time slips by. An hour, then two.

• 28:02John Hopkins?

  And then, quite suddenly, there is a sound from above.

• 28:07John Hopkins?

  A low, mechanical hum.

• 28:11John Hopkins?

  Johnny looks to the heavens and tries to track the sound. Emerging from a scrap of wispy cloud is a plane.

• 28:22Speaker 03

  Seeing the plane, I was so super excited. It's like, you know, here we go. Here's our rescue. But the plane was up there pretty high. I imagine they were probably flying to Cancun.

• 28:30John Hopkins?

  Rapidly, they open the flare kit and ignite one. A vivid red plume of smoke hisses and billows skyward as the plane inches closer. Surely, the pilot or a bored passenger gazing out of the window must see the bright crimson mist rising from the ocean.

• 28:48John Hopkins?

  But the aircraft doesn't slow down. It doesn't change its course. It passes over and simply vanishes into the distance.

• 28:58John Hopkins?

  The smoke is carried off on the wind, and soon Johnny and Eric are back to square one.

• 29:06Speaker 03

  I watched the plane go over the horizon. Then it was another one of those lows. And feeling pretty crushed because, you know, putting so much hope into that being what was going to save us. That being our salvation.

• 29:24John Hopkins?

  They resume their positions, floating, stubbornly not looking down.

• 29:30John Hopkins?

  However, there is less conversation now.

• 29:34John Hopkins?

  It seems like conditions around them are starting to mirror their darker mood, too. The sky, once a canvas of soft blue and wispy clouds, is fast becoming a blanket of gray. The wind strengthens. The sea, as calm as glass just moments before, begins to churn. White, foamy crests break around them.

• 30:00Speaker 03

  What we did not know was at nine o'clock, there was a call that had gone from Cancun to Key West. And that call was this, "Don't send any boats. It's getting bad." So that's a big deal. Typically, it's they give us the conditions and the captain's your decision what you're going to do. You're going to come or not. That's your call. But for them to say, "Don't send any boats," it means it's very, very bad. So that storm had developed, and that storm was en route to us.

• 30:28John Hopkins?

  Jostled by the waves, sticking together becomes an enormous challenge.

• 30:35John Hopkins?

  And then, in the middle of the afternoon, Eric shouts through the fierce wind.

• 30:42John Hopkins?

  He sees something on the horizon amid the chaos of the heaving water.

• 30:47Speaker 03

  Seeing that white speck on horizon, there was such a unique train of thoughts that went along with that because knowing it was a ship, well, first of all, it's like, which way is it, which direction is it traveling? Is it going away from us? And then to watch that shape grow and grow and grow, we knew that it was getting closer.

• 31:03John Hopkins?

  They watch in tense silence as the ship sails towards them. Soon, they can make out markings on the hull. It's a cruise ship, an enormous one. This is good news. A ship that size means people, hundreds, maybe thousands. All it takes is one person at the railing, one child with binoculars, one crew member doing a scan of the deteriorating surroundings.

• 31:31Speaker 03

  There's always people looking off the back of ship, somebody's got to see us.

• 31:34John Hopkins?

  Johnny waits for the perfect moment until the ship is within range. As he crests a wave, he strikes the flare. Eric lights one too.

• 31:46John Hopkins?

  Crimson smoke once more curls into the gray sky. Someone must be looking their way, able to see the two drowning men in the middle of the Gulf.

• 31:57John Hopkins?

  But the ship sails on.

• 32:01John Hopkins?

  Johnny and Eric watch as their salvation once again passes them by.

• 32:07John Hopkins?

  Its vast outline begins to shrink until it's imperceptible through the storm.

• 32:16Speaker 03

  That was the beginning of the darkness. That's when it was, you know, you're going to die out here and just the thoughts begin to manifest. You're a loser, you're a failure, you're going to either get eaten by a shark or you're going to drown. I knew it was only a matter of time.

• 32:30John Hopkins?

  Rescue now will surely only happen if the men take matters into their own hands.

• 32:38John Hopkins?

  Flares aren't working. The life jackets are soaked through and starting to tear. Conditions are quickly becoming unmanageable. Worse still, Eric is losing feeling in his lower half as hypothermia sets in. It's impossible to know how much time he has left. One thing is clear. They have to act.

• 33:00Speaker 03

  That was the first time Eric and I had a discussion that wasn't, I want to say totally uplifting, because it was a conversation was, if we don't find the eperb and life raft, we're going to die out here.

• 33:10John Hopkins?

  Eric gives an order. Johnny needs to go and search the debris field again for the eperb or the life raft, for anything that can help them. It may seem like Eric is forcing Johnny to do all the hard work, but there is probably a selflessness in the captain's orders.

• 33:29Speaker 03

  I think it was a situation where he was trying to save me. Because if I've found the life raft, I never would have been able to get it back to him against that wind and that current and the seas. But I think it was, I truly think he was sending me out to save myself. I knew that if I found the eperb, they were going to home in on my position and not his position. Just there was like, even though it was an act that hadn't been performed yet, there was still like such an extreme thought of the guilt of, we're a team, you know, we're a crew. We're brothers and you don't leave a brother behind.

• 34:01John Hopkins?

  Whatever Eric's intentions, he's given an order. An order Johnny, as mate, is obliged to follow, no matter how difficult. Once more, he points the battered surfboard towards the debris and begins paddling into the swells.

• 34:19Speaker 03

  The tone of that search was totally different than the initial search. Inertial search, it was calm. Now we've got some seas that have built, probably blowing, you know, getting closer to 20 knots of wind, which is pretty rough. Especially when you have a situation where you have the wind and the swell going in different directions. Makes it like a washing machine and knowing that that line that was there would soon be going away.

• 34:42John Hopkins?

  The debris is no longer in a manageable trail. It is scattered in a vast field, carried this way and that in the swell. Finding the eperb and the life raft is like searching for a needle in a constantly moving haystack. Johnny battles through the whitecaps for as long as he can, but it soon becomes clear that finding the lifesaving equipment is not going to happen.

• 35:05John Hopkins?

  Broken and exhausted, he makes a fateful decision.

• 35:10Speaker 03

  So I just kind of gave up and just stopped and just floated. I was a long way out and that's when there were just the man's festation of you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're a loser.

• 35:21Speaker 03

  And then I finally had made a decision and that decision was I wasn't gonna be eaten by shark. We pretty much knew the bull sharks were gonna rip us to pieces. So I made my plan, drown myself.

• 35:35John Hopkins?

  Mind made up, Johnny utters a final desperate prayer, begging for forgiveness.

• 35:42John Hopkins?

  He unbuckles his life jacket and shrugs it off, letting it fall into the sea. He looks skyward one last time and then at the ocean, at the vast stretch of blue that he has adored his whole life.

• 35:57John Hopkins?

  A wave builds and he follows its progress. It's coming right for him.

• 36:04John Hopkins?

  Rather than try to avoid it, he closes his eyes and lets it hit.

• 36:13John Hopkins?

  He tumbles from the surfboard. For a moment, he is caught in the froth of the wave.

• 36:19John Hopkins?

  And then he is gone.

• 36:26Speaker 04

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• 37:28John Hopkins?

  The tumbling wave consumes Johnny.

• 37:33John Hopkins?

  The salt water blinds him. It floods his ears and fills his lungs with fire. His body is tossed around as if he's nothing more than a piece of driftwood. He has no sense of up or down, only the relentless spinning of the ocean as it swallows him whole.

• 37:50John Hopkins?

  But despite all this, something strange begins to happen.

• 37:58Speaker 03

  It was in that process of rolling under that my body filled with a sense of warmth and strength. It scared me to tell you the truth. It freaked me out like, whoa, what the world's going here?

• 38:10John Hopkins?

  Maybe it's adrenaline. Maybe it's something more. Whatever it is, it drives him upwards.

• 38:19John Hopkins?

  Kicking hard, Johnny breaks through the surface.

• 38:23John Hopkins?

  Gasping in lungfuls of the open air, he retrieves his life jacket, rides a wave, and then hauls himself back onto the surfboard. As he wipes the salt water from his eyes, he hears something.

• 38:37Speaker 03

  I heard a voice over my shoulder. "John, you spend a lot of time out here. Pick your line and paddle it."

• 38:45Speaker 03

  It was a raging ocean, a raging sea, with just that sound of the waves and the wind consume everything. But it was soft and it penetrated through it. And I was able to find a line and see it and paddle.

• 39:03John Hopkins?

  He does as the voice says, trying to find a path through the chaos. But it's not easy. Wind shrieks across the water and the waves rear up like beasts.

• 39:16Speaker 03

  Fighting the seas, getting knocked off the surfboard, trying to climb back on it, and continuing to go, just knock down, get back up, knock down, get back up. And sometimes like they would come out of nowhere and I remember just like doing my best to get a gasp of air before getting rolled.

• 39:33John Hopkins?

  Again and again, he is struck down. Again and again, he rises.

• 39:40John Hopkins?

  Finally, he sees a shape in the distance. Eric.

• 39:45John Hopkins?

  He paddles hard. And as he draws closer, he notices something floating near his captain.

• 39:52Speaker 03

  As I made it back to him, I saw some kind of whitish floating. So I kind of diverted to that and actually it was the master stateroom mattress. It was like, you know, one of those mindsets of, man, tonight we can get up on top of that thing. It'll keep our stuff from hanging down when it's feeding time for the sharks.

• 40:09John Hopkins?

  Eric has a surprise in store for Johnny too.

• 40:13John Hopkins?

  While he was away, something else resurfaced. Johnny's rucksack.

• 40:19John Hopkins?

  Inside are some wetsuits, another miracle. Johnny hands Eric the thickest one. Given the creeping hypothermia, this added warmth could mean the difference between life and death. If Eric can retain what's left of his core temperature, then maybe he still has a shot. Maybe they both do.

• 40:39Speaker 03

  I didn't really talk to Eric about what had happened out there, but there was optimism. We knew we were going to make it. We were going to, I didn't know how this was going to happen, but we were going to make it. We were going to live through this. And that just reinforced a sense of resiliency.

• 40:55John Hopkins?

  They decide to tie themselves together with the leash from the surfboard's bag to create a lifeline. Now, when the waves pull them under, they can right each other.

• 41:08John Hopkins?

  But it's not just the water they have to contend with. As dusk begins to fall, the ocean seems to fill with wildlife. Most are beautiful fish, their colorful bodies flitting this way and that beneath the surface. At first, their eyes are peeled for sharks. The telltale movement of a large shadow or a sinister fin poking above the waves.

• 41:32John Hopkins?

  But then they spot another creature, one that poses a different kind of deadly threat. The Portuguese man of war.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  If you don't know what that is, that's a jellyfish on steroids. We knew that if we got wrapped up in one of those, that it would take too much out of us with all the stings. And so when we'd see one come in, we would dodge left or right. Just the teamwork out there was just amazing.

• 41:55John Hopkins?

  With as much calm and composure as they can muster, the men weave around the siphonophor's enormous sprawling tendrils. The leash is working well, keeping them together. It's only when Johnny spots something on a nearby wave that he suggests unhooking himself.

• 42:12Speaker 03

  I remember looking over and seeing a flare fly and I told Captain Eric, I was like, you know what, that might be a good flare. I think I need to go get it.

• 42:19John Hopkins?

  Eric agrees. All the other flares have been used up or washed away. This could be their last chance of attracting attention should the boat or plane pass by.

• 42:31John Hopkins?

  Detaching himself, Johnny pushes away from his captain and battles against the waves. Eventually, he reaches it and quickly checks if it's operational. It seems to be.

• 42:42Speaker 03

  And I was so excited. I'm like, it's good, Eric. It's good. It's good. And as I was screaming that it's good, I could tell he started screaming, but I couldn't make out the words because of the wind. So at that moment, that's when I just started digging to him as hard as I could, swimming towards him. I thought he was getting attacked by sharks.

• 42:59John Hopkins?

  The sight of Eric screaming and thrashing in the water acts like a starting pistol. Johnny's worst fears, it seems, are now being realized. Using every last dreg of energy, he surges forward towards his captain. In a matter of minutes, he's close enough to Eric to hear what he is shouting. These are not cries of pain, but elation.

• 43:22Speaker 03

  As I got closer to him, that's when I could hear him scream, "It's a fish boat. It's a fish boat. It's a fish boat."

• 43:28John Hopkins?

  A 50-foot vessel cuts through the water ahead of them. Its white hull shining like a beacon. Johnny has one chance to get the boat's attention. One chance to get it right. He tears open the last remaining flare, his eyes never leaving the boat. He waits for the rise of a wave and then sets it off.

• 43:51John Hopkins?

  Red smoke pours into the sky. Time stands still.

• 43:58Speaker 03

  And then all of a sudden I just heard this wow, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And turned around and looked to see the bow. So it's kind of funny because initially it was like, we're rescued. Then it was like, oh no, I hope he sees us because it's not even gonna chop us up.

• 44:12John Hopkins?

  The boat looms perilously close, but it stops short and swings around. A mate runs onto the deck and pushes open the tuna doors at the back, usually used when hauling in prize fish. Johnny approaches.

• 44:29John Hopkins?

  And then, after hours of torment, the ocean finally gives him a helping hand.

• 44:36Speaker 03

  The mate had opened that door and a white cap hit and it kind of washed me in. And I felt so guilty for getting in before my captain.

• 44:46John Hopkins?

  Johnny scrambles to his feet and shoves past the mate. He kneels by the tuna doors and reaches for Eric, wrestling him on board. The doors close behind him and the two men collapse onto the deck, breathing heavily. They're finally safe.

• 45:04John Hopkins?

  The mate offers a steadying shot of rum, but all they want is water. Dehydrated and shaking, they gulp it down.

• 45:14John Hopkins?

  The mate then offers towels and dry clothes for the men. The cobbled together jumper and trousers don't quite fit the six foot tall Johnny, but this helps break the tension as laughter rings around the cabin at his appearance.

• 45:28John Hopkins?

  When the captain arrives to check on his guests, a look of recognition spreads across his face. Incredibly, he and Eric go way back.

• 45:39John Hopkins?

  After hearing their story, the captain explains his extremely lucky presence in the area. He had just missed the dire weather warnings from earlier that day, the ones instructing boats not to leave the harbor.

• 45:52Speaker 03

  They had pulled out just before nine o'clock, just before that call. With that timing, they missed that notice that came in from Cancun that said, "Don't send any boats."

• 46:04John Hopkins?

  That was the first miracle. The second was them finding each other in incredibly tempestuous seas and powerful currents. Eric and Johnny thank their rescuers profusely. It's time to get back to dry land. The boat continues to Cancun where it docks safely. Johnny calls home and offers a tearful report of his harrowing day. He also discusses a problem with his mother. With his passport, wallet, and any other documentation lost at the bottom of the sea, getting back into the US isn't going to be straightforward.

• 46:42Speaker 03

  My mom was incredible. She was on the phone with our local senators and just like, "Hey, get my kid back." And so the American consulate in Cancun actually came to the marinas to bring us letters to get us back into the United States.

• 46:59John Hopkins?

  The next day, wearing borrowed clothes and carrying bin bags of salvaged gear, Johnny and Eric board a flight home. Despite suffering from the beginnings of hypothermia, both men go on to make a full recovery. But psychologically, coming to terms with what happened takes more time. Rogue waves are so rare and so deadly that there's no one Johnny can turn to who truly understands. Survivors are almost unheard of. There are no meetings he can attend, no shared experiences. Instead, he finds solace in an unlikely place.

• 47:37Speaker 03

  One of the documentaries that I watched was a BBC Horizon episode about rogue waves. And I wish I could tell the guy that wrote that or produced it or whoever came up with that concept of that video, thank you, because it really helped to give me a lot of healing. It was so informative to learn this stuff and to know that I wasn't alone.

• 48:01John Hopkins?

  On reflection, Johnny says he credits his survival to two things. The first is years of experience at sea, which gave him the mental preparation he needed when disaster struck.

• 48:14Speaker 03

  Preparation is huge, and what we do with our time is really big. So all these years fishing out of Virginia Beach, those were slower back then. So it was like a three hour run. I had a choice. I could sleep the whole time or I could just think and try to make myself better in some way. And so what I would do is I would kind of review in my head. If this happened, what would I do? If this, I would run the drills. So the day that it did happen, I was prepared.

• 48:39John Hopkins?

  And Johnny believes the second key component to his survival was faith, a steadfast belief in a higher power and in the importance of struggle as a means to bettering ourselves.

• 48:52Speaker 03

  Things are bigger than us. Learn as you go through the challenges in life because we don't know the purpose. If we cut the struggle short sometimes, we're cutting the lesson short.

• 49:15John Hopkins?

  In the next episode, earthquakes, avalanches and a superstorm combine atop Canada's highest peak. And we meet the intrepid climber who endured it all. Natalia Martinez has mountaineering in her blood. But during a solo trip up Mount Logan, a once in a generation phenomenon will see her face her greatest challenge yet. Over the course of several days, Natalia will encounter a multitude of natural disasters. Time and time again, she'll have to call on all her grit and experience to keep struggling on as she locks horns with the immense power of Mother Nature.

• 49:56John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories.

• 50:00John Hopkins?

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• 50:34Speaker 01

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• 50:42Speaker 01

  We can help you sell, market, and hire in one place. We cannot help you find space for your three desk drinks. Why do you have three? And while we can't help you find the perfect volume for your presentation video, LinkedIn can help you find the perfect audience for your business. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at LinkedIn.com/smallbusiness.