WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.603 --> 00:00:06.940 The merciless wild 2 00:00:07.273 --> 00:00:10.276 the heartless seems 3 00:00:10.443 --> 00:00:12.345 when nature unleashes her. 4 00:00:12.345 --> 00:00:13.246 Cool. 5 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:15.882 Could you escape? 6 00:00:16.182 --> 00:00:19.119 Could you survive? 7 00:00:19.119 --> 00:00:20.787 These are the true stories 8 00:00:20.787 --> 00:00:23.656 of outdoorsmen confronted by death. 9 00:00:24.424 --> 00:00:27.727 Armed with raw courage and a will to live, 10 00:00:28.561 --> 00:00:30.630 they are the ones who beat the odds 11 00:00:32.132 --> 00:00:34.467 and return from their own fight 12 00:00:34.567 --> 00:00:37.037 to survive. 13 00:00:39.305 --> 00:00:40.440 Best friends 14 00:00:40.440 --> 00:00:44.010 out for a day's fishing, then disaster. 15 00:00:44.444 --> 00:00:46.413 Mine so. Soon. 16 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:48.281 I've got to get off. This thing is going down. 17 00:00:48.281 --> 00:00:50.250 Plunging into a watery hell. 18 00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:52.252 Just intensely cold. 19 00:00:52.252 --> 00:00:54.521 They braved two days in frigid waters. 20 00:00:54.721 --> 00:00:56.990 That should kill them in hours. 21 00:00:56.990 --> 00:00:58.525 We need to get somewhere. 22 00:00:58.525 --> 00:01:02.095 Hypothermia is going to kill you both. 23 00:01:02.095 --> 00:01:04.064 As body temperatures plummet. 24 00:01:04.064 --> 00:01:06.132 They face the ultimate decision. 25 00:01:06.132 --> 00:01:07.033 Kiss your skin. 26 00:01:07.801 --> 00:01:09.936 This was probably the hardest decision I'd ever made 27 00:01:09.936 --> 00:01:13.306 in my life. 28 00:01:13.306 --> 00:01:15.842 Might be able to catch up on some red fish. 29 00:01:16.976 --> 00:01:20.880 On the second day of spring 2012. 30 00:01:21.848 --> 00:01:24.484 Best friends Ed Cohen and Ken Henderson 31 00:01:24.818 --> 00:01:29.022 set out for two days of Texas go fishing on Ken Sport Fisher 32 00:01:29.956 --> 00:01:32.826 their friendship and will to live will soon be tested 33 00:01:33.026 --> 00:01:36.729 by disaster and tragedy. 34 00:01:37.130 --> 00:01:39.966 Ed was the best friend you could really ever have. 35 00:01:40.867 --> 00:01:45.138 My wife would always call him brother, husband, you know, because she's she's 36 00:01:45.138 --> 00:01:49.509 known him, you know, for, I guess, about 15 years now, as long as she's known me. 37 00:01:50.243 --> 00:01:53.646 It didn't matter if they were hunting, fishing, vacationing, 38 00:01:54.981 --> 00:01:57.951 just getting on the motorcycle and taking off. 39 00:01:58.218 --> 00:01:59.886 They were just inseparable. 40 00:01:59.886 --> 00:02:02.722 We made hunting trips to South Texas, 41 00:02:02.822 --> 00:02:07.794 fished to the spring fed lake, and just tons and tons of largemouth bass. 42 00:02:07.794 --> 00:02:09.996 Just catch and release. Just having a good old time. 43 00:02:10.997 --> 00:02:13.032 We been on Ram hunts together. 44 00:02:13.032 --> 00:02:15.635 He's a he's a fairly good shot to me. 45 00:02:15.635 --> 00:02:18.338 In fact, he killed his rear end with a 45 automatic pistol. 46 00:02:19.806 --> 00:02:23.076 Today, they plotted a course to one of their favorite fishing spots, 47 00:02:23.443 --> 00:02:25.545 the oil rigs off Matagorda, Texas. 48 00:02:31.618 --> 00:02:33.987 Ken's just bought a 30 foot sport Fisher. 49 00:02:35.021 --> 00:02:38.358 Although the boats used, Ken's a boat safety instructor, 50 00:02:38.725 --> 00:02:41.928 swift water rescue expert and master diver, 51 00:02:42.629 --> 00:02:46.299 so he's made sure the craft is sound and fully equipped. 52 00:02:47.133 --> 00:02:48.501 You got everything working right? 53 00:02:48.501 --> 00:02:50.803 It had a brand new icon, Marine radio in it. 54 00:02:50.803 --> 00:02:54.541 Top of the line, reef marine radio side scan sonar 55 00:02:54.541 --> 00:02:57.777 with GPS. 56 00:02:57.777 --> 00:03:00.180 Went out and bought some extra safety equipment on board 57 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:01.581 an extra five lifejackets. 58 00:03:01.581 --> 00:03:04.184 Besides the seven already had on board. 59 00:03:04.551 --> 00:03:06.486 Had flares, charts. 60 00:03:08.221 --> 00:03:08.788 Everything. 61 00:03:08.788 --> 00:03:10.990 The bellows, whistles, lights. 62 00:03:11.291 --> 00:03:14.194 Everything in a 50 caliber ammo cap 63 00:03:14.661 --> 00:03:17.530 that I kept stored in the back of the boat. 64 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:18.865 And it was waterproof. 65 00:03:18.865 --> 00:03:23.236 And of course, if anything ever happened, it would float. 66 00:03:23.369 --> 00:03:25.638 Feeling prepared for anything. 67 00:03:25.638 --> 00:03:28.141 They set off South at 730 in the morning, 68 00:03:28.675 --> 00:03:30.944 heading for the Gulf's oil and gas rigs. 69 00:03:32.712 --> 00:03:34.447 We were both like up kids that morning. 70 00:03:34.447 --> 00:03:35.982 We were excited, getting ready to go fishing. 71 00:03:35.982 --> 00:03:38.785 The first time since December had been four months 72 00:03:38.785 --> 00:03:40.954 since we've been able to go fishing because of the weather. 73 00:03:40.954 --> 00:03:42.956 I called my wife Sandy on the phone and I told her, 74 00:03:42.956 --> 00:03:44.857 I said, Look, we're going to head a little farther out. 75 00:03:44.857 --> 00:03:47.760 I won't have any cell service out there, but I need to call when I come 76 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:48.394 in the season. 77 00:03:50.029 --> 00:03:51.397 You know, we were in a big hurry. 78 00:03:51.397 --> 00:03:55.068 Our big deal was just being out there and hanging around together and talking. 79 00:03:55.535 --> 00:03:56.936 We got 70 feet of water, man. 80 00:03:56.936 --> 00:03:58.371 This ought to be good. 81 00:03:58.571 --> 00:04:02.909 They find a likely spot at a deserted platform and drop their lines. 82 00:04:03.376 --> 00:04:05.378 Like we did last time. 83 00:04:05.378 --> 00:04:08.081 It's pulled out of here. Threes are full. 84 00:04:08.081 --> 00:04:11.351 Suddenly they see something's gone seriously wrong. 85 00:04:12.685 --> 00:04:13.152 In the bow. 86 00:04:13.152 --> 00:04:14.153 And he looked at the back. 87 00:04:14.153 --> 00:04:16.189 He goes, Hey, I think we'll turn them bilge folks on. 88 00:04:17.156 --> 00:04:17.857 I said, What do you mean? 89 00:04:17.857 --> 00:04:20.793 I look back and I was like, Oh my God. 90 00:04:20.793 --> 00:04:23.129 For some reason they're taking on water 91 00:04:23.129 --> 00:04:25.798 and the bilge pumps can't handle this sudden flood. 92 00:04:25.832 --> 00:04:27.800 We've got to get out of here, brother. 93 00:04:28.201 --> 00:04:29.469 All right, let's go. 94 00:04:29.602 --> 00:04:33.806 Ken is a former law enforcement officer and both a marine veteran. 95 00:04:34.340 --> 00:04:36.843 They're used to facing emergency situations. 96 00:04:37.343 --> 00:04:41.447 And this is now a dire emergency with water coming. 97 00:04:42.448 --> 00:04:43.816 We got to go in. 98 00:04:43.816 --> 00:04:46.286 And I said we need to get this boat run and see if we can get some 99 00:04:46.753 --> 00:04:47.954 some hydraulic action. 100 00:04:47.954 --> 00:04:51.524 See, we'll get this water back on this boat. 101 00:04:51.524 --> 00:04:56.763 Got about 100 yards from the rig we were tied to and one of the motors died. 102 00:04:57.497 --> 00:04:59.632 Looks like we're going to have to live in on one engine. 103 00:04:59.632 --> 00:05:00.233 I'm fixing them. 104 00:05:00.233 --> 00:05:00.633 I'm fixing. 105 00:05:00.633 --> 00:05:04.237 Go ahead and put out a mayday and we're still moving. 106 00:05:04.270 --> 00:05:07.273 Ken's boat is foundering with hundreds of gallons 107 00:05:07.273 --> 00:05:10.310 of seawater in the hull and more pouring in. 108 00:05:10.643 --> 00:05:14.547 Then the second motor dies, leaving them dead in the water. 109 00:05:15.114 --> 00:05:17.650 I got on my cell phone, I hit 911. 110 00:05:18.217 --> 00:05:20.553 I got no signal. 111 00:05:20.553 --> 00:05:21.654 Too far out. 112 00:05:21.654 --> 00:05:23.156 Picked up the Marine radio. 113 00:05:23.156 --> 00:05:25.625 Mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday. 114 00:05:25.625 --> 00:05:29.495 And I got no response because all I was going to do was blurt out our location 115 00:05:29.996 --> 00:05:33.266 and, you know, until a special distress vessel going down. 116 00:05:34.167 --> 00:05:39.872 Ken Henderson and Ed Cole are sinking fast. 117 00:05:45.211 --> 00:05:46.879 Marine 60 118 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.751 and offshore catastrophe leaves fishing buddies Ken Henderson and Ed Cohen 119 00:05:52.051 --> 00:05:55.521 scrambling in what would become an epic fight for survival. 120 00:05:55.855 --> 00:05:58.191 I said, get the lifejackets out. 121 00:05:58.191 --> 00:06:00.226 I put it on the buckle at one time. 122 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.894 I a vessel. 123 00:06:01.894 --> 00:06:05.131 Just going down and I'm still hollering on the radio for help. 124 00:06:05.131 --> 00:06:07.433 My brother. They're going down. 125 00:06:07.433 --> 00:06:09.635 The boat is listing badly to starboard 126 00:06:09.902 --> 00:06:11.938 and water is rushing over the transom. 127 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:14.307 And Ted said, We've got to go. 128 00:06:14.307 --> 00:06:15.308 We got to get off. This thing's. 129 00:06:15.308 --> 00:06:15.775 Going down. 130 00:06:15.775 --> 00:06:19.846 It's going to roll over. Go. 131 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:22.582 I said, go, go get the water. 132 00:06:22.582 --> 00:06:25.952 So he he jumped in. 133 00:06:26.152 --> 00:06:28.688 I was standing on the driver's seat. 134 00:06:29.255 --> 00:06:32.191 I let go. And just as I let go, the boat 135 00:06:32.191 --> 00:06:35.461 kind of violently pop straight up and threw me off. 136 00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:39.365 The whole thing. 137 00:06:40.266 --> 00:06:41.401 You know. 138 00:06:41.401 --> 00:06:42.301 You're right. 139 00:06:43.202 --> 00:06:46.739 The boat just dropped straight down. 140 00:06:46.739 --> 00:06:48.941 There was about eight feet of the bow sticking out. 141 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:51.778 And we both kind of looked at each other in amazement. 142 00:06:51.811 --> 00:06:55.715 We were just like, what just happened? 143 00:06:55.715 --> 00:06:58.751 This boat just sunk from underneath us in 5 minutes. 144 00:06:58.751 --> 00:06:59.419 From the first time 145 00:06:59.419 --> 00:07:02.522 I looked at my watch until we were in the water was less than 5 minutes. 146 00:07:02.822 --> 00:07:07.794 We didn't have time to react since that water actually had sea spots 147 00:07:07.794 --> 00:07:10.096 and it was just intensely cold. 148 00:07:11.431 --> 00:07:14.133 Ken's instincts tell him the abandoned rig 149 00:07:14.333 --> 00:07:18.137 is their best bet for a safe haven. 150 00:07:18.704 --> 00:07:21.707 And I started to swim and I look back and it wouldn't end, wouldn't come in. 151 00:07:21.707 --> 00:07:23.776 And I had got about 100 yards from him. 152 00:07:23.776 --> 00:07:26.245 And I was like, no, I'm not. I'm not going. If he's on. 153 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:29.515 The vital emergency gear. 154 00:07:29.515 --> 00:07:32.218 Ken had so conscientiously packed onto the boat, 155 00:07:32.552 --> 00:07:36.122 is now trapped inside it and beyond their reach. 156 00:07:36.456 --> 00:07:38.591 When it went down, it took everything with it. 157 00:07:38.591 --> 00:07:41.961 It when the boat turned up, it all floated up inside the cabin. 158 00:07:42.395 --> 00:07:45.064 So we didn't have our flares. 159 00:07:45.064 --> 00:07:48.067 We didn't have our whistles, our horns, our flashlights. 160 00:07:48.134 --> 00:07:51.270 That was everything we needed to be rescued with. 161 00:07:51.270 --> 00:07:54.941 Adrift in a hostile sea cannon had only have life 162 00:07:54.941 --> 00:07:58.010 jackets and a half filled bottle of diet cola. 163 00:07:58.945 --> 00:08:01.314 The relentless current is sweeping them away 164 00:08:01.314 --> 00:08:03.282 from the oil rig 165 00:08:04.784 --> 00:08:07.620 as a master diver trained in survival techniques. 166 00:08:07.987 --> 00:08:11.491 Ken straps himself to Ed and puts more life 167 00:08:11.491 --> 00:08:13.559 jackets on them for added flotation. 168 00:08:14.627 --> 00:08:17.463 And I actually put it over his head and put it on over the top of his other one. 169 00:08:17.463 --> 00:08:19.732 I said, Is that better keeping your head up out of the water 170 00:08:22.101 --> 00:08:23.002 to make you feel better? 171 00:08:23.002 --> 00:08:24.303 Oh, much better. Okay. 172 00:08:24.303 --> 00:08:27.773 They are potentially just hours away from unconsciousness and death 173 00:08:28.074 --> 00:08:30.276 in the frigid Gulf waters 174 00:08:30.276 --> 00:08:33.980 when they cite a glimmer of hope in the shape of another oil rig. 175 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:38.251 In the distance, Ken wants them to swim towards the rig. 176 00:08:39.051 --> 00:08:41.020 That he said, no, no, I think we need to save our energy. 177 00:08:41.020 --> 00:08:42.622 I said, We need to get somewhere. 178 00:08:42.622 --> 00:08:45.658 Hypothermia is going to kill you and me both, he says. 179 00:08:45.658 --> 00:08:47.927 Now somebody'll come along the little, you know. I said, okay. 180 00:08:48.261 --> 00:08:50.229 All right, Wayne, take. 181 00:08:54.433 --> 00:08:56.869 It has now been 6 hours in the water 182 00:08:57.036 --> 00:09:00.139 and night is closing in. 183 00:09:01.507 --> 00:09:05.711 The men begin to fear for their survival, but there's a source of hope. 184 00:09:06.445 --> 00:09:10.283 Ken's wife, Sandy, is a911 dispatcher. 185 00:09:10.283 --> 00:09:12.485 He's confident she'll spring into action. 186 00:09:13.252 --> 00:09:15.655 Basically, I got mad eventually because 187 00:09:15.655 --> 00:09:18.524 I hadn't heard from him and that was very unusual. 188 00:09:19.125 --> 00:09:21.561 I probably stayed up until 1:00 in the morning 189 00:09:21.894 --> 00:09:23.362 just waiting on the phone to ring. 190 00:09:23.362 --> 00:09:25.932 And I, of course, never did. 191 00:09:25.932 --> 00:09:27.967 The frigid March night goes on 192 00:09:28.334 --> 00:09:31.137 and the two friends have only the warmth of words. 193 00:09:31.604 --> 00:09:32.838 We talked during the night. 194 00:09:32.838 --> 00:09:34.941 We talked about a lot of things. We talked about family. 195 00:09:34.974 --> 00:09:36.676 We talked about how much we loved each other. 196 00:09:37.710 --> 00:09:39.912 We prayed together. 197 00:09:39.912 --> 00:09:40.413 We prayed. 198 00:09:40.413 --> 00:09:43.683 We kind of put our heads together and we'd pray silently. 199 00:09:43.683 --> 00:09:47.720 And I started out asking for 200 00:09:49.155 --> 00:09:51.424 rescue. 201 00:09:51.557 --> 00:09:54.927 I even prayed for a dolphin to come by and give me a ride to a rig or something. 202 00:09:55.394 --> 00:09:58.831 He all he all he kept saying was, I just want to get home, kiss my babies. 203 00:09:58.831 --> 00:10:00.933 I just want to get home and kiss my babies. 204 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:03.903 Fatigue and hypothermia are taking their toll, 205 00:10:04.704 --> 00:10:06.872 but they find a way to get some warmth 206 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.042 and some rest. 207 00:10:11.711 --> 00:10:14.246 During the night, we would take turns grabbing each other 208 00:10:14.246 --> 00:10:17.850 by our life jackets and push and pull each other up on top of us. 209 00:10:18.150 --> 00:10:21.087 And then we'd wrap our legs around it and kind of get a little bit of 210 00:10:21.087 --> 00:10:23.956 even though there's this much lifejackets between us, we can get some 211 00:10:24.390 --> 00:10:27.093 a little bit of radiant body heat and share it a little bit. 212 00:10:27.593 --> 00:10:39.472 The only time you can really sleep is when you were on top of the other person. 213 00:10:39.472 --> 00:10:42.775 The next morning you could even work up a can, even work up a split. 214 00:10:42.775 --> 00:10:44.443 It was getting hard to talk. 215 00:10:44.443 --> 00:10:47.380 Our jaws were both sore from our teeth, chattering 216 00:10:47.913 --> 00:10:51.617 and our muscles hurt from from just violently shaking from the cold. 217 00:10:55.588 --> 00:10:58.557 Without food or fresh water for almost 20 hours. 218 00:10:58.991 --> 00:11:03.129 They can only share sips of the diet cola. 219 00:11:07.333 --> 00:11:10.202 Now the sign of advancing hypothermia, 220 00:11:10.670 --> 00:11:13.639 it begins to hallucinate. 221 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:17.076 I looked over and he pulled out a big lighter, said, What do you do? 222 00:11:17.576 --> 00:11:20.479 A light, a signal flare or something so normal like the cigaret. 223 00:11:20.913 --> 00:11:24.216 He said, I got one dry cigaret and that's where he was, right here in my mouth. 224 00:11:24.917 --> 00:11:26.786 I said, Brother, you ain't got a cigaret in your mouth. 225 00:11:26.786 --> 00:11:28.120 And he reaches up and he got it. 226 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:30.956 And you can just see the disappointment roll over his face because he's like, 227 00:11:30.956 --> 00:11:33.359 Man, I'm loosening. 228 00:11:35.961 --> 00:11:36.662 The two men's 229 00:11:36.662 --> 00:11:39.665 torments stretch into the afternoon of the second day, 230 00:11:40.132 --> 00:11:44.770 and after 24 hours in the sea, Ken begins to hallucinate, too. 231 00:11:46.205 --> 00:11:47.673 Ken and Ed 232 00:11:47.673 --> 00:11:50.676 are swiftly sinking into delirium, despair 233 00:11:50.876 --> 00:11:54.146 and certain death. 234 00:11:55.247 --> 00:11:58.617 I'm only 16, made eight. 235 00:11:58.617 --> 00:12:00.486 27 hours ago. 236 00:12:00.486 --> 00:12:03.422 Ken Henderson and Ed Cohen scored fishing boat 237 00:12:03.789 --> 00:12:06.325 slid beneath the waters of the Texas Gulf. 238 00:12:07.293 --> 00:12:11.363 The ocean temperatures are dragging them mercilessly into hypothermia. 239 00:12:12.131 --> 00:12:14.300 Then, a glimmer of hope. 240 00:12:14.300 --> 00:12:16.869 A helicopter passes overhead. 241 00:12:16.869 --> 00:12:19.872 It's heading for a gas rig only miles away. 242 00:12:20.106 --> 00:12:23.909 I realized that we were we were drifting by the rig kind of catty corner. 243 00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:26.078 And if we swam across current, 244 00:12:26.078 --> 00:12:29.582 we might be able to, you know, let the current slingshot us into the rig. 245 00:12:29.815 --> 00:12:33.486 The colonel, Ken, encourages his friend to swim towards the rig, 246 00:12:33.886 --> 00:12:37.323 but Ed's body is failing. 247 00:12:37.690 --> 00:12:41.160 He was mumbling and shaking and we'd be having a conversation. 248 00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:45.464 He closed his eyes and I'd kind of shake him and he wake up. 249 00:12:45.464 --> 00:12:46.966 Wow, I'm listening. I'm listening. 250 00:12:48.634 --> 00:12:51.137 Ken feels it's urgent that they swim to the rig. 251 00:12:51.537 --> 00:12:54.974 Ed, who's now critically hypothermic, doesn't have the strength 252 00:12:55.975 --> 00:12:58.811 he can unclipped the tether 253 00:12:59.011 --> 00:13:01.647 that attaches them. 254 00:13:03.415 --> 00:13:05.618 I said, You're going to have to help me here. 255 00:13:05.618 --> 00:13:07.486 He says, I can't. I just I can't. 256 00:13:07.486 --> 00:13:08.587 I can't do it anymore. 257 00:13:08.587 --> 00:13:10.256 I just can't do I can't move. 258 00:13:10.256 --> 00:13:11.824 I can't do anything. 259 00:13:11.824 --> 00:13:14.093 Ken doesn't want to leave his friend, 260 00:13:14.693 --> 00:13:17.129 but he makes the ultimate survival decision. 261 00:13:18.430 --> 00:13:19.632 And I said, All right. 262 00:13:19.632 --> 00:13:21.200 I said, Look, here's here's the deal. 263 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:22.635 I said, I'm going to have to go for help. 264 00:13:22.635 --> 00:13:24.937 I'm going to have to try to make that rig. 265 00:13:24.937 --> 00:13:28.541 And and I wrestle with that decision 266 00:13:29.008 --> 00:13:31.210 and inside thinking, you know, 267 00:13:32.378 --> 00:13:35.147 well, if I miss the rig for both, die out here 268 00:13:35.447 --> 00:13:38.751 or if I make the rig, then at least I get some help. 269 00:13:39.752 --> 00:13:41.320 And he said, I understand. 270 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:42.788 Make sure the first one back on shore. 271 00:13:42.788 --> 00:13:44.757 Get two kissing babies for me. For sure. 272 00:13:44.757 --> 00:13:47.693 Just some babies for me. And I said, All right, buddy, I'm out of here. 273 00:13:47.693 --> 00:13:49.929 I'm going for help. And he goes, All right. 274 00:13:49.929 --> 00:13:51.997 I said, I'll see you in a little bit. I will see you in a little bit. 275 00:13:52.031 --> 00:13:54.066 I shook him and told him that I love you, brother. 276 00:13:54.366 --> 00:13:57.036 So I took off and 277 00:13:57.036 --> 00:13:59.939 I started to swim for that rig. And 278 00:13:59.939 --> 00:14:03.742 I started to, you know, cry a little bit knowing that this was probably 279 00:14:03.742 --> 00:14:08.180 the hardest decision I'd ever made in my life as leaving my best friend a 20 280 00:14:08.180 --> 00:14:11.717 something years along, not leaving him out there 281 00:14:12.084 --> 00:14:15.654 to perish in the ocean, but leaving him alone 282 00:14:15.654 --> 00:14:18.123 in the ocean. 283 00:14:19.058 --> 00:14:21.560 I swam about 20 yards. 284 00:14:21.560 --> 00:14:25.064 I looked over my shoulder and I saw I had one time rise in the waves 285 00:14:25.531 --> 00:14:28.267 to see him take his hand and wipe the water out of his face 286 00:14:28.267 --> 00:14:30.903 because the waves are still breaking on us and still ice cold. 287 00:14:31.637 --> 00:14:34.340 And and then what about another 20 yards? 288 00:14:34.373 --> 00:14:35.341 I stopped, turned around. 289 00:14:35.341 --> 00:14:42.915 I couldn't see him anymore. 290 00:14:42.915 --> 00:14:47.586 Ken swims as hard as he can, knowing that two lives now ride on him. 291 00:14:48.454 --> 00:14:50.422 But he's no match for the current. 292 00:14:50.422 --> 00:14:54.460 And he swept past the rig and farther into the bone chilling gulf. 293 00:14:55.261 --> 00:14:56.929 I finally resolved myself 294 00:14:58.030 --> 00:14:59.665 that this was it, 295 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:05.070 that I was just going to have to float here and hope that somebody would find me. 296 00:15:05.070 --> 00:15:07.106 And then I could get back and they could find it 297 00:15:07.106 --> 00:15:12.144 or they could find in and they can get to me or whatever. 298 00:15:12.378 --> 00:15:14.780 Along with his delirium and dehydration, 299 00:15:15.147 --> 00:15:18.017 Ken now has to deal with the pain of self-doubt. 300 00:15:19.151 --> 00:15:22.354 The cardinal saying, I left a I left a brother behind. 301 00:15:22.354 --> 00:15:24.123 And you just you never do that. 302 00:15:24.123 --> 00:15:29.528 And I just I was just so disappointed in my decision making at that point. 303 00:15:30.296 --> 00:15:32.498 Totally depleted by this futile swim. 304 00:15:32.965 --> 00:15:37.036 Ken passes out from exhaustion. 305 00:15:42.007 --> 00:15:45.210 When Ken awakens from semi coma, it is night. 306 00:15:45.911 --> 00:15:50.582 He survives 30 hours in Gulf waters that should have killed him a day ago. 307 00:15:51.483 --> 00:15:53.652 Exhausted and delirious. 308 00:15:53.652 --> 00:15:57.122 Ken can barely believe it when he sees a shining light of hope. 309 00:15:58.057 --> 00:16:00.993 When I rose up, I saw a lit rig in the distance 310 00:16:00.993 --> 00:16:04.330 up there and I guessed it to be about four or five miles away. 311 00:16:05.531 --> 00:16:06.799 And I followed up to a star 312 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.035 and I said, okay, that star right there. 313 00:16:11.236 --> 00:16:13.772 So I started swimming. 314 00:16:14.006 --> 00:16:19.845 I stopped for a few minutes when the cramps in my legs and arms got so bad, 315 00:16:19.845 --> 00:16:23.482 and I stopped and prayed and prayed for the strength. 316 00:16:23.849 --> 00:16:24.683 That's all I wanted. 317 00:16:24.683 --> 00:16:27.119 I said more, Just give me the strength to get in hell. 318 00:16:27.853 --> 00:16:31.056 And I said, You know, I'm not I'm not asking for much. 319 00:16:31.190 --> 00:16:34.893 Just give me give me a foot in the backside to keep going. 320 00:16:35.194 --> 00:16:36.795 I don't I can't give up. 321 00:16:36.795 --> 00:16:38.230 I can't quit. 322 00:16:38.797 --> 00:16:41.433 Ken's hypothermia has reached a critical stage 323 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:44.636 and time is running out 324 00:16:47.539 --> 00:16:49.241 for seven more hours. 325 00:16:49.241 --> 00:16:52.711 He struggles towards the rig, praying for his life 326 00:16:53.012 --> 00:16:57.149 and the survival of his best friend. 327 00:17:02.321 --> 00:17:05.457 Ken Henderson is desperately swimming towards a gas rig, 328 00:17:05.791 --> 00:17:09.361 hoping to save his life and the life of his best friend, 329 00:17:09.595 --> 00:17:12.131 Ed Cohen. 330 00:17:12.498 --> 00:17:15.501 The seven hour swim has cost him the last of his strength, 331 00:17:15.901 --> 00:17:18.270 but finally he reaches the platform 332 00:17:19.972 --> 00:17:20.973 he spots on a ladder. 333 00:17:20.973 --> 00:17:22.941 Inside the structure. 334 00:17:22.941 --> 00:17:25.744 I actually pulled with all my strength and got my legs up 335 00:17:25.744 --> 00:17:29.048 on the bottom rung, but when I stood up, it was like I wasn't standing up. 336 00:17:29.248 --> 00:17:31.050 It was it was weird. 337 00:17:31.050 --> 00:17:33.218 I just I couldn't feel my legs very well. 338 00:17:34.453 --> 00:17:37.689 He climbs aboard and wanders into the rig's galley. 339 00:17:37.990 --> 00:17:43.829 The crew is asleep, but Ken finds food, water and miraculously, a telephone. 340 00:17:44.129 --> 00:17:46.732 Turner I looked and there was a cordless phone on a charger 341 00:17:47.499 --> 00:17:50.135 and I was like, No, I'm I'm hallucinating. 342 00:17:50.135 --> 00:17:51.837 There's no cordless phone on an oil rig. 343 00:17:53.505 --> 00:17:53.839 Someone 344 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:56.942 picked it up and got a dial tone and I called my home phone number. 345 00:17:57.576 --> 00:18:00.746 There's no Sandy answers and it's a voice. 346 00:18:00.946 --> 00:18:03.148 She's been desperate to hear. 347 00:18:03.148 --> 00:18:04.716 It was so horsted 348 00:18:04.716 --> 00:18:07.653 you couldn't hardly understand, you know, anything that he had to say. 349 00:18:08.554 --> 00:18:11.023 And he said, I don't have that a minute, 350 00:18:11.023 --> 00:18:14.259 but I'm on an oil rig and Ed is still out there. 351 00:18:14.493 --> 00:18:17.162 And he was telling me what rig number he was on. 352 00:18:17.930 --> 00:18:20.199 Sandy immediately phones the Coast Guard 353 00:18:20.399 --> 00:18:24.002 and gives them the platforms number. 354 00:18:24.036 --> 00:18:27.606 The Coast Guard fixes the location incredibly. 355 00:18:27.873 --> 00:18:30.709 Ken is 54 miles from where his boat 356 00:18:30.709 --> 00:18:32.377 went down. 357 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:36.682 Ken tries to warm up and prays 358 00:18:36.682 --> 00:18:40.052 for good news about Ed. 359 00:18:41.153 --> 00:18:44.223 The next morning, he's transported to a Coast Guard station 360 00:18:44.389 --> 00:18:45.991 and AIDS in their search. 361 00:18:45.991 --> 00:18:49.161 Well, this is where we have you picked up that you want to go over. 362 00:18:49.461 --> 00:18:51.897 That was pointed rigzone charts and everything else. 363 00:18:51.897 --> 00:18:53.899 And I heard the Marine 16 radio 364 00:18:55.501 --> 00:18:56.502 in the background. 365 00:18:56.502 --> 00:18:59.638 You know, I heard that 366 00:18:59.638 --> 00:19:01.740 somebody say that they had 367 00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:04.343 the fishermen had found 368 00:19:04.343 --> 00:19:06.512 what they believed to be a body floating in the water. 369 00:19:07.346 --> 00:19:11.383 Ed's pulse is weak and Ken is rushed to the hospital. 370 00:19:12.284 --> 00:19:14.186 But it didn't look good. 371 00:19:14.186 --> 00:19:20.225 And I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that, you know, that it was, 372 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:23.462 you know, kind of a shot of hope, but it was a shot of hope. 373 00:19:24.029 --> 00:19:26.632 And the lady came out and she said, I'm sorry, Mr. 374 00:19:26.632 --> 00:19:29.134 Cohen didn't he didn't survive. 375 00:19:29.134 --> 00:19:33.071 And, you know, kind of kind of willed that 376 00:19:33.071 --> 00:19:36.241 I kind of fell out, really. 377 00:19:36.441 --> 00:19:37.276 You know, 378 00:19:37.843 --> 00:19:40.846 once I got my thoughts together, I said, take me to. 379 00:19:41.313 --> 00:19:42.714 And she said, Are you sure? 380 00:19:42.714 --> 00:19:45.217 And I said, Yes, I'm positive. Take me to him. 381 00:19:46.451 --> 00:19:47.920 And covered his head and 382 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.690 and talked to him for a minute and apologized to him. 383 00:19:51.757 --> 00:19:55.494 And then I couldn't you know, I couldn't get him some help quicker. 384 00:19:56.528 --> 00:19:58.597 And then I promised him that I would, 385 00:19:58.597 --> 00:20:01.466 you know, do what he asked me to do and take care of the girls 386 00:20:01.466 --> 00:20:04.570 the way I've always he's always told me that he wanted me to 387 00:20:05.804 --> 00:20:10.642 be. Ed is gone. 388 00:20:12.144 --> 00:20:14.446 The doctors now focus on Ken's condition 389 00:20:14.746 --> 00:20:19.084 and insist on immediate hospital ization. 390 00:20:19.651 --> 00:20:23.155 I got on the road and probably broke every speed limit 391 00:20:23.922 --> 00:20:25.958 between Conroe and Matagorda. 392 00:20:26.825 --> 00:20:30.596 Just such a relief to see his face for that first time. 393 00:20:31.230 --> 00:20:35.000 So I stayed in the room with him and slept in the bed with him. And, 394 00:20:36.001 --> 00:20:38.537 you know, there was a lot of teary moments 395 00:20:38.770 --> 00:20:44.409 where he still had a lot going through his mind. 396 00:20:44.409 --> 00:20:45.844 Everything that had gone on. 397 00:20:45.844 --> 00:20:48.146 It finally hit me. And 398 00:20:49.214 --> 00:20:49.815 I knew that 399 00:20:49.815 --> 00:20:53.452 I was going to have to go back and explain to those three babies and to grandbaby. 400 00:20:53.652 --> 00:20:55.787 I took their daddy fishing and didn't bring him home. 401 00:20:57.089 --> 00:20:58.523 Chris went back 402 00:20:59.157 --> 00:21:02.194 t shirt kissing babies for me. 403 00:21:02.628 --> 00:21:04.863 After three days, Ken is released. 404 00:21:05.530 --> 00:21:08.500 He knows there is one more thing to do for Ed 405 00:21:09.635 --> 00:21:11.536 and then his phone rings. 406 00:21:11.536 --> 00:21:15.073 It was actually the oldest daughter who came to your home. 407 00:21:15.073 --> 00:21:16.508 I said, Yes, baby, I'm home. 408 00:21:16.508 --> 00:21:17.476 Can we come see you? 409 00:21:17.476 --> 00:21:20.212 I said, I wouldn't keep you from it. 410 00:21:21.313 --> 00:21:24.716 All three of the girls, they all came over and they were you know, when they saw 411 00:21:24.716 --> 00:21:28.153 me, they, you know, they started they got upset and they were crying. 412 00:21:28.153 --> 00:21:32.658 And and I, I gave them all we all got in a big circle 413 00:21:32.658 --> 00:21:36.662 and I hugged him and, you know, and I told them, I said, I'm so sorry. 414 00:21:36.662 --> 00:21:40.465 I wish I could have, you know, brought the brought your daddy home. But 415 00:21:41.600 --> 00:21:42.367 and in 416 00:21:42.367 --> 00:21:45.337 Ashley's like, you know, Daddy was doing what he loved to do with personally, 417 00:21:45.337 --> 00:21:48.607 love to do with, and he probably wouldn't have had it any other way. 418 00:21:48.974 --> 00:21:51.276 You know, so we all line up and they said, What for? 419 00:21:51.310 --> 00:21:53.211 I said, I'm going to made a promise to your daddy 420 00:21:53.211 --> 00:21:54.446 and learned all three of them up. 421 00:21:54.446 --> 00:21:55.881 Get more big kiss. 422 00:21:55.881 --> 00:21:57.783 I said, That's for me, Daddy. 423 00:21:57.783 --> 00:22:13.332 And I said, That was the last thing he told me.