Hurricane Milton: Man Clinging to Cooler Rescued 30 Miles off Florida Coast

A sailor was rescued on Thursday after being found clinging to a cooler approximately 30 miles off the coast of Longboat Key, following the devastating passage of Hurricane Milton.
The man, identified as ‘Capt. Dave,’ had been adrift for nearly 24 hours after his fishing boat became disabled off Madeira Beach, Florida, hours before the hurricane made landfall, said Coast Guard press officer Nicole Groll, as reported by U.K. newspaper The Guardian.
Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, tore through the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week, bringing 120 mph winds, tornadoes and heavy rains. The storm caused widespread flooding and power outages across Florida’s west coast. Officials are still assessing the full extent of the damage with rescue operations ongoing, including that of a 14-year-old boy being saved from floodwater near Tampa while clinging to debris, as reported on X, formerly Twitter, by WFLA News.
The captain of the vessel had notified The U.S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg on Monday at 12:40 p.m. that he and a crew member were disabled approximately 20 miles off John’s Pass, according to a statement by the U.S. Coast Guard. Newsweek contacted the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday via email outside office hours for further comment.
“A Sand Key rescue boat crew and an Air Station Clearwater rescue helicopter crew arrived on the scene, hoisted the two people, and brought them back to Air Station Clearwater,” said the statement.
However, the vessel was left adrift. On Wednesday around midday, the captain reported back to the Coast Guard and in the early hours of the next morning, around 3 a.m., the captain returned to his stricken boat to try to salvage it.
Coast Guard Watchstanders made radio contact with the captain who reported the boat’s rudder was fouled with a line and had become disabled during his transit back to port.
At the time, according to the Coast Guard, the captain was navigating his stricken boat in 6 to 8 foot high seas and around 30 mph winds, with the weather rapidly deteriorating as the storm approached.
The Coast Guard instructed the captain to “don a life jacket and stay with the vessel’s emergency position indicating radio beacon. Watchstanders then lost communications with the captain at approximately 6:45 p.m., on Wednesday evening,” said the U.S. Coast Guard.
Airplane and helicopter crews from Air Station Clearwater and Air Station Miami launched at around 5:30 a.m. to search for the missing captain.
A Coast Guard Air Station Miami helicopter crew rescued the man at around 1:30 p.m. after spotting him clinging to a large cooler, the only object keeping him afloat in the rough waters. Officials said he was then airlifted to Tampa General Hospital for further care.
“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” said Lieutenant Commander Dana Grady, Sector St. Petersburg’s command center chief, in a statement.
“To understand the severity of the hurricane conditions, we estimate he experienced approximately 75 to 90 mph winds, 20 to 25 foot high seas, for an extended period of time to include overnight. He survived because of a life jacket, his emergency position indicating locator beacon, and a cooler.”