Atrevida II was still afloat when the tanker found it. The sailboat had lost the systems that made being afloat a journey rather than a drift: its mast was down, and it had neither fuel nor power.
Kevin Hyde, Joe Ditomasso and their pet dog were aboard.
The Atrevida II rescue took place on December 13, 2022, about 214 miles east of Delaware. Their intended trip had begun more than two weeks earlier, from Cape May, New Jersey, toward Marathon, Florida.
Atrevida II: The last contact was farther south
The sailboat left Cape May on November 27. Family and friends last heard from its crew on December 3 after the boat departed Oregon Inlet, North Carolina.
By December 11, Coast Guard watchstanders had been notified that the vessel was overdue. Search efforts drew on cutters, aircraft, Navy vessels and commercial and recreational traffic in the region.
The Coast Guard broadcast information about the missing boat and contacted ships that might be able to help locate it.
The public bulletin does not supply a complete daily account of the time between the last contact and rescue. It establishes the condition in which the vessel was found. There is no need to invent the moment the mast fell or assign a private conversation to the men as their power failed.
The geographic result is unsettling enough. A voyage intended to continue down the coast was located far offshore, east of a state well north of its last reported contact.
The ship that changed course
The Hong Kong-flagged tanker Silver Muna found the sailboat and took Hyde, Ditomasso and the dog aboard. The two men were described as being in good condition.
They remained on the tanker as it continued toward New York Harbor. On December 14, the Coast Guard brought them ashore at Station New York on Staten Island for medical assessments and reunion with family and friends.
The rescue reflects the role of ordinary commercial shipping in an ocean search. A tanker following its own voyage became the platform that could reach a small vessel and carry its occupants toward land.
Atrevida II had not needed to sink to become a serious emergency. It could remain visible above the water while losing the practical ability to choose where it went.
For the people waiting ashore, the frightening fact was the silence after December 3. For rescuers, the task was turning that absence into a location. Silver Muna finally closed the distance between the two.
Sources and reporting
Researched reporting: an original narrative based on the published records linked below.
