CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Chattanooga man who set sail from Japan to Hawaii back in November was found at sea after being lost for 10 days.
Storms rolled Peter Brown's ship and his crew was stuck in the Pacific Ocean without any form of communication. He was found and finally arrived on land on Jan. 2.
The three men were in one of the most remote areas of the Pacific Ocean, so their initial reaction was, "What if we never get found?"
They had to think creatively to survive.
"Oh it was very scary, I was thinking I would never see my family again. I was just praying all the time," Brown reflected.
Brown and two captains set sail from Japan around Thanksgiving hoping to arrive on Christmas Day. They had been communicating on a satellite phone with their agent about where storms were located.
On Dec. 19, a big wave took down their mast. Later that night, they got hit again and their boat rolled.
"That was when it got pretty scary from there because the satellite phone was not waterproof,” Brown said.
Every day after became about survival.
"We had 50 bottles of water left. We thought we could make it maybe two months or three months if we rationed," Brown said.
After not seeing a boat for four weeks, they were hopeful when one finally passed.
"Passed us, right past us and didn't see us so we pulled out the smoke canisters and we started doing smoke and we thought we were going to get rescued and it was gone,” Brown told us.
The next day, Dec. 29, a ship passed at the same time.
"We went down and took the mirrors out of the bathroom started flashing the sun at the bridge of the boat thinking maybe that would get their attention," Brown said.
They did that for a half-hour until the boat honked at them.
"Then we were just ecstatic, jumping up and down,” Brown said.
The Coast Guard helped them transfer boats that night, and they arrived in Hawaii several days later where he was joined by his wife and son.
"Dreaming of it at times that I was back with my family and I would wake up and I was back in the nightmare so it was scary. Just to be with them and hug them was a blessing,” Brown shared.