PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Prayers, scripture verses and gospel songs helped two men survive a harrowing 15-hour ordeal of waves and winds until they were rescued by a passing fishing boat after their boat capsized in the chilly waters off the Massachusetts coast, one of the men said Sunday.
The New Hampshire men spent Friday night sitting on a plank over two hulls of a 25-foot (7.5-meter) trimaran as waves left them soaked and cold.
George Reynolds told The Associated Press he and Fred Schaeffer prayed for strength and calm seas and winds as their muscles cramped and they violently shivered as they tried to stay warm.
"It was a real test of my faith," Reynolds, of Derry, said in a telephone interview from his home. "I said, 'Lord, whatever your will is I'm in the mercy of your hands, and if this is going to be the end I'm trusting in your mercy.'"
Reynolds, 62, and Schaeffer, of Raymond, who's in his late 40s, put Reynolds' boat, the "Ark Angel," in the water in Salem, Massachusetts, on Friday with plans to sail to Boston. But with winds blowing hard and the boat flying along at more than 25 knots (46 kph), they decided part-way through the trip that it would be safer to turn back toward Salem.