Cruise Ship Rescues Sailor Off Oregon Coast

A luxury cruise ship ended up playing lifeboat in the North Pacific. Silversea's Silver Whisper diverted roughly 120 miles from its route to Vancouver last week to rescue a 74-year-old Canadian sailor whose 29-foot boat had been crippled in gale-force conditions nearly 500 miles off Oregon, the US Coast Guard says. The solo sailor, en route from Hawaii to Vancouver on a passage he'd completed four times before, lost his mast and his engine, and injured his shoulder while battling 30-foot seas, reports USA Today.

A satellite communicator allowed him to call for help, and the Coast Guard coordinated with the nearby cruise ship. The smaller vessel was too far from shore for a helicopter rescue, notes the Maritime Executive. Crew members pulled him aboard the Silver Whisper, where the ship's medical staff treated him until the vessel reached Vancouver. A Coast Guard official credited the man's preparation—and the cruise ship's cooperation—with preventing a tragedy. See photos here. The incident follows a separate May rescue in which a Carnival ship picked up nine people from a distressed vessel in the Caribbean.