2 Divers Survive 12 Hours in 57-Degree Ocean Waters

Two divers rescued by a freighter after spending more than 12 hours in 57-degree water in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego said wetsuits saved them from drowning.

Michael Harris of San Diego and Robert Doan of El Cajon landed in the water after their boat capsized about 11 a.m. Sunday. They were brought north to San Pedro and turned over to the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday morning by the freighter Nauticus Mexico.

The men were in their 14-foot recreational vessel Sunday when it developed engine trouble. While they were trying to fix the engine, the boat was swamped by heavy seas.

Harris told the Coast Guard that the two men had signal equipment, but that many ships passed them by before they were picked up about midnight.

Both men were said by a Coast Guard spokesman to have arrived in San Pedro in good condition, and a few hours later they drove back to the San Diego area.

Coast Guard spokesman Lance Jones said that in water so chilly, “you would have hypothermia and die within anywhere from five and eight hours.” He said Harris told him, “It was our wetsuits that kept us going all the way.”