Ill. Man Rescued from Capsized Ship in Indian Ocean
2 Others Remain Missing
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 | Updated 1:44 PM CST
Queequegtwo.com
Capt. Quen Cultra, Leo Sherman, Dr. Joe Strykowski, (L to R)
Rescuers have pulled an eastern Illinois man from the Indian Ocean after the sailboat he was aboard capsized, and two other crew members remain missing.
U.S. Coast Guard officials in Miami say Leo Sherman, of Gilman, Ill., was rescued Thursday. That was two days after the 43-foot catamaran Queequeg II capsized about 200 miles east of Madagascar.
Cultra's cousin, Quen Cultra, of Onarga, Ill., and Joe Strykowski, a marine naturalist from Crystal River, Fla., are still missing.
However, a report on Daily-Journal.com quoted a U.S. Coast Guard official who had more details about what Sherman told his rescuers. Apparently, Cultra was thrown overboard in the storm, and a large wave took him under, according to Sherman's satement. Strykowski survived with Sherman inside the capsized vessel for a day and a half until the water became too high and both men decided to swim out. Sherman said that Strykowski never surfaced.
Quen Cultra was a veteran sailor who built the craft, according to a Web site set up to chronicle the catamaran's planned two-year, around-the-world journey.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Chicago
Posted Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 - 1:44 PM CST
