Shipwrecked Naperville Man Survived on Chinese Takeout

McClow was rescued by a fishing boat three days later

Naperville sailor Richard McClow was able to survive a three-day adventure on a deserted Bahamanian Island on thanks to Chinese takeout.

The 79-year-old shipwrecked near an uninhabited scrap of land in the middle of the Caribbean Sea called Great Sale Cay en route to see his girlfriend on Abaco Island, Bahamas.

There aren’t a lot of comforts on the 370-acre island. But items from his sailboat continued to wash onshore during his three-day ordeal, his son told the Sun-Times. McClow had bottled water, bread, cheese, ketchup and “Chinese takeout,” David McClow said.

"He did say that he was running out of food, that he was ready to give up," the son said.

Luckily the skipper of a fishing vessel spotted McClow waving a white flag he fashioned from materials from his boat and came to his rescue.

David McClow spoke with his castaway father for the first time Tuesday night since he went missing. He said his father, an avid swimmer and triple-bypass survivor, isn’t keen on speaking with reporters, but that he’s ok.

"I'm exhausted and relieved," the son said, after hearing from his pops. 

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