Shrimper stranded for days in gulf after boat sinks, family says. ‘Dude is crazy tough’
In a daring tale of survival, a Louisiana shrimper was rescued after spending 55 hours stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.
A group with the Vermilion Bay Charters was out in the bay on Aug. 12 when they saw a man standing in the water, about waist deep.
The man was in a life jacket and barefoot, according to a Facebook post.
“We got him in the boat and gave him a bunch of water. A friend of mine … brought the guy to his house,” the charter group said. “He didn’t look like the pic when I found him. I gave him some dry clothes to put on.”
The man’s name was George Romero, the charter group said, a shrimper from Delcambre.
“Many of you have eaten the shrimp he has harvested,” the group said. “This guy is one tough cat and continues to build upon his legacy status as a Vermilion Bay shrimper.”
Romero’s son, Niles Romero, said on Facebook his family took Romero to the hospital and after a few liters of fluid and treatment for cuts on his legs, his father was back to normal.
“Dude is crazy tough,” Niles Romero said.
After recovering, Romero told his story, posted by his son on Facebook.
“The timeline is kinda fuzzy because Dad lost consciousness a few times and was kinda out of it during this whole deal,” Niles Romero began.
On Aug. 8, Romero went out into Vermilion Bay on his shrimping boat, Our Pride, his son wrote.
He fished for shrimp for two days, moving south into the Gulf of Mexico and through the Southwest Pass.
Around 3 a.m. on Aug. 10, the seas started to get rough, but Romero was catching big shrimp so he stayed on the water, his son said.
As the waves grew higher, a piece of the boat called an outrigger got caught on a mudflat under the surface and shoved it into the side of the boat, according to the post.
The collision knocked a hole in the hull below the water line, Romero’s son said, and the boat started to take on water.
“Dad says less than 30 seconds later he saw the boat wasn’t gonna make it, he ran into the cabin to grab his phone and maybe make a mayday call on his radio, but the waves were already smashing into the cabin. One of them knocked into the cabin door and threw him into his shower. He barely got out of the cabin,” his son wrote.
Romero was able to escape from the cabin on the back deck which was almost underwater, according to the post.
Romero climbed on top of the cabin, hoping he could call someone from the top of the rigging, his son wrote.
The waves crashed into the boat, eventually causing it to roll over, his son said. Romero jumped into the water.
“Dad says he watched the whole thing break apart,” his son wrote.
Luckily, Romero was wearing a “good inflatable” life vest, making it possible for him to tread water while he figured out a plan.
Like a scene out of a survival movie, Romero started pulling together pieces of debris leftover from Our Pride and made a makeshift raft, according to the post.
Romero floated through the night until the sun rose the next day. He used more materials to make a cover on the raft to keep himself out of the worst of the sun, his son said.
Once the cover was constructed, Romero noticed it was catching the wind, much like the sail of a boat, according to the post.
He angled the cover towards the direction of the shore, and floated in that direction for an entire day and night.
Sometime before sunrise on Aug. 11, his raft ran into a barrier island and was stuck.
His survival instincts didn’t give up, and he hopped off the raft and decided to swim and walk along the bottom toward the shore.
“He had basically floated about 10 miles west at that point,” his son said. “He did this all day Friday and into Friday night, trying to get the other 10 or so miles to Grand Chieniere.”
Finally, on Aug. 12, a charter boat noticed a man standing in the water. He was rescued.
In total, Romero estimates he was stranded in the water for 55 hours before someone spotted him, his son said.
During that time, Romero saw five big crew boats and at least a dozen helicopters that came within a quarter-mile of where he was floating or walking in the water, according to the post.
“Absolutely crazy story, it’s incredible that he survived,” his son said.
Romero lives and sells shrimp in Delcambre, about 150 west of New Orleans.
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Shrimper stranded for days in gulf after boat sinks, family says. ‘Dude is crazy tough’."
