WHAT HAPPENED TO MICHAEL ROCKEFELLER? - PART 2 “I THINK I CAN MAKE IT.” Those were Michael Rockefeller’s last words, before starting a 3-5 mile swim to shore from an overturned canoe in the Arafura Sea. Could Michael have made it ashore? Did he succumb to exhaustion or was he swept out to sea by the strong tides? His companion, anthropologist Rene Wassing wisely stayed with the overturned catamaran, clinging to the hulls and was rescued the next day. Two native boys who were with them when the craft capsized and swam for shore immediately had in fact made it ashore and put out the alarm. Rescue aircraft from the Dutch Navy spotted Wassing, dropped a raft, and he lived to tell the tale. Had Michael stayed with the boat he would very likely be alive today. But what about the swim itself? Michael was known as “a strong swimmer,” according to Rene Wassing. NFL player Rob Konrad recently swam 9 miles after falling overboard from a boat in Florida, time/3664944/rob-konrad-swim-to-shore/ with no flotation device. Rene (admittedly not a strong swimmer) watched Michael tie two empty gas cans to his belt for flotation, and start out for shore, shortly after dawn on the second day. Michael’s head and the two little red dots of the empty cans got smaller and smaller, until they could no longer be seen. “That was the last I saw of Michael Rockefeller,” said Wassing. “I realized that Michael, my friend, probably was lost.” But was he? TO BE CONTINUED…
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 21:35:57 +0000
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