Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues, a fisherman embarked on a ocean voyage from Oiapoque, Brazil to an island off the coast of French Guiana called Ilet la Mere.
Along the way, the 44-year-old’s wooden boat sank after taking on too much water, forcing the fisherman to jump into a freezer he had onboard.
Luckily for the fisherman, he was smart enough to bring a full sized fridge as opposed to a mini fridge. However, a mini fridge could’ve been used as a life ring in theory if he flipped the fridge on its back and sat inside its open door perhaps.
Rodrigues was stranded at sea for 11 days until a fishing boat off the coast of Suriname, which borders French Guiana spotted him and reeled him in quite literally by throwing him a life ring which he held tight as the crew pulled him aboard.
The fisherman’s rescue
“I heard a noise and there was a boat above the freezer, except they thought there was no one there. Then they slowly got closer, my vision was fading, and then I said, ‘My God, the boat’. I raised my arms and asked for help. ” said Rodrigues.
The fisherman was found 280 miles away from where his boat sank.
“I thought I was going to be attacked by sharks because there are lots of curious fish on the high seas.”
Gratitude for refrigerators
The fisherman had suffered from sunstroke, dehydration and disorientation. He believes he lost around 11 kilograms and his rescuers provided him with porridge and water.
“What troubled me most was the thirst. This fridge, for me, was a miracle.”
After being rescued, the Rodrigues was arrested by the police and held in custody for 16 days at a prison in Paramibo.
Officer Luis Carlos Porto stated that Rodrigues had trouble with his vision due to the excessive heat, salt and light but was in good health.
The wounds on his body were much better by the time he was allowed to go home.
Upon his release from prison, Rodrigues stated:
“I was born again.”
While fridges have helped people survive at sea, so have beach balls as another man managed to survive 18 hours at sea clinging to a child deflated ball.