James G. McAllister gave his pregnant wife and two young daughters an extra hug yesterday morning. Two days after being plucked from the 55-degree waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the 38-year-old Hickory Ridge man doesn't want to let go of them.
"Sometimes I think, 'Am I really here?' It's very much like being in a dreamlike state," Mr. McAllister said, describing his feelings since his rescue by the Coast Guard.
Mr. McAllister, a construction supervisor, spent nearly four hours floating in the bay Sunday morning after the 22-foot Viking pleasure craft in which he and two other men were fishing suddenly sank.
"It was fear that kept me going -- keep swimming, keep paddling," Mr. McAllister said. "During those 3 1/2 hours, there's time to think about a lot of things. I worried a lot about my wife, who is seven months pregnant, and my two daughters."
The captain of the boat, Claude Vernon Norman, 55, of Riva, also was rescued, but the third man, Wayne Eugene May, 42, of Arlington, Va., is missing and presumed dead.
Because of rough weather, the state Department of Natural Resources called off a search for him yesterday. It planned to continue looking today.
Mr. Norman was a friend of both Mr. McAllister and Mr. May. The other two men met for the first time Sunday morning.
Recalling his long ordeal yesterday, Mr. McAllister said the weather was gorgeous when the trio set off early Sunday for rockfishing.
"It was a beautiful day. Everything seemed so perfect," Mr. McAllister said. "We were three guys just going out for a few hours with coffee and doughnuts.
"Maybe we would even get back in time to watch the Redskins game."
But minutes after they stopped and dropped anchor about 8 a.m. near the mouth of the West River in southern Anne Arundel County, the wind and waves picked up and the boat began taking on water. The reason the boat sank has not been determined.
"We could not evacuate the water quickly enough," Mr. McAllister said. "We had maybe 10 or 15 seconds where it went from being serious to panic to disaster."
In those few desperate seconds, Mr. McAllister and Mr. Norman managed to put on life jackets, but Mr. May did not have time.
Mr. Norman also radioed a distress call, but was unable to give a location before the boat settled into the water with its stern down.
The three men suddenly were left floating in the water by themselves, with Mr. May holding onto a plastic gas can for support.
After first trying to swim toward a buoy, the men realized they would not be able to reach it because of the strong tide and wind.
"I got about 25 or 50 yards away from the other two," Mr. McAllister said. "I could hear them as they were calling for help in the distance."
As the hours passed, he lost track of his companions and began concentrating on his own survival.
When a crabber's boat circled Mr. McAllister's position in the water and those on board failed to see or hear him -- although he was close enough to see two silhouettes on the boat -- he decided that he would have to try to swim to shore.
"It had become futile to get anybody's attention. It required just too much energy," he said. "I tried to pick a point on the shore and use the tide and the wind to swim in."
As his hands and feet became numb and the cold brought on a nearly overwhelming desire to sleep, he saw his salvation: rescue boats heading directly toward him.
"When I hit the crest of a wave, I yelled and waved, and then they picked me up. I was so relieved," Mr McAllister said.
As Mr. McAllister learned later, Mr. Norman had been rescued about 20 minutes earlier by another boat and directed the search party of several boats toward his general location.
Without a life jacket, Mr. May apparently was overcome by the cold and drowned.
Both of the rescued men were treated for hypothermia at the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis on Sunday and released.
In the two days since his rescue, Mr. McAllister said he has had a lot of time to think.
Physically, he said, he's doing well, but mentally he's "still trying to adjust."
"All I can say is that if there is any positive to come out of this, it is that it will be a reminder to everyone, from boaters to aircraft pilots, to stress safety and not forget their safety checks," he said. "All boaters should take a few extra minutes before going out next time and every time to make sure they have proper safety precautions."
As for the next time that Mr. McAllister goes out on the water, he isn't sure when that will be -- if ever.
"I think I'm just going to start by looking out at the water," he said, "and I'll go from there."