By RICHARD STEWART
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

ANGLETON — Two fishermen who spent two days and nights in the turbulent Gulf of Mexico after their boat overturned said they never doubted that they would be rescued.
"It wasn't something we even considered," Aaron Pilcher, a 29-year-old electrician, said Friday of the idea that the pair might not survive. "We always knew we would make it."

But friends and family of Pilcher and his fishing buddy Michael Prahm Jr., 27, said the two were very lucky to have made it. Pilcher spent more than 39 hours in the water, Prahm 42. They had drifted more than 20 miles.

Sunburned and weaving from fatigue, the two seemed otherwise fit when they were reunited with friends Friday morning. Prahm had exchanged his wet T-shirt for a blue U.S. Coast Guard shirt. Pilcher was wearing a small blanket wrapped around his shoulders. A friend lent him his shoes.

Pilcher said from his hospital bed in the emergency room of Angleton Danbury Hospital that he had no idea where he got the strength to climb up the barnacle-encrusted leg of an offshore oil platform about 3:30 a.m. Friday after swimming all night.

"All I knew was that there are two things on every platform — water and a telephone," he said. "And I wanted water, and I wanted to telephone my family."

He also wanted to help the U.S. Coast Guard find his longtime friend who was still in the water. The 87-foot-long Coast Guard patrol boat Amberjack picked up Prahm about two miles from the platform at 6 a.m. A Coast Guard helicopter flew both men to the Brazoria County Airport, where they were reunited with family and friends.

They then went to the hospital in Angleton, where they were administered intravenous fluids and treated for sunburn and cuts and scrapes. The men reported that they were bitten by small fish, but never saw any sharks during their ordeal. Pilcher was scraped by barnacles on his arms and legs while climbing up the rig.

Prahm said that while he was in the water he started to hallucinate. "I thought the helicopters were big Transformers," he said, recalling toys he had as a child that transformed from ordinary vehicles into robots.


Ordeal begins

Their ordeal began at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when they left a Freeport boat launch for a fishing trip, something the two Friendswood men had done many times before.
They rode the 23-foot-long Mako boat owned by Prahm's family to a popular offshore fishing spot called the 22 1/2 Fathom Lump, about 36 miles offshore, and soon started catching fish.

About noon they noticed the boat was taking on water. Just as they turned on the two-way radio to send a mayday call, the boat capsized. "It just flipped over," Prahm said. "We only had time to grab our life preservers."

It was the life preservers that probably saved them, said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers. "They were lucky, but more than that they were smart," Eggers said.

The life jackets the men had were the heavy-duty type used offshore and not the lighter-duty types often worn by recreational boaters or water skiers. "Those lighter life vests would not have stood up to that much time in the water," Eggers said.

The men also salvaged three small bottles of water. They shared two of them, but lost the other. They scrambled aboard a small area of the underside of the boat that was still sticking out of the water and waited for rescue. Waves kept washing over them.

At about 9 p.m. Wednesday, family members notified the Coast Guard that the pair were overdue.

Wednesday night brought squalls. "There was 10- and 12-foot seas," Pilcher said.

They knew searchers were looking for them because they often saw Coast Guard helicopters and airplanes in the area. But none came over them.

Pilcher said at one time he fired a flare to try to attract the attention of one of the helicopters, but it wasn't seen.

Thursday night they drifted to within a half-mile of an oil platform and about 9 p.m. they decided to leave the boat and try to swim to it.

"We thought we could make it," Prahm said, "but a strong rip current got hold of us and carried us away."

They drifted close to another rig and Prahm told Pilcher that he was too weak to swim to it. He urged his friend to swim for help.

Climbing about 15 feet up the big metal pipe that formed one leg of the platform took strength he didn't know he still had. "I just know I wanted water," he said.


Crew surprised

He walked through a door into the galley of the platform, surprising the crew. "They wanted to know how I got on their rig," he said.
He telephoned his wife, Crystal, who informed the Coast Guard.

Knowing Pilcher was safe, the searchers concentrated all their resources in finding Prahm. He was picked up at 6 a.m. Friday

Sitting next to her husband in the emergency room, Crystal Pilcher said it may be a long time before she lets her husband go fishing offshore again. "I think we'll just stay on the lake where we can see the shore," she said.

Pilcher's grandfather, Wallace Pilcher, was a little more colorful. "I hope they outlaw eating fish," he said.

Prahm's father, Michael Prahm Sr., said he isn't worried about the boat, which is still missing. "We'll just offer it up to the sea," he said. "At least I got my firstborn back."

The fishermen said all they want to do now is rest and get over their sunburn. Prahm, who graduated from the University of Houston Saturday with a degree in chemical engineering, is also looking for a job.

Pilcher's father, Vic Pilcher, was philosophical about the whole ordeal. "It isn't often that the sea gives somebody back," he said.

Eggers said the many Coast Guard personnel involved were elated that the fishermen were recovered. "We love happy endings," he said.