Story Archive

Walking on Water — Not for the Faint of Heart

The U.S. Coast Guard ship Neah Bay was patrolling Lake St. Clair, Mich., when they spotted a man walking across the ice — about 8-1/2 miles from land. The crew contacted, and then rescued, the man. “He was in the beginning stages of hypothermia,” commanding officer Lt. Joshua Zike said. The unnamed 25-year-old man told crew members he had left Detroit two nights before and had spent the previous night in the Crib Lighthouse, about 20 miles from his starting point. He had a backpack with food, clothes, a sleeping bag, and a tarp. His goal: to walk from Detroit to Toronto — across the lake. But according to one of the rescuers, the man was not dressed for the –6 degree wind chill, and had no flotation or communication devices. “If he would have been out there for hours longer he would have been in bad shape,” said Petty Officer Scott Sjostrom. “He’s lucky we were where we were because if he would have gone through the ice or gotten lost, there was no one out there to find him.” (MS/Port Huron Times Herald) ...His backup plan was to sleep with the fishes.