He Scrawled 'Help' on His Boat. After 24 Days, Someone Saw It

At some point during his 24 days lost at sea, Elvis Francois scrawled the world "help" into the hull of his boat. Officials now describe that as key to his rescue, reports the AP. The man from Dominica says he was making repairs to his boat off the island of St. Martin in December when currents pulled him out to sea. CNN reports the 47-year-old said he couldn't direct his boat back to shore and and that he lacked navigational knowledge. “I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait,” Francois recalled in a video released by the Colombian navy. As for what he survived on, not much: He says he had a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder, and some stock cubes.

Cmdr. Carlos Urbano Montes told the AP on Thursday that Francois said he used a cloth to capture rainwater. In the video, he also described having to constantly remove water from the boat so that it wouldn't sink. He had a mirror to signal with and said he also tried to light a fire to create a distress signal but couldn't manage to do so. A plane finally sighted his boat and the word "help" from the air. He was located some 120 nautical miles northwest of Colombia’s Puerto Bolívar and was picked up by a passing container ship. He's described as being in good health, considering his ordeal. (This man was rescued after two days spent clinging to a buoy.)