Life Imitates Art
Shipwrecked woman saved
NEW YORK—A woman who spent 14 days in an inflatable life raft in
the Atlantic Ocean was rescued Sunday halfway between New York and Bermuda,
but her sailing partner was presumed dead. Janet Culver, 48, of Passaic,
N.J., was pulled from the dinghy into which she and Nicholas Abbott, 50, had
climbed after their 37-foot sail boat, the Anaulis, sank July 16, Coast
Guard Lt. j.g. Matthew Wannamaker said.
Wannamaker said Culver told a authorities that Abbott, apparenfly
suffering exhaustion, climbed out of the four-person raft Wednesday without
a Iife jacket. "He seemed disillusioned, maybe even slightly deranged,
according to Ms. Cuiver," Wannamaker said. A U.S. research vessel, the
Jeronimo, rescued Culver on Sunday morning 450 miles southeast of New York.
Culver was suffering exhaustion, exposure and sunburn, but otherwise
was sleeping and doing well, Wannamaker said.