Ships That Pass

As poor a swimmer as many sailors, Italian Seaman Garguilo Francesco, 33, 15 years at sea, had never been able to stay afloat more than a few floundering minutes. But he got better one day last week. Taking a break between deck chores aboard the Liberian-flag White River, 70 miles out of Norfolk with a cargo of coal for Rotterdam, Francesco sat comfortably on the stern rail--and, plop, fell overboard. Unnoticed, he paddled to keep his head up, watched his ship disappear serenely over the horizon.

Two and a half hours later, a speck in the vastness of the Atlantic, Francesco's head just happened to fall under the eye of a startled lookout aboard the U.S.S. Kittiwake, a Navy submarine rescue ship headed into Norfolk. Too busy staying afloat to look up as rescuers drew alongside in a small boat, Francesco muttered, "All I could see was death."

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