After Gulf conditions off the Florida panhandle changed rapidly, one resident attempted to rescue three people trapped in a capsized houseboat.
Another boat saw what was happening and came to help—and even rescue—the rescuer, demonstrating the diffusion of heroism among the folks of the Florida Gulf community.
It started last Friday when Travis Brady and his friends left the Panama City marina on the opening day of red snapper season with storm clouds coming fast behind them. Loathe to miss the chance for a big catch, they nevertheless decided to call it a day early when the water became smattered with 5-6 foot waves.
On the way back to the marina, they saw a houseboat—a floating general store that served watermen near a sandbar, had broken free from its moorings. As Brady and his friends approached they saw another boat had already arrived, and its owner was attempting to rescue three people trapped in the houseboat.
That rescuer, later identified as Boyd Jordan, jumped in the water, smashed the window, and helped all three people out after the houseboat capsized.
“He is the true hero of this story,” Brady told WJHG. “Without hesitation, he was just in the water helping those people.”
That’s when Brady and his friends arrived dodging debris and waves to throw a life jacket to Jordan with a line attached to it; the houseboat’s occupants were already wearing life jackets.
Hauling Jordan aboard their already overcrowded fishing boat, they then guided the stranded individuals to the sandbar where they were able to walk ashore. Brady then took Jordan his own boat before it crashed into the seawall.
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