By John Brice
Correspondent
James Michael Grimes, a 28-year-old resident of LaFayette, made international headlines recently for surviving close to twenty hours of staying afloat in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico after falling overboard from a cruise ship.
Traveling among a group of eighteen family members en route to Cozumel, Mexico on the Carnival Valor, it was on Thanksgiving Day around noon that Grimes went missing. Coast Guard personnel launched a search and successfully rescued him after he was spotted swimming approximately 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River. Lt. Seth Gross from the Coast Guard indicated that Grimes was suffering from hypothermia, shock and dehydration but was in otherwise stable condition.
Earlier that day Grimes had participated in an air guitar contest in which he won before informing his sister that he was going to use the restroom. His memories end there as he has claimed to have no recollection of falling off the boat and landing in the water.
Grimes next remembers regaining consciousness adrift without the cruise ship in sight. During his time afloat he experienced a nerve wracking encounter with a jellyfish and chewed on a stick for sustenance that he described as having a bamboo like taste.
Coast Guardsman Richard Clark Hoefle rappelled from a helicopter to rescue Grimes who at that point had stripped completely naked and was waving his socks in the air to increase his visibility. Hoefle swam over with a rescue sling upon which Grimes’ body collapsed as he had completely exhausted himself.
An ordeal which has become known as a “Thanksgiving miracle” received widespread media attention in the days this past week after the holiday. Official websites for news outlets such as the New York Post, the Associated Press, the Daily Mail, the Washington Post, the New York Times and People Magazine all posted online articles recounting the improbable survival story. Television news reports were broadcast by CBS Evening News, Inside Edition, the Today Show and CNN.
Grimes’ notoriety reached its peak with an extensive sit down interview that aired on Good Morning America. One social media user was inspired to remark at the story “Welcome home brother. Jesus will never fail you. He is our reward for our faithfulness. There is no gift better than him. Merry Christmas and give Jesus all the honor, praise and glory hallelujah to our King.”