Friends Cheer as the Rescued Fisherman's Boat Docks in Montauk

The Anna Mary returned to its dock in Montauk Harbor to a crowd of well-wishers elated that a member of the commercial fishing boat's crew had been found alive after he went overboard earlier that day. 

Singer-songwriter Nancy Atlas, who is friends with the boat captain Anthony Sosinski, was on the dock when the boat pulled in seven hours after his mate, John Aldridge, was plucked form the ocean 43 miles south of Montauk Point.

In an interview on Thursday morning, Sosinski said the rescue was "miraculous." 

He said Aldridge went overboard when a cooler handle broke. Despite wearing no life vest, he managed to stay afloat by making a floatation device out of his boots. He carried a knife in his pocket that he was able to use to cut a buoy while he was drifting. 

As he struggled to stay afloat, he could see sun fish and porpoises in the water, Sosinski said. Birds pecked at his face and crustaceans that were in the lines of the buoy crawled onto him and tried to get in his mouth. 

After Aldridge was found, he was flown to Falmouth Hospital in Massachusetts, where he was treated for hypothermia and dehydration, according to the Coast Guard. Newsday said Aldridge was so badly sunburned that he was hot to the touch.

When Sosinski returned to port Wednesday night, his friends were cheering. "His buddies jumped aboard and gave a bear hugs. A gorgeous red moon rising. It was very deep. Very real. Very Montauk," Atlas said. 

Earlier in the afternoon, fishing vessels that had helped in the search for Aldridge returned to the docks — honking their horns while people on the dock clapped and cheered. 

Soon after Aldridge was found, the jokes began. "We were drinking because he was lost, now we're drinking because he's found," said Dan Keough from the Dock restaurant and bar. He has known Aldridge since elementary school. "We should rename him Johnny Float."

An amusing note was left for Aldridge on the chalkboard outside of the Dock restaurant, near where the Anna Mary, calls home. 

With reporting by Andrew Lenoir