Man swims 5 hours to shore as family holds onto capsized boat.

[elleng]

A man swam 5 hours, resting once on a crab pot buoy, toward shore to help his family after their boat capsized two miles off the shore of Maryland.

Once he reached land, John Franklin Riggs climbed rocks along the shoreline in the dark and knocked on the door of the first house he saw early Wednesday.

Angela Byrd, who lives at that house, may have slept through Riggs' knocks had it not been for her dog, the Daily Times reported. "He came to the right house," Ms. Byrd told the paper. “He said, ‘I’ve been swimming since sundown; I need help.'". . .

Sgt. Brian Albert of the Maryland Natural Resources Police says life jackets saved the boaters after the boat capsized near Deal Island southwest of Salisbury, on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/0712/Man-swims-5-hours-to-shore-as-family-holds-onto-capsized-boat?nav=128-csm_category-topStories

[roguevalley]

1. heroism happens when there's nothing else to do. God bless this man and his family

I needed this story. Thank you.