Come hell or high water: How three friends survived a shipwreck and a shark attack in the Gulf of Mexico

Come hell or high water: How three friends survived a shipwreck and a shark attack in the Gulf of Mexico details the October 8, 2022 ordeal of Paul Le and friends Sonny and Lu. The group set out from the Gulf near the Louisiana coast on a used 24-foot center-console Pro-Line, hoping to reach offshore oil platforms for red snapper fishing. After traveling about ten miles, the boat began taking on water below decks, then a wave swamped the vessel and the engines failed. Le’s Mayday calls went unanswered, and the bilge system could not pump out the flooding. After the boat sank, the three used two floating coolers as a makeshift raft, surviving prolonged high waves and exposure. The U.S. Coast Guard later estimated their chance of being found at less than 1%. The account is told by author Michael Tougias in In Deep Water, published June 23 by St. Martin’s Press.