Seven days between life and death The incredible survival story of a fisherman who refused to die after boat capsized

For nearly a week, fisherman Marcell Cameron stared death in the face. Lost in the vast, unforgiving Caribbean Sea, surrounded by thousands of feet of dark water and with no guarantee that help would ever come, the 32-year-old clung to a single belief:

“God mi naah dead, mi a mek it home to mi son and mi family.” 

Those words became his lifeline as he drifted through days of scorching heat, crippling thirst, sleepless nights and terrifying uncertainty aboard an overturned fishing boat. 

Cameron was along with three fishermen who left Whitehouse in Westmoreland about 8 p.m. on June 5, and headed to the Pedro Cays, located about 90 miles south-west of Jamaica. They did not get there, as what began as a routine trip quickly turned into a nightmare when their vessel started taking on water in the darkness.

 “Wi a go good, good and normal,” Cameron recalled.  He said the vessel was equipped with Starlink WiFi, which allowed him to stay in contact with his family while he lay aboard. However, he explained that the storage section of the boat was empty and water eventually began seeping in. He realised the vessel had tilted and was leaning heavily to one side and so he alerted the captain.

Moments later, panic erupted.

“I see the captain push him head through the window and seh, ‘Throw weh dem fast! Dash weh dem! Dash weh gas, dash weh water!”

The crew desperately tossed supplies overboard in a race to keep the vessel afloat. Then disaster struck.

“As mi fi dash weh two first bottle it’s like a wave come and just dash over the engine and jump in the boat, and mi seh, ‘Awah this Father God?’ Mi see the engine naa move, mi a say God, wa this?”

For the seasoned fisherman, the reality was chilling. They were stranded far from land in what he described as the deepest part of the ocean.

“Mi know mi deh inna the ocean ocean, the God Almighty deep water, some 2000-3000 feet a water. Mi a say, wah this God?”

His voice softened as he remembered the fear.

“Mi have little shaking in my foot and there’s a little youth on the boat and I heard when him like bawl out say him a guh dead lef him mother … . Mi seh ,yow, you naa dead. Grab a life jacket and do what I say.”

Even while comforting the younger crew member, Cameron admitted he was battling fear himself.

The boat eventually flipped completely over, throwing the men into a desperate struggle for survival.

“The boat don’t directly sink go under the water bottom, but everything just start bruk off and mi think it was going to sink. But the boat just turn go right over and the top deh at the bottom and the bottom at the top, so we were in the sea.”

As dawn broke the following morning, the three men found themselves stranded atop the hull of the overturned vessel, battered by waves and drifting farther into uncertainty.

They believed rescue would come quickly.

It didn't.

Hours became days.

Hope slowly gave way to survival mode.

Food intended for shops in Pedro Cays became their only source of nourishment. He recalled rationing what little food was available aboard the vessel as they drifted at sea, surviving on a handful of supplies that quickly ran down. Among the limited provisions were seven bottles of Bigga soda, bulla, bun, and six cans of baked beans. They also ate six packets of Lasco milk powder dry, as there was nothing available to mix it with, forcing them to endure days on survival rations while adrift.

But while food helped keep them alive, the little water they managed to save was ripped away by rough seas.

“Mi see ongle water and affi chuck off go for it, tie it up and to how the weather is rough, it buss off in the evening, so we didn’t have water but we had food.”

Soon, thirst became torture.

“To how mi thirsty I had to cut up my shirt chew it up so I get my saliva to swallow, just chew it up so it spring saliva, or, when it rain, we open up wi mouth to taste water,” he recalled.

On Sunday, two days into the ordeal, hope briefly returned.

“The current bring back the boat, we start see every light in Jamaica and mi a say, ‘Look how God good, the boat a drift right back to Jamaica’.”

Even more encouraging was the sight of a Coast Guard vessel, which appeared on the horizon. Believing their nightmare was over, the men waved frantically, hoping to be rescued.

But it didn’t happen.

“We take off our shirt and signal. The boat came so close, the boat nuh see we and make a U-turn. A desso hell bruk loose.”

Watching their chance of rescue disappear was almost too much to bear.

Still, Cameron refused to surrender.

“Some rain, some breeze, mi affi put the youth and say ‘lay down. When u see the wave a come hold your breath’. Jesus, from wi nuh dead Monday we have a chance.”

By Wednesday, the overturned boat was rapidly falling apart.

“Mi tell them we just have two days with this and, when the bow break, it’s under we a go. I can see the captain gave up, the youth gave up. One time mi affi just box him and talk life into him and tell him dem can’t break mi down...”

At night, conditions became almost unbearable.

“The three a wi hug up tight fi get body heat. We not even did a get body heat, but it feel better because it’s survival.”

“A just God. A just God. Mi foot dem swell up, we cold, and guess what? Every night ship pass we like 200 or 300 feet. When we see how much ship pass in the night and in the day, nothing, I just had to talk to God.”

Again and again, he prayed.

“I say, ‘God you know my ins and out, I am not a bad person. Mi never do nothing for my body to lef a sea and my family can’t bury me. A so mi a talk God over and over.”

Then came another crushing moment.

A helicopter appeared overhead.

“I don’t know where I got the strength and I jump up and wave. The helicopter just a circle we and then just fly weh back.  Mi a say yow, mankind heart wicked. Because mi think a foreign nationals a run down drugs boat or something, because them really pause over we head and nuh help we.”

For the first time, Cameron's faith wavered.

“Mi start picture mi son, mi family mi ... .”

His voice cracked as he struggled to continue.

But, just when he thought all hope was gone, deliverance arrived.

“The day when we got rescued, after 7 or 8 p.m., I hear helicopter and not even a budge because I thought it was the sound in my head. And, when mi look up, mi see two helicopter with bright light. Mi seh, ‘God you good’. Mi cry! Mi cry! Mi cry!”

 “Dem start throw down some things. I don’t know where I got the strength to secure the things to bring back to the man on the boat. The floaty thing had some marine food and we eat those. We were on the last when they came. So who could it be but God?”

After days drifting between life and death, the men were rescued. When the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard boat arrived shortly after, Cameron said he could barely stand. After days of battling the sea, thirst, fear and the possibility of never seeing his loved ones again, his body finally gave out.

“As mi reach on the Coast Guard mi just drop and mi know mi just go close to engine room. I don’t even know how, and them bring we to Kingston.”

Now safely back on land, nursing severe sunburn and swollen feet, Cameron remains overwhelmed by one thought — that he should not be here.

“Mi nuh do nothing. A just God, a just God. Oh God, a him do every single thing.”