It’s rare that a man is lost at sea and returns home looking healthier than before he disappeared.
But that’s what skeptics of Louis Jordan have pointed out as they question the 37-year-old’s miraculous account of surviving 66 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
“God knows I am a truthful man,” Jordan told the Daily Mail in response to his doubters. “My family knows I am telling the truth. The people who know me know that.”
Jordan’s saga began Jan. 23, when he set sail from the marina in Conway, S.C. He was reported missing six days later. A German tanker spotted him sitting atop his 35-foot-boat’s overturned hull 200 miles off the North Carolina coast on Thursday.
By the time cameras caught up with him, Jordan, who claims his shoulder was broken when his boat overturned, wore a backpack, declined medical help and showed “no obvious signs of injury,” according to the Daily Mail.
Despite claiming to lose 50 pounds after his canned food ran out and he was reduced to raw fish, the amateur sailor appeared robust and upbeat as he exited a rescue helicopter and walked without assistance, according to video footage.
By the time he encountered a reporter from The Associated Press, he demonstrated a “firm handshake.” However, his blue eyes, the story noted, were “weary-looking.”
Even stranger, doubters pointed out, was his skin, which looked pale and unblemished, with only the slightest hint of sunburn, according to the Daily Mail.
“We were expecting worse with blisters and severe sunburn and dehydration,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle McCollum.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, survival expert Erik Kulik of the True North Wilderness Survival School appeared to echo those remarks.
“I would have expected him to be severely dehydrated,” Kulik said. “After that amount of time at sea, he would have been wobbly on his feet, and yet he seemed to walk perfectly. He says he broke his right shoulder, and yet he didn’t even seem to be guarding that shoulder in the pictures I saw after the rescue. There is a lot that doesn’t add up.”
