Morgan saw that clouds to the north had darkened the skies over the city. She asked Carlo to put the motor on and head to shore as two lightning bolts crackled behind the boat. Within seconds, the sunlit sky above them had turned dark. Whitecaps sprang up on the water, and sheets of rain began to batter the boat. Morgan jumped up to get a life jacket from the cabin. Before she could grab one, a powerful gust slammed into the boat, tilting the sloop onto its side and sending the mainsail into the water. As the boat tipped, Morgan lost her balance and tumbled onto the rail. Looking facedown into the waves and fearing the boat was capsizing, she made a split-second decision—"I'll be safer in the water" and jumped into the bay.
As Morgan floundered in the waves, Fraizzoli righted the boat. He threw her a life preserver. It slipped through her hands as the current began to pull the boat away from her. Fraizzoli started the motor and steered the boat toward the sound of her voice. She missed it, and the motor stalled. Morgan watched the powerless boat drift away and out of sight. It was after 9 p.m.
Morgan wasn't a strong swimmer and wasn't wearing a life jacket. She started swimming toward dim lights on the shore, about two miles away. Then, directly ahead of her, she saw an enormous looming shape: a 200-foot barge, being towed by a tugboat. She'd been pulled into the middle of a shipping channel.
The barge is going to run her over, Fraizzoli thought. The mainsail was in tatters, shredded by the repeated pounding of 60 mph winds. The docking line was now wrapped around the propeller of the outboard motor, jamming it. Fraizzoli had left his ship-to-shore radio at home in Baltimore. Suddenly, he remembered Morgan's cell phone and dug for it in her purse. He punched in 911. Fraizzoli was unsure of his location but rescuers would determine the coordinates of the boat by tracking the cell phone signal.
Morgan, meanwhile, swam away from the barge. After the hulking vessel passed her, she began a frenzied crawl stroke, knowing that in the darkness, another ship could run her down. But the waves kept coming at her. She tried diving underneath them. Her arms burned, her legs dragged, and her heart hammered so hard in her chest that she gasped for air. She felt fear gnawing at her. Morgan spotted the lighthouse off Gibson Island. Thinking there might be a ladder, she headed toward it. But the ladder was set high above the water to deter vandals. In the distance, she could see lights along the shore. She headed for them.
By 10 p.m. rescue boats were nearing Fraizzoli's sloop. Fraizzoli described to the rescue crews the last place he thought he'd seen Morgan. They assumed Morgan had attempted to swim toward shore, so they steered the boat slowly back and forth along the two-mile-wide strip of water between the shipping lane and Gibson Island, stopping every few minutes to look and listen.
A fireboat scanned the waves with a handheld spotlight. The water temperature was a survivable 60-plus degrees, but the relentless pounding of the waves was sure to exhaust even an experienced swimmer. Morgan would have been in the water for nearly two hours by now. Fire officials were preparing to switch the mission from a rescue to a body retrieval. Suddenly someone shouted, “I think I heard somebody scream.” They stopped the engines. The men strained to hear.
Morgan had seen the boat's searchlight and yelled. But her strength was failing.
The men shut down the motor twice more so they could listen. Finally, the spotlight shone on Morgan's head. The men shouted and held out the boat hook so Morgan could reach the life jacket they had hung from it. She grabbed at it but missed. Morgan summoned a final bit of strength and paddled toward the boat. They dropped her a life ring, then reached toward her and grabbed her arm. Three men were able to maneuver her along the side of the boat to the swim platform at the stern. They hauled her on board, where she collapsed. Taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, Morgan was treated for dehydration and exhaustion and released after a few hours.
Fraizzoli and Morgan did marry, two months after her rescue, at the Baltimore city courthouse. He credits the near tragedy for bringing the two of them closer. "I realized I didn't want to lose her again."
READING COMPREHENSION
Read the text about a terrifying experience of a woman in the sea. Then read through sentences 1 to 7, choose the option (A, B or C) which best expresses the information in the text and write the letter in the corresponding box on the right.
Question 0 has been completed as an example.
Example:
0. Patricia Morgan and Carlo Fraizzoli wanted …
A to go to a beach and relax.
B to take part in boat race.
C to visit the Magothy River.
1. During the storm Morgan was unable to catch a life jacket because …
A A strong wave swept the life jacket off the board.
B it was dark and raining hard.
C the rough sea prevented her from doing so.
2. Morgan jumped into the sea because …
A she feared the boat would overturn and sink.
B she was unbalanced and about to fall.
C water was coming quickly into the damaged boat.
3. Morgan and Fraizzoli separated in the dark because …
A Fraizzoli couldn’t see where she was.
B the boat motor stopped working.
C the sea currents were too strong.
4. Morgan’s first life-threatening danger was …
A being an inexperienced swimmer in the sea.
B being in the middle of a marine route.
C swimming to the distant shore without a life jacket.
5. After struggling in the water for a while, Morgan’s main concern was …
A being drowned by the huge waves.
B not knowing where to go.
C running out of energy.
6. The rescue services tried to find Morgan by …
A going to the last place where she was seen.
B patrolling across an area near the ship routes.
C searching Gibson Island shores.
7. Morgan was finally rescued when …
A she made herself heard in the dark.
B the rescue crews had thought her dead.
C She was able to grab a life jacket.
ANSWER KEY
1. C 2. A 3. B 4. B 5. C 6. B 7. A
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