HARTFORD, Conn. _ A 22-year-old man was on his way to Boston on Monday aboard the cargo ship that rescued him from the Atlantic Ocean, eight days after he and his mother disappeared while on a fishing trip.
Nathan Carman, who grew up in Middletown and now lives in Vermont, told the U.S. Coast Guard that he escaped his 31-foot aluminum boat in a life raft Sept. 18 as the vessel was taking on water in deep ocean off the coast of New York. He told authorities he could not find his mother, Linda Carman, 54, of Middletown, who has not been heard from since she let friends know the two were heading out from Point Judith, R.I., on an overnight fishing trip on Sept. 17.
Friends said Monday that they were still holding out hope that Linda Carman would be found safely, though the chances were growing slimmer.
Nathan Carman was in "good condition" on board the Orient Lucky, the freighter that came upon his raft drifting in the ocean Sunday more than 100 nautical miles south of Martha's Vineyard, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard spoke with Carman briefly after he was pulled from the life raft and plans to interview him once the Orient Lucky makes it to Boston, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicole Groll.
The Carmans were scheduled to return from their fishing trip on Sept. 18, according to the plans they left with friends and family. When they didn't return as scheduled, the Coast Guard launched a six-day search that covered 62,000 nautical miles off the Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York coastlines.
The search was called off Friday, and Carman was found two days later.
Carman told the Coast Guard the boat began taking on water and sank near Block Canyon off the coast of New York. Groll said that because of the depth of the water there, it would not be feasible to recover the vessel if it sank to the bottom.
The Coast Guard did not plan to resume its search for Linda Carman. Groll said the mother's disappearance was "beyond the survivability window," a determination that takes into account time passed, water conditions, the availability of food and drinkable water, and other factors.
"A decision to suspend a case is never easy," she said. "However, we are not going to reopen the search for Linda Carman."
Nathan Carman was found in a raft that had been part of the boat's safety equipment, Groll said. The area where the raft was found had been covered in the earlier search, she said.
"We searched over 62,000 nautical miles. We were extremely thorough," Groll said. "We searched until all possible avenues were exhausted."
Still, family and friends say they are praying for Linda Carman's return and are still asking people to watch for any signs of her or her boat.
"The chances are really slim and we understand that, but we have hope," said Linda Carman's longtime friend Sharon Hartstein. "She's a strong person."
Hartstein said Carman was a generous and thoughtful friend who "addressed her friends' needs whether they knew they needed it or not" and worked providing in-home care for families of children with disabilities. She would frequently buy extra groceries to donate to St. Vincent de Paul Middletown, which operates the local food pantry and soup kitchen.
Linda and Nathan Carman were planning to travel to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean in December, Hartstein said.
"It's great someone was found. Nathan was kind of private, but I've been friends with Linda forever. I want her here too," Hartstein said. "The world's not going to be the same without her."
Groll did not know the Orient Lucky's origin.
The freighter will be met by Coast Guard officials when it arrives Tuesday, she said.
Hartford attorney Hubert Santos said his company also plans to have someone there.
"We are Nathan Carman's attorneys and we are trying to reach him and we plan on having someone in Boston when the boat docks," said Santos, who said he previously represented Nathan Carman in another matter.
Santos said his office has contacted the Coast Guard as well as U.S. attorney's offices in Connecticut and Massachusetts to let them know that whether "he needs a lawyer or not" Carman has an attorney who wants to be present before any interviews are done.
Nathan Carman grew up in Middletown but moved to Vermont a few years ago. Hartstein said mother and son would regularly meet up, at least once a month, to go fishing, a hobby they shared.
Hartstein said Carman's sisters were communicating regularly with the Coast Guard, and Hartstein has also been in touch with Clark Carman, Nathan's father and Linda's ex-husband, who lives in California.
Nathan Carman in 2011 was the subject of a multistate search when he unexpectedly left town at 17 years old and turned up four days later in Virginia. Linda Carman told The Hartford Courant at the time that Nathan, who has Asperger syndrome, had an incredibly close bond with his horse Cruise and was devastated when the horse died.
His sadness caused him to leave home, but his family did not know his intended destination.
