Man Leaps Onto a Rescue Ship Over Stormy Seas With a Cat Tucked Into His Sweater

A French man and his cat, who were for some reason sailing the rough seas south of Alaska together, recently hurled themselves from their disabled boat to a waiting ship in a dramatic rescue.

3,000 miles away, Wes Anderson is jolted from his slumber. “Something eccentric is happening,” he murmurs.

The man, whose name hasn’t been released but whose 30-foot sailboat was reportedly named La Chimere (“The Chimera,” a bit of an overstatement), had reported to a Coast Guard airplane crew via radio that he’d lost his rudder and rigging in 46-mph winds. A support vessel, the Tor Viking, was sent to rescue the sailor, at which point I assume it was made clear that there was also a cat’s life on the line.

The Coast Guard has released the following video via the Associated Press, which shows the man diving headfirst over the railing of the Tor Viking. He reportedly communicated to the Coast Guard pilot beforehand that he was securing his cat “inside either his sweater or coat.”