Charles and Lilly, a French couple, were sailing a steel boat which they had made themselves. When they were in the Caribbean, they decided to anchor in the lee of Aves Island, which was nothing more than a big sand bar about 120 miles west of Dominica. They had wanted to watch the turtles come in at night to lay their eggs. They took their dinghy ashore with some sleeping bags and food for dinner and breakfast the next morning. However, that night a front came through and the sea started to build. The next morning the surf was so high that they could not launch their dinghy. Then before their horror filled eyes, they watched as their boat as it dragged anchor and drifted off into the ocean out of sight. Thirty six hours later, just as night was falling, they saw a freighter coming towards the island. They lit a fire with matches they had brought ashore with them and driftwood they found on the beach. The freighter began to shine a signaling light on them. Believe they were rescued, the launched the dinghy in the now calmer sea and started to motor out towards the freighter, only to watch the freighter continue on by and disappear over the horizon. Heart fallen, they turned back towards Aves, only to realize that they could not see the tiny sand bar of an island and didn’t even know which way it was. Just as they became convinced they were doomed, they saw the freighter coming back up over the horizon. Apparently the freighter had need to turnaround to stop. When they were brought up to the bridge to meet the captain, they told him the story of their boat dragging anchor and drifting away. The Captain looked at them and said, “Yes I know! We have your boat in tow!”