PORT CANAVERAL — Martha Jackson was watching a wedding video with her nephew when she heard the splash.

Soon after, the Nashville, Tenn., woman heard a man yelling.

“You could hear him hollering for help,” said Jackson, who was on the last night of a four-night cruise to the Bahamas.

Authorities have not released the name of the 34-year-old Philadelphia man who jumped from his sixth-deck suite aboard the Carnival Sensation late Wednesday. The man, who was on the cruise celebrating his wedding anniversary, was rescued 1 1/2 hours later by the Disney cruise ship Wonder off the coast of southern St. Lucie County.

He is being treated in a local hospital on Thursday for injuries to his back as well as mental illness.

“Two things saved his life. He knew how to swim and hold on to hope, and he was wearing a white T-shirt beneath a full moon. The white T-shirt made it easier for them to see him,” said Johnny Gonzalez of the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami.

“He was a little tired, but in good condition,” Gonzalez said.

Officials with Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and Carnival Cruise Line confirmed that the man intentionally jumped from the ship about 11:15 p.m. after an argument with his wife. The ship was nearly 28 nautical miles east of Port St. Lucie.

The Coast Guard launched a search helicopter and a 47-foot-long rescue boat from Fort Pierce. An alert also went out to seagoing vessels to assist with the search.

Crews from the Wonder, which was also returning from a Bahamian cruise, pulled the man from the Atlantic Ocean at about 12:45 a.m. Thursday. Both ships are based out of Port Canaveral.

Jackson said the man’s wife gave her the following account of the events before the husband went overboard:

The husband, who had been battling severe depression recently, had been drinking that night and the couple argued.

The wife said she went into the suite’s bathroom. When she came out, her husband was teetering on the ledge of their balcony.

She rushed to him, but he jumped, Jackson said.

“We came out to see what was going on and we saw a woman who said her husband jumped overboard,” Jackson said. “She was just hysterical.”

Jackson said she stayed with the wife and called the wife’s mother for her twice.

Meanwhile, the Sensation captain performed a maneuver designed to bring the ship back to the area where the man jumped, Carnival Cruise spokeswoman Jennifer De La Cruz said. The crew also sent out an alert to other boats that a man was in the water.

“It’s just terrific that this gentleman was found,” she said.

Passengers aboard Disney’s Wonder said they felt the ship slow down, back up and do U-turns at around midnight.

Larry Watts of Rochester, N.Y., was on his room’s balcony when he thought he heard crew members say “man overboard.”

Soon after, he saw a Coast Guard helicopter hovering overhead and people throwing lighted life preservers into the water. Watts, however, said Disney cruise staff told him there was “no emergency” when he called them to see if the commotion was a drill or a real rescue.

Watts, a Navy veteran, said he was surprised that the man was rescued.

“Anytime you go in the ocean, especially at night, you are lucky to have other ships in the area,” he said.

Brevard County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike DeMorat said the incident was not a criminal case and the man will not face charges.

Joseph Marte from New York City said he could hear the man yelling for help as he videotaped the rescue from the top deck. He said he believes the man survived because he was able to swim.

“I told the people around me if you know how to swim you can hold on for 20 or 30 minutes,” he said.

By SUSANNE CERVENKA and J.D. GALLOP, Florida Today

Tags: author, bahamas, boat, boating, celebrities, depressed, disney, drinking, emergency, Florida, holdings, hospital, ill, illness, man, Miami, mother, name, nephew, saw, search, sheriff, tires, video, water, wedding, wife, woman

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