The event: A ship from East Germany was sailing past the Florida Keys to Cuba circa 1970, carrying some eastern europeans bound for a Cuba vacation. One man headed for such a vacation had been corresponding with his brother who lived in the US. No specific plan was made, but the US brother wrote back and told his sib that he’d be vacationing in Florida while his brother was sailing past.
Said brother chartered a boat, and sailed out alongside the East German ship at night. The East German saw the boat alongside, assumed his brother was on it, and jumped into the sea. 3 others on the ship saw what happened, and jumped in also.
All 4 were pulled out of the water by the boat, and brought to Florida where the story made big news. Reader’s Digest even ran a “Drama in Real Life” piece on it.
The US brother stayed at the Indies Inn on Duck Key during the time leading up to the event. Before the big day, my father and I went scuba diving with him, and he and my dad became friends.
Well it’s over 40 years later now, the saved Reader’s Digest and newspaper clippings are long gone, and I’ve got a craving for re-reading the story details.
But my search skills have failed me, sadly. I couldn’t even find the Reader’s Digest article, and I perused a lot of covers online.
A little help?
Thanks!