PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WKRG) — Five guys from Biloxi went out Saturday morning about 35 to 40 miles off the coast of Mississippi to fish in a tournament, and their boat sank just a few hours later.

‘The boat was gone’

Easton Barrett — who caught everything on camera — says that around 9:30 that morning, the unexpected happened: the two motors on their boat cut off.

“The motors just stopped, and we looked back, and they were halfway under the water, and by the time that happened, we got our EPIRB, we got our lifejackets, and the boat was gone,” Barrett said.

EPIRB is an acronym for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon; it signals to the Coast Guard that a boater needs to be rescued.

‘We were just praying’

Barrett captured a video of himself and his friends hanging onto coolers floating in the middle of the Gulf.

“We were just praying to God, like, please let someone be on the way,” Barrett said. “We had seen boats pass, and they was maybe 200 or 300 yards away from us, and we’d try to wave to them, and nobody seen us and just couldn’t do nothing about it,” Barrett said.

After floating in Gulf waters for more than four hours, Barrett said his friend used the EPIRB to signal their location to the Coast Guard.

“The Coast Guard passed us the first time, and we were like, there ain’t no way that was just an accident; maybe it’s working,” Barrett said.

“We told Stephen, ‘Hey, hit that button again, hit that button again, and he just kept hitting it, and hitting it.”

‘We saw waves breaking’

Due to the rough water conditions, rescuers had trouble seeing the men in the water. After being passed over by the Coast Guard boat once, the men were able to grab their attention. 

“We were all yelling, ‘Help,’ and doing everything we can, waving the life jackets; we took my cell phone and put it toward the sun to get a glare and taking our ice chests and holding it up in the air” Barrett said.

And then rescue was officially on the way to them.

“We saw waves breaking, it was like an ‘ah,’ so much relief that it’s basically like, to me, it’s like winning a billion dollars, you’re all happy, cheering and crying happy tears, and you get to see your family again,” Barrett said.

The men got on the boat and were taken 17 miles north to Coast Guard Station, Dauphin Island. Barrett says the boat ride back was quiet.

Each man had peace of mind.  Barrett says he wants every boat to be equipped with an EPIRB. 

He’s living proof that it works.