Florida teens who prayed for rescue while lost at sea are saved by boat named 'The Amen'

Alex Lasker
Updated ·2 min read

Crazy coincidence or divine intervention?

Two Florida teenagers who became stranded at sea were rescued by a man traveling to New Jersey, and the name of his boat has them saying their savior must have been heaven-sent — literally.

Longtime best friends Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both 17-year-old soccer players at Christ's Church Academy, decided to skip class on April 18 and go swimming at Vilano Beach near St. Augustine, WJAX reports.

The high school seniors drifted from the shore and eventually lost track of their location, leaving them stranded and exhausted more than two miles off the coastline for two hours.

Fearing they may not survive, the terrified students told the station they began to pray.

"I cried out, 'If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,'" Smith recalled.

Just in the nick of time, Captain Eric Wagner and his crew, who were en route from Delray Beach to New Jersey at the time, noticed the struggling teens and sailed over to rescue them — on their boat named "The Amen."

"Over all the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream," Wagner told WJAX. "Exhausted and near the end, the boy told me he called out for God's help. Then we showed up."

"I told them the name of the vessel, that's when they started to cry," he continued. "The young couple was gracious and grateful to us and to God. It was the latter all along."

The crew proceeded to help the teens — and their renewed sense of faith — on board and brought them safely back to shore.

"There’s no other reason, no other explanation in the world other than God," Smith asserted.

In a statement to Fox News, Christ's Church Academy expressed gratitude for the students' safe returns.

"The staff, students and families of Christ’s Church Academy are incredibly grateful for God‘s protection over Heather and Tyler," said Jeanie Collins, the school's director of marketing and development. "Thank you to Mr. Eric Wagner, captain of the 'Amen' vessel that rescued our students, for your action and compassion!"