East Boothbay lobsterman Mike Lewis survived about an hour in the cold waters of the Damariscotta River near Back Narrows on Sunday, Oct. 26 after getting dragged off his boat, Victoria's Secret, when the trap line got wrapped around his foot.

Lewis said in a written message to the Register that he managed to get the rope untangled from his foot before the trap dragged him under the water too far.

He said the "tide was running in hard" and "I just knew the best thing was to just go with it."

Lewis said the boat was going in a slow turn and it came close to him a few times but he realized he couldn't get to the boat to climb back in.

"After a while, I had to kick off my boots and oilskins because they were starting to drag me down," said Lewis.

He said he swam to the shore on the Bristol side of the river and ended up about 3/4 of a mile from the boat.

"When I got to shore, I couldn't believe how hard it was to just try and stand up," said Lewis.

A bit banged up after climbing up the rocky shoreline, Lewis said he eventually went to a clearing along the shore, took off his red T-shirt, put it on a long stick, and began waving it.

"After a bit, I saw (lobsterman) Mark Lewis move his boat my way," said Lewis. "He put his boat up on the shore and hauled me aboard. They also got aboard my boat and took it out of gear."

The two men are not related.

Radio traffic brought other lobstermen to the scene and the Coast Guard was called, said Lewis, who piloted his boat back to its usual spot near Hodgdon Yachts.

"A big thank you goes out to Mark Lewis, Brian McFarland and his sternman, Jody Durgan, Neal Cunningham and Richard Campbell," said Lewis. "The Coast Guard was great helping me out, along with the EMTs that came to the dock to check on my condition.

"Just goes to show you that in a blink of an eye, stuff can go bad no matter how careful you are," said Lewis.