i want my son. >> there was real potential there that my son wasn't coming back to me. the last thing i said to him when i saw him was, "come home to me." >> they're off. let's go. >> they set out to do what no one had ever done -- rowing a new route across the atlantic and maybe into history. the leader, the surfer, the rookie, the dad. >> hey, trevor, it's your dad here. >> with a pregnant wife at home. >> they weren't doing this on a whim. they were planning very well. >> the boat, a techie's dream -- camera, satellite connections, the latest scientific instruments designed to capture

each movement, each moment. what they didn't capture was the moment of disaster. >> there have been three beacons act vited. but there were four people. >> correct. >> capsized at sea. >> my heart was racing p. >> right away you had that moment of panic. >> frantic on land. >> who did i lose? >> no, this can't be happening. >> you're there on their incredible journey as they fight the odds and the elements. >> we got hit by a pretty big wave and it snapped an oar in two. >> we are in a very serious situation. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison. >> the ocean almost never gives back what it claims, but then there are these images. it's amazing that this video exists at all, having once been lost to the capricious will of the sea. and yet here it is to tell frame

by frame its harrowing story of the four young men who imagined they could best the wind and the waves and the unpredictable elements across the atlantic, all the way in a rowboat. there was jordan, the captain, adam, the olympic gold-medal winner, marcus can adventurer, and patrick the rookie ocean rower, and this video can only tell their story because it was retrieved after what happened to them in the very ocean waters they had the audaciwudacity to explore. >> 7:30 saturday morning, nobody calls. and i saw that i had 11 missed phone calls. and i knew. >> reporter: at home, a mother sat and worried for weeks before she got the dreaded phone call. >> and the world stopped. every fear i had had come to

fruition. my son was gone. he was swallowed up by that ocean. >> reporter: her agony shared by three other families. >> everything in me says this isn't okay. what's happening. we can't tell how many people are in the raft. >> reporter: none of them knew who lived or died. what's that feeling like? those are friends of yours. >> if there are only three beacons going off, why isn't there a snourt who dfourth? who did i lose? >> reporter: the story begins in the winter of 2013 when four young men from the u.s. and canada set out to become the first people ever to row across the atlantic from africa to north america, dakar, senegal, to miami, more than 3,500 miles. this footage was shot while the crew was getting ready to leave africa. >> everybody just is choosing to do this and so the only

authority that i'm really granted is my experience from rowing across the ocean the first time. >> reporter: 30-year-old jordan hanson, the expe edition leader, had already row ld across the north atlantic. his craft was named for his father, who died of asthma when jordan was 3, the james robert hanson. >> we'll be fighting to stay noort little bit the whole time. >> reporter: the trip had taken jordan three years to plan. sponsored by the canadian wildlife federation, the crew would provide lessons for hundreds of schools in the united states and canada and investigate the effects of climate change on the ocean. >> we have some pretty large goals associated with our row across the ocean, scientific education, communication goals. >> reporter: 32-year-old adam creek won the olympic gold medal in rowing in the 2008 games in beijing. he was the father of a 2-year-old boy, jefferson, and

his wife rebecca was pregnant with their second child by the time the expedition was about to set off. >> they weren't doing this on a whim. they were planning very well. so -- >> reporter: but people would say in spite of that it's still a crazy thing to do. >> and i know, and it's -- >> reporter: and responsible for a young father. >> for me the difference was he wasn't doing this because he thought, you know, it's going to be so fun, i'm going to row across an ocean just for conducts. this was partnering with the canadian wildlife federation, raising awareness, educating youth. >> ocean ph levels are changing. >> reporter: marcus was a surfer and paddle boarder. he'd already rowed around canada's vancouver island. he was 29, single, both parents dead, but his sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces were following him very closely. along with the others, marcus helped plot the course. >> what would be wrong with cutting north -- >> reporter: and then there was 29-year-old patrick fleming, an expert skier and college rower.

they called him the rookie because he never rowed in the ocean before. but his thrill seeking was matched by a compulsion to be prepared for the worst. >> even on the ocean, you know, there's part of me many day where is there's not going to be this riveting, edge-of-your seat excitement, but yeah, we're still row, we're still moving, then there's going to be a moment of sheer terror that will pump us up for the next two weeks. >> reporter: patrick's parents hated the whole idea. his mother, diana. >> ron said to me very calmly, he's an adult, i can't tell him what to do, but don't worry, he'll never go through with this. put it on the back burner. take it out of your head. famous last words. >> reporter: on january 23rd, 2013, the james robert hanson and its crew pushed off on their journey to miami. with good weather they thought the trip would take about two months. >> the last thing i said to him when i saw him was, "come home

to me." >> reporter: the crew members planned to work in shifts. two would row while the others slept below deck. >> i was um sending an e-mail off to the parenting saying they're off, call me anytime, the expedition has begun. let's go. >> reporter: his friend greg spooner became a one-man mission control back in washington state, keeping track of them best he could from his base on land. >> and right out of the gate, though, you could see something was just a bit off in terms of their progress. >> reporter: the crew suz supposed to be able to contact greg by phone or e-mail. they also had three cameras on board to record video diaries. but they were plagued by power problems, and so the satellite phone and internet service was very dicey. greg didn't hear from them for several days. but according to their gps

tracking device, they were moving far too slowly. >> well, looking at the wind, it's coming out of the north. they're going west and so they're just getting hit from the beam. and it's probably terrible. and sure enough, i got the fist phone call from jordan a couple days after they left, and he sounded miserable. >> reporter: that's because all four crew members were seasick in the extreme. but adam, the olympic gold medalist sitting behind jordan, didn't let it get him down. >> seasickness. it's like a slimy lizard climbing from the bulging pit of your stomach up the back of your throat. it feels fantastic. >> reporter: back home in british columbia, adam's wife, rebecca, 6 months pregnant, was taking care of their 2-year-old son, jefferson, who liked to pretend he was rowing too.

♪ row, row, row the boat gently down the stream merry, merry, merrily life is but a dream ♪ >> reporter: you never had any serious worries that catastrophe would befall them. >> i did initially. this is a dinghy in the middle of the atlantic. it could grip flip. and the interesting thing is i was always told by all the guys that was a very unfounded concern. >> reporter: that's what the rowers thought. but the ocean never makes guarantees. >> the crew and their families were about to learn that almost nothing on this journey would go as planned. when we come back, tensions grow on board. >> i've been telling you for the past 40 days, jordan. you won't get it in your head. >> and trouble grows at sea. >> this is a lot more difficult for me than i thought it was going to be. >> we e got hit by a pretty big wave today and it snapped an oar in two. >> we are in a very serious

situation. at an undisclosed mcdonald's location, there is a club. inside, the best of the best gather. and tonight, they welcome their newest member, mr. lebron james. what does one serve the best basketball player in the world? the new bacon clubhouse sandwich of course. 100% pure beef or chicken on a new artisan roll. all with our famous big mac special sauce. because everyone deserves the best. there's something for everyone to love at mcdonald's. you should serve it to everyone. yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive.

you'll really dig the savings... at the petsmart spring savings sale. save up to 25% on thousands of items, and save up to $15 on select bayer® k9 advantix ii® and advantage ii® 6-count packs and seresto™ flea and tick products. at petsmart®. (thunder rumbling) (thunderclap) (bellowing fire) (steaming and chugging) (thunderclap) (cheering) (rollercoaster rumbling) the world you've been waiting for is here. the wizarding world of harry potter, featuring the all new diagon alley and the hogwarts express. (thunderclap) come and live it. universal orlando resort.

all right, buddy. ♪ all right. here we go again. you ready? ready. ♪ focus on the ball, all right? ♪ nice. ♪ nice. ♪ very nice. [ male announcer ] give your backyard a fresh new look this spring. right now, get this 5-piece dining set for $99.

in the winter of 2013, two americans and two canadians were attempting to be the first adventurers ever to row from africa to north america. but the weather was worse. much worse. than they expected. crew member adam kreek, an olympic gold medalist, filed this report early on. >> the last few days have been really awful. we've had really snotty water, gnarly water, getting really seasick. >> reporter: and the storms continued. some nights lightning turned the pitch black into broad daylight. the progress was slow. the living conditions beyond

uncomfortable. adam gave a tour below decks on the 29-foot craft. >> you can see right now i'm in our main sleeping cabin that's 8 feet by 5 feet. normally two of us will sleep here at any given time. also within the cabin we've got our electrical panel, and below the deck we've got a bunch of scientific instrumentation where we measure a lot of different parameters of the ocean. >> reporter: and then only four days out, they were shaken by their first real crisis. >> we got hit by a pretty big wave today and it snapped an oar in two. it knocked the [ bleep ] out of us. >> reporter: a broken oar. they could only carry one set of spares so if any more broke this would be a big problem. on top of the weather, the power supply was malfunctioning, so their ability to communicate back to land was also threatened.

>> my primary concern is safety. it's really important that we stay grounded and we recognize that we are in a very serious situation. >> reporter: but if there was a life-threatening emergency, the crew had a backup plan. they were each equipped with emergency locator beacons. patrick had showed them off back on land. >> it's basically just an emergency device. turn it on and it can track where we are. >> reporter: family and friends were monitoring their progress on maps and websites and you could see it was slow going. did you have opportunities to talk to greg about this and a way of expressing our worries? >> yes. yes. greg and i would talk most days. i'd see his number pop up on my phone and i would panic. >> reporter: how okay were the families about what was or wasn't happening? did you get a lot of stress and disstress from them? >> i did. >> reporter: at sea, by day 25, patrick fleming, the novice on the crew, was having second thoughts about the whole

expedition. >> this is a lot more difficult for me than i thought it was going to be, a lot different than any other adventures that i've choosen to partake in. and it's very draining and, you know, more often than not i find myself wishing i was back on dry land. >> reporter: but the spotty e-mail and satellite phone service communication was difficult. but back on land, patrick's mother diana was having a textbook episode of mother's intuition. >> and i think that he was having second thoughts about it in a very big way. >> reporter: and then on day 29, another oar broke. >> we just got nailed by another big wave and broke another oar. >> reporter: they now had no backups. if any more oars broke they'd have to give up on making miami and aim for the nearest land and that would be very difficult with just three oars. >> three days in any direction

to land. >> reporter: the constant anxiety might have been getting to the crew. >> i also had a dream -- this is a tough one -- that a big wave came and completely flipped the boat over. >> reporter: a groggy markus woke up after a bad dream about being on some other rowboat, and it might have foretold disaster. but against all odds as the days went by, the crew continued to plug away one stroke at a time. and each day if the communications were working, they'd file a lesson for the students following their voyage at schools across the united states and canada. >> the best part of this road trip so far is that all the wildlife we've been able to see, it's been actually incredible. >> reporter: they'd see marlin, dolphin, sea turtles. what school kids weren't hearing about was the tension on board, though the videos shows the disagreements about the food

supply, the day-to-day annoyances of life in cramped quarters. >> we're going to be eating a little bit less. >> no, we aren't. >> don't you think? >> that's what i've been telling you for the past 40 days, jordan. you won't get it in your head. we have full rations for 40 days. >> reporter: on the whole, though, it appeared the four rowers were getting through it. sometimes in the black of night they'd even break into song. ♪ row, row, row your boat and as the rowers crossed the halfway point, 1,800 miles on day 47, their skipper, jordan, was able to take some pride in how it was all working out. >> i don't know if anybody's going to be anybody's best friend but we'll all be the people we krosed the ocean with and we're a very good team. everybody's compassionate and very much cares about everybody else and it makes me very, very happy. >> reporter: yet the danger ahead was never far from their minds.

thunderstorms that came out of nowhere, the eerie feeling they'd be rammed by a big ship in the middle of the night. there was always reason to be wary. but now, though, it was time to sleep. coming up -- >> i feel like they're going to be in dangerous waters. >> an ominous message is received on land. >> there have been three beacons activated. >> reporter: but there were four people. >> correct. that's great, i whoney...y!

where? life's bleachable moments need clorox bleach. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

for $175 dollars a month? so our business can be on at&t's network yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues& great terms& let's close.

our best ever value plans for business just got even better. now with free broadband for a whole year. [♪]

>> reporter: and in these recovered videos it's clear that along the way from africa to north america the journey was proving tougher than any of them imagined. remember, adam kreek was missing his pregnant wife and young son. >> i yearn for land more than i thought i would out here. and i'm going to be excited to get to land.

i'm more excited to see becca and jefferson and get on with my life. i find myself thinking a whole lot about what's going to happen after this. >> reporter: and then one day, back home in british columbia, his wife, rebecca, received a happy surprise on her computer. >> it's this awesome video that adam was able to send near the end of him talking to jefferson saying, like, hi, jefferson, it's daddy, what did you do today? and then pause. and then jefferson would watch it over and over and over and answer him. he'd be, like, i went to day care. >> i was wondering, have you been to the park recently? have you been playing with your legos and tinker toys and spending lots of time outside? >> reporter: a father and son interacting each other separated by days of lag time and thousands of miles. >> i'm looking forward to hearing back from you. hope you're doing really well. love you lots and i'm going to give you a big squeeze when i see you in miami. then we're going to see the elephants at the miami zoo. >> oh! >> love you a ton. >> reporter: back on the ocean,

the rowers continued to battle the high winds and high seas. >> we're down to four oars. that's serious. that's nothing to shake a stick at. >> reporter: and it wasn't just the oars that put the expedition at risk. >> anyway, hope you're doing well. we had a little bit of a power crisis on board today. >> reporter: the power problems got worse. when their wind-driven turbine malfunctioned. if they completely lost power they'd lose the ability to run the desal nation system that created their drinking water and they'd totally lose the ability to communicate. >> thought we blew the breakers, thought we destroyed all the electronics. >> reporter: an expert back on land gave crew crucial advice to help solve the problems. coordinator greg spooner still felt confident the crew was safe. for him, no news was good news. >> every night i sleep with the phone by my bed. the phone is always at my side. i'm the emergency contact for the u.s. coast guard. so if anything were to happen

and the beacons were activated, i got the phone call. >> we're always going to be struggling with the power. i hope we won't be strug thalg much with the food. >> reporter: but as tough as it was for the men at sea it was in some ways worse for the families back home. greg spooner tried to soothe rattled nerves, but it just seemed to be taking so long. even markus' little niece was getting antsy. >> 57 days. that's how much you've never seen land? >> 1,799 nautd cal miles to miami. >> that's march 9th. >> reporter: by the end of march, two months into the grueling adventure, things began looking up. >> go team! >> reporter: the crew was finally making good time. adam and patrick were obviously happy. >> we just finished probably our fastest four days on the water maybe.

>> it's amazing how fast water and fast conditions really raises your spirits here. >> reporter: jordan's family was encouraged by the progress too. it looked like they'd make miami by the end of april. >> they've been plotting their position day by day as they come across, and as of last night they were right there headed for here. >> reporter: and then a strange omen. the boat was about 900 miles off miami. patrick's mother, diana, was overwhelmed with dark thoughts. >> it was an ominous feeling. when i should be thinking they're home free, i feel like they're going to be in dangerous waters, so to speak. >> reporter: and then on the night of april 3rd, day 71, markus posted what now seems an eerie blog entry. he wrote he had, quote, a complete lack of fear for death. this probably stems from the death of my mom when i was 5 and

how i eventually came to accept it. all just coincidence, perhaps. but jordan, the captain, noticed the weather wasn't quite what he expected. >> the forecast had estimated that we would have 1.5 to 2-meter waves and these waves were -- not all of them, but there were definitely a few that were up to 4 meters. >> reporter: a few days later the crew came upon the thick seaweed of the area of the atlantic known as the sargass objection sea. 3 f2 estábamos navegando. it was saturday, april 6th, day 73. >> my heart was racing and i was trying to talk to him, and my voice was fluttering and i could feel my whole body was shaking. >> reporter: greg spooner, more than 4,000 miles away in washington state, was awakened by a phone call from the u.s.

coast guard in san juan, puerto rico. >> and he says there have been three beacons activated aboard the "james robert hanssen." >> reporter: but there are four people on the "james robert hanssen." >> correct. >> reporter: and the news only got worse. coming up -- >> who did i lose? >> that was exactly the explosive emotional question for everyone. >> you know, right away you have that moment of panic. >> every fear i charles hadlock come to fruition. had had come t fruition. [ thunder crashing ]

♪ well, i love a rainy night ♪ i love a rainy night ♪ i love to hear the thunder ♪ watch the lightning when it lights up the sky ♪ ♪ ♪ you know it makes me feel good ♪ rarrh! [ laughs ] ♪ 'cause i love a rainy night [ female announcer ] yoplait. with flavors the whole family will love. it is so good for a night in. [ male announcer ] "west" didn't end where columbus landed. not on the banks of the mississippi, or even the coast of california.

the new ram 1500 ecodiesel. with 9,200 pounds of towing and 28 highway miles per gallon. west will never end. guts. glory. ram. west will never end. i just ah woke up today and i said i need something sportier. annnd done. ok maxwell, just need to ah contact your insurance company with the vin number. oh, i just did it. with my geico app. vin # is up to the loaded. ok well then jerry here will take you through all of the features then. why don't weeeeeeeeeeee go out to the car. ok, i'll just be outside... ok, yeah. his dad is my boss. yeah. vin scanning to add a car. just a tap away on the geico app. 36% of all teachers in the u.s. have been teaching for more than 20 years. what does that mean? do the math. we need more teachers to lead future generations. the more you know.

>> reporter: these video images retrieved from the ocean were among the last the four rowers

took on board the "james robert hanssen." in the early morning hours of april 6th, 2013, day 73 of the expedition, land-based coordinator greg spooner got a call from the san juan, puerto rico, coast guard station. officials had received signals from three emergency beacons about 350 miles off the puerto rican coast. >> i'm just standing here trying to figure out what's going on and why only three beacons have gone off. where's the fourth? >> reporter: but that's all the information the coast guard had. >> greg knew those beacons had to be activated manually and that the crew would only do so in a dire emergency, but no one had any idea exactly what happened out there. what was that feeling like? these are friends of yours. >> if there are only three beacons going off, why isn't there a snourt who did i lose? i found myself almost trying to make the decision of -- >> reporter: who's it going to be? >> yeah. run through every single guy on

board. >> reporter: there was jordan, the captain, greg's best friend and rowing mate on a 2006 expedition. there was adam, the olympic gold-medal winner who had a 2-year-old son and a pregnant wife back home. there was patrick, the rookie, whose mother had worried every moment of the journey. and there was markus, who had just days before written a blog entry saying he had no fear of death. within a few moments the coast guard called back. >> officer harper informed me they weren't able to raise the guys on the satellite phones and that it was time to make a decision whether or not to deploy an aircraft. >> reporter: the coast guard dispatched a search plane from florida to look for the crew. that flight would take about four hours. in the meantime, greg began calling the families. patrick's mother, diana. >> and the world stopped. every fear i had had come to fruition.

i told him not to do it. he wouldn't listen to me. and now my son's dead. >> reporter: patrick's mother wasn't the only one to believe the worst. even greg, who'd always been so optimistic about the expedition, even greg's mind was racing with the possible scenarios. >> so keep in mind there are three beacons. >> reporter: doesn't mean there are three people alive either. >> exactly. there could be one person alive who tripped all those beacons or there could be two people or there could be three people. >> reporter: finally, greg had to inform adam's wife, rebecca. >> he said, okay, i got a call from the u.s. coast guard and, you know, right away you have that moment of panic but then, you know, we talked about, okay, what could this be? so let's not jump to, like, they capsized because that's the worst case and that's not going to happen. >> reporter: at this point, rebecca was actually among the more optimistic of the family members. but in those hours the search

plane was trying to find the crew, there wasn't a shred of new information. the families tried to hang on, but for patrick's mother it proved impossible. >> i was losing my son. there was real potential there that my son wasn't coming back to me. >> reporter: and then, four hours into the search, the coast guard had news, big news. their plane had spotted the rowers and the boat. >> the aircraft has made visual contact with the overturned ocean rowboat, so i knew it was a capsize officially at that point. the life raft was deployed, and they confirmed visual contact with two people. >> reporter: two people. the "james robert hanssen" had capsized and the coast guard could only see two survivors, not three, not four. >> and so i had to call all the families again and say they have visual contact, capsized rowboat, life raft, two people

confirmed. >> so two people had to be dead. and which two was it going to be? and i just -- it just couldn't be my son. >> reporter: and near their home in british columbia, adam's wife rebecca got greg's call on the beach where she'd taken jefferson for a walk waiting out the agony. >> seven months pregnant, your hormones are all over the map to start out with. i'm so tired, and it was like a train wreck and i just sat on the ground and i just lost it. >> reporter: here she was, perhaps a widow, and all she had of him just then was video adam recorded just days earlier about a letter rebecca had asked him to write. >> hey, jefferson, it's your dad here. before i left from senegal your mom asked me to write you a letter, a letter that was pretty serious in case i died on this

adventure, and that's a serious -- that's something that's actually a serious consequence of going out into the wild, into the great unknown, is that you do face death. >> reporter: that video and that letter now seemed eerily prescient as four families waited for word, any word. coming up -- emergency. a plane drops a lifesaving box of supplies. >> didn't open it. >> didn't open it. >> the fact that the guys wouldn't open the box drop made me think somebody's dying. (whispering) sorry hi, uh we need a new family plan. how about 10 gigs of data to share and unlimited talk and text. oh ten gigs sounds pretty good. yeah really good. and for a family of four, it's $160 a month (breaks whisper) what! get outta here! (whispering) i'm sorry are we still doing the whisper thing? or? o! sorry! yes yes! we'll take it. introducing our best-ever family pricing. for instance, a family of four gets 10 gigs of data, with unlimited talk & text, for $160 dollars a month. only from at&t.

i use my citi thankyou card to get two times the points at the coffee shop. which will help me get to miami...and they'll be stuck at the cube farm. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee. go to citi.com/thankyoucards. and yet, you've never really known what it was for or why it was there. [ whirring, electricity crackles ] [ horns honking ] but now, harold, now you know. it's for meat and noodles and liquid gold. velveeta cheesy skillets, harold. it's what your skillet is for. [ whispering ] liquid gold. it's what your skillet is for. i like it - i just... you can't change color like we do. valspar has the love your color guarantee if i don't love it, i get another color free. i'm thinking more this. yowza! valspar signature, look for it only at lowe's

afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

april 6th, 2013. a u.s. coast guard plane spotted the capsized rowboat the "james robert hanssen" 350 miles off puerto rico. two survivors were confirmed in a life raft. but there had been four rowers aboard. back home their families were frantic, awaiting word of their loved ones' fate. mission coordinator greg spooner was beside himself. all four were his friends. you get the word that there are

three beacons, but that's all you know. right? >> yeah. >> reporter: and then you find out they only see two people in the life raft. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: so maybe two people are dead. but you can't know. is that fair? >> 100%. >> reporter: it had been more than five hours since the crew's emergency beacons first went off, about a half hour since the capsized craft was located, and only two survivors confirmed. and then the news got worse. the coast guard called to say the plane had dropped a barrel containing emergency supplies and a radio. but whoever was in the life raft didn't open it. didn't open it. >> didn't open it. and when i got that phone call from officer harper telling me that that happened, that's when it really, really hit me that jordan was gone. everybody on that boat, you know, in any situation of

duress, he was going to have the wherewithal to open that barrel no matter what. >> reporter: he was the guy who'd do that. >> he was going to do it. >> reporter: jordan hanssen, the captain, greg's best friend, the man he'd rode the ocean with himself, greg tried to hold himself together when he called the families with this latest bit of news. >> okay, someone's dead or something really terrible has happened. >> reporter: rebecca, adam kreek's wife, was already reeling, and this sent her over the edge. >> because the fact that the guys wouldn't open a box drop made me think, okay, someone's dying, someone's leg is severed and there's more important things to do than to spend five seconds opening a u.s. coast guard box with a radio in it. >> reporter: without a radio, there was no way to communicate with whoever was in that life raft. but then the coast guard plane was running low on fuel and had to return to florida. so another flight with another radio was dispatched which, of course, would take more hours to get back to the crew. so that period of time is another one where you're kind of -- >> waiting. yeah.

and then just assuming the worst. >> reporter: rebecca's thoughts turned to that letter she'd asked adam to write to jeffer n jefferson. >> hey, jefferson. it's your dad here. >> reporter: he wrote a letter. tell me about the letter. >> i thought, i want adam to explain this, his dee situation and why he's doing it, to the best of your ability as a, you know, 32-year-old can you share with jefferson when he's older, you know, your thoughts on life and anything that you'd want to tell him. >> reporter: having won an olympic gold medal, adam was well-known in canada. a lot of my adult life has been recorded in the media, he wrote to jefferson. what you won't get from the image portrayed is my raw self. he tells jefferson to avoid the seven deadly sins and lave good life. >> i didn't ask him to write this thinking he's going to die, i want this letter. i thought what a great thing to have in the future regardless, and it was of some comfort for me to have that.

>> reporter: patrick's mother, dia diana, could find no comfort. all she could do was pray her son was one of the survivors. >> oh, you're being so selfish to think only about your son. really? who is anybody else thinking about? they were thinking about their loved one out there and just praying that it wasn't their loved one that was dead. >> reporter: and just then she got a text from greg. >> and i looked at the text message just thinking he wouldn't text me that patrick's dead. he really wouldn't do that, would he? >> reporter: turns out there was a reason for that text. about ten minutes earlier that second barrel containing a radio had been dropped to the survives by a coast guard plane. an official called greg immediately. >> second plane dropped the barrel. it was retrieved. >> reporter: it was retrieved. and soon the families would learn who lived or died. coming up --

>> i spent the entire day wondering whose parent or whose spouse i'll have to tell terrible news to. >> four men at sea. would four men return? aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you at aflac.com. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you basic moisturization isn't enough. you need healing. the only lotion with healing micro-droplets of vaseline jelly, new vaseline intensive care deeply moisturizes dry skin from the first application and keeps it healed for 3 weeks. ♪

healing that lasts for 3 weeks. that's the healing power of vaseline. you'll really dig the savings... at the petsmart spring savings sale. save up to 25% on thousands of items, and save up to 15% on select electronic bark control, fencing, training and pet monitor systems. at petsmart®. at an undisclosed mcdonald's location, there is a club. inside, the best of the best gather. and tonight, they welcome their newest member, mr. lebron james. what does one serve the best basketball player in the world? the new bacon clubhouse sandwich of course. 100% pure beef or chicken on a new artisan roll. all with our famous big mac special sauce. because everyone deserves the best. there's something for everyone to love at mcdonald's. you should serve it to everyone.

i'm j-e-f-f and i have copd. i'm l-i-s-a and i have copd, but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs for a full 24 hours. and breo helps reduce symptom flare-ups that last several days and require oral steroids, antibiotics, or hospital stay. breo is not for asthma. breo contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. breo won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. breo may increase your risk of pneumonia, thrush, osteoporosis,

and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking breo. ask your doctor about b-r-e-o for copd. first prescription free at mybreo.com

>> reporter: a coast guard plane had just dropped a second radio to the crew of the capsized "james robert hanssen," and this time the survivors made contact. mission coordinator greg spooner got the call from the coast guard. and it was the best news possible. the rowers, all of them, were alive. after all the agony, it seemed like a miracle. >> and all four were confirmed alive and well. just a little beaten up. >> reporter: wow. the moment must have felt pretty damn good. >> it was huge. i just spent the entire day wondering whose parent or whose spouse i'm going to have to tell terrible news to. and all of a sudden it was gone. >> reporter: to get the word out as fast as possible, he texted

the families. >> and it said all four alive and well. coast guard circling. >> reporter: and once that text went out, greg called adam's wife, rebecca, overcome with joy. >> i was, like, yeah, obviously it was the best call, you know, that you could ever -- yeah. >> reporter: talk about emotions flipping on their head. >> yeah. oh, it was a crazy day. like i have never experienced anything like this roller coaster. >> reporter: a roller coaster ride none of them would ever forget, especially adam kreek, markus pukonen, patrick fleming, and the captain, jordan hanssen. >> what happened was what happened. >> reporter: and here you are. >> and here i am. >> reporter: and able to tell the tale. >> i don't want to say that i've seen it all. i think that's a dangerous thing to say with the ocean, but we'd definitely taken the boat through its paces. >> reporter: they'd been about three-quarters of the way across

the atlantic, they said, miami about 900 miles to the west. the last night was routine. and then just about sunrise saturday, april 6th, the waves grew larger. but it was nothing they hadn't gone through before. the rowers were just doing a shift change so the hatches were open. >> and then a bunch of things started happening at once. i see two waves. they look different. >> reporter: two waves that seem to come out of nowhere. they were oddly shaped, said jordan, several feet high. >> they're very close together. >> reporter: the first wave hit them and pushed their 29-foot boat almost completely under water. >> and that's when the second wave hits. >> reporter: jordan and markus were above deck. >> and then a second later i'm thrown in the ocean. and plop back up and the boat's overturned, and i see jordan on the other side of the boat and i know that adam and pat are in

that cabin trying to get out. >> reporter: adam and patrick were trapped below deck. seconds earlier, adam had jumped up from bed. >> we're in the cabin when we hear this wave trgoing over it. it has this ominous sound. >> reporter: seconds later the tiny cabin was already flooding. >> and so you're in a 4 foot by 8 foot by 4 foot space rapidly filling with water. your lungs are out of air and you're wondering is this -- >> reporter: is this it? >> am i going to make it? >> i look up and there's a pocket of air in the cabin. so i pop up and i take another breath, and i take another breath, and i dive down and there's this blue light and i pop up, and then i see pat's on top of the boat and i scramble up on top of the boat. markus is in the water. jordan's in the water. jordan is yelling everybody up. >> reporter: the crew in the roiling seas. they each activated their emergency beacons.

their attempt to be the first crew was obviously ending in disaster. their boat, which was designed to right itself, had capsized. they deployed their life raft but for nearly three hours they struggled in vain to right the "james robert hanssen." jordan wouldn't give up on the boat named for his late father. >> and jordan kind of lets out this, you know, sigh under his breath and he's, like, come on, dad. and your heart just kind of goes, oh, right? >> reporter: and then they drifted in the high seas, hoping rescuers received their distress beacon. in fact, they did. even now, a year later, it's still unclear why at first there were reports of just three beacons. while out there waiting for help, adam, the proud canadian, found his thoughts wandering back to the olympics. >> and the -- you know, the americans had their chant, usa, usa! the rest of the world finds it incredibly annoying. and we were telling these stories and we were laughing.

and markus and myself were the canadians and jordan and pat are the americans. and all of a sudden the coast guard shows up, and pat -- this is -- like tears were coming into his eyes and he was saying, we're going to be okay! and markus and i look at each other and the u.s. coast guard and we're like, usa, usa, usa! >> reporter: their life raft was partially covered by a tarp so the coast guard fliers could only see two of the rowers. and when that plane dropped the first emergency barrel, the rowers didn't open it. why? it was so big they were afraid it would puncture their life raft and its contents labeled emergency supplies didn't say anything about a radio. >> we think, well this has, you know, nothing that we immediately need so let's just tie it up to the boat. >> reporter: not knowing the grief that decision caused their friends and families. it wasn't until hours late they're the second plane could drop another barrel and an

unmistakable message. >> it's got "open me" written all over it. >> reporter: open me. >> yeah, like six times. and we bring it over and it has a much more comprehensive list including the vhf radio. and we said oh, gi esz the first one did have a vhf radio. we started talking to the coast guard. >> reporter: the coast guard had already asked nearby ships to help. rowers were picked up by a panamanian freighter and by the next evening arrived in puerto rico. greg spooner had raced down to meet them, as did their families. and to be sure, patrick's mother was lined up right at the dock. >> the moms are going on the next one. >> reporter: and then this happened. >> oh! oh my god. >> wait a minute. he's safe. he's back. where is he? no, this can't be happening. >> right back in the water. >> patrick lost his glasses and

maybe a little dignity but he was okay and finally in his mother's arms. he seemed no worse for wear than the night he finally arrived. >> we did a lot of what he hoped to do, and when things went wrong and we had, you know, some bad luck, all our planning for all that bad stuff came into action and we were able to come out of the ocean within 12 hours. >> reporter: all the rowers were okay, very healthy, but they were also desperate to find all that video and data they'd recorded aboard the "james robert hanssen." and after days of searching by air and studying drift patterns, inkreldably, against all odds, really, the craft was found. it was hooked up to a tugboat and brought back to dry land where, after weeks of effort, all their experiments and most of their videos were salvaged as well. jordan and markus told us they were ready to go on another expedition. patrick plans to stay on land for the time being. and back at home in british

columbia, adam and rebecca are the parents of jefferson and a new baby girl named victoria. >> there's something just very pleasurable about living a picket-fence existence. right? >> reporter: what, no more ocean rowing for you? >> no more -- i don't think it would be fair to my children to die. >> reporter: the "james robert hanssen" is now undergoing repair at a seattle shipyard supervised by its grateful and living skipper. the ocean almost never gives back what it claims. but this time? >> we were really lucky. there is no fairness with the sea. it doesn't have to give back anything. but we tried and in this case it did. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you again on friday,

8:00, 7:00 central. i'm lester holt. good night. . - welcome to american dream builders, where 12 of the most accomplished designers and builders take part in the biggest renovation competition ever. tonight our teams of top designers face their biggest challenge yet... you'll be working on modular homes. - hey. - oh! - splitting into teams of two and turning four identical modulars into designer homes in just three days. - this is frightening. - but only one team will win immunity and a coveted spread in better homes and gardens magazine. - nina! two hours left. - can you help me move this? - it's not enough. - five minutes to finish. - i really want this. - it all starts right now. welcome back, everybody. so this week, we're shaking things up. you won't be designing for any families this week because you'll be working on modular homes.