Two fishermen spotted him after nine hours treading water

A 37-year-old pianist survived roughly nine hours treading water in the Pacific after going overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, then was pulled aboard a fishing boat nearly 20 miles off the California coast on Friday. Sean Norton and Grant Garrett were heading back to Newport Beach after a morning trip when their captain spotted something in the water. The man is believed to have fallen from the 14-deck Ovation of the Seas around 2:30 a.m., as the ship traveled from Long Beach to Ensenada, Mexico. "Grant and I each got an arm and lifted him up, and he was in total shock," Norton said. The man recovered enough to explain that he played piano aboard the ship. Then he said the rest. "The only thing he said to me was, 'Thank you. I thought I was gonna die,'" Norton recalled. The Coast Guard later confirmed he was expected to survive. The water was 76 degrees, warmer than usual. Norton figures that is the only reason it worked.