Crew and tourists on board Fantasea Cruises' were startled to discover the woman floating about 400 yards offshore, near King's Point in Mangrove Bay.

Assuming she was a swimmer struggling with the current, the group stopped to lend assistance.

"She was about 70 years old and a little overweight," explained the boat's captain, Choy Aming, Jr.

"She was about 200 yards off the islands and, because the wind was out of the east, blowing from the shore out to sea, I figured she went for a swim and then just got too tired.

"I threw her the ring ? she didn't even attempt to hold on to it. I had to jump in and pull her to the boat."

As the woman was shivering badly and cold to the touch, Mr. Aming initially thought she was only suffering from shock.

"But then when we got her to the boat, I asked: 'What are you doing out here?' It was then she said: 'Oh, I was trying to kill myself'."

The was returning from a snorkelling trip. Onboard were the captain and his crew ? Sandra Moncriess and Janis DeCosta ? and 30 tourists.

"My crew were awesome. They were an immeasurable help. Sandra was the one who spotted her floating near the rocks. I pulled her out of the water and, while I went to phone Marine Police for help, Janis covered her up and talked to her, trying to keep her conscious.

"We had to cover her in towels because she was freezing ? she was really shaking. She must have been in the water for quite a while.We figured the best thing was to get her in to shore quickly."

Asked if the woman seemed upset at being rescued, Mr. Aming said: "She said, 'Well, I wanted to kill myself but then when I saw your boat, I figured, well maybe I shouldn't'. She wasn't really making sense, probably because she was hypothermic. She babbled a lot."

The captain added that the entire rescue operation took about 20 minutes.

"She started sputtering up water immediately after we got her on the boat," he said. "I do know First Aid but I called Marine Police just in case she'd got water in her lungs. Also, because she'd said she was trying to commit suicide, I figured a psychological examination was probably in order.

"The Marine Police were fast. Within ten minutes they were with us. We tied the boats together, and lifted her over to the police boat where they examined her ? she was conscious. She seemed okay. Just in shock ? and took her to the hospital." Despite having experienced many oddities at sea, Mr. Aming admitted this was one for the record books.

"What was funny was that she had white sneakers on. She'd been worried that she might cut her feet up."

The group was later told the woman was a manic depressive who had escaped from Lefroy House.

"Apparently, she says she's going to kill herself all the time but this was her first attempt," said Mr. Aming.

He admitted the event made him feel a bit like a hero, but that he was more impressed by how quickly his crew had reacted to the situation.

"They were really good," he said of their efforts. "But how I look at it is, if I or somebody I knew was in a similar situation, I would want somebody to do as much as they could.

"As it happened, I wasn't thinking of being a hero. I was more in disbelief that it wasn't a swimmer in trouble ? that she didn't even want to grab the line. For two or three seconds I paused while she just sat there looking at me. And I was like, okay, this is kind of weird."

When contacted yesterday, a representative at Lefroy House said the woman in question was "doing fine".