American Hero Swims 5 Hours to Get Help For His Family

You know what heroes say: they were just doing what anyone would have done. And, nine times out of ten, that’s true. But what about when a hero clearly does something that we definitely would have done, but probably couldn’t have done? That’s the case with John Franklin Riggs, whose family’s fishing boat capsized during a storm in Tangier Sound. The family clung to the side of the boat as stinging jellyfish surrounded them, and Riggs figured that he’d go find help. And by “go,” we mean he swam five hours in the pitch darkness, climbed up a mess of sharp rocks at the shoreline and, around 1 am, knocked at the door of the first house he came to on the coast. From there, a rescue mission was mobilized and the rest of the Riggs family was found. And it was all thanks to John Riggs, who was able to swim for five full hours. A true American Hero …