Shipwrecked Mariners Saved On Deserted Island After Writing 'Help' on Beach

By Eric Shilling

A short trip turned into a three-day calamity

Three mariners set out early Monday in a 19-foot boat planning to skip from one Micronesian island to another. 

But they never got there, and a U.S. Navy plane Thursday found out why: they were marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific. 

They were spotted waving their life jackets on the beach, not far from where they'd spelled "help" in palm fronds, according to NBC News.

They were rescued and taken to another Micronesian island, authorities said, though their identities weren't released. 

Tom Neale, the New Zealand castaway who ended up on a tiny Pacific atoll populated only by cats, wouldn't be impressed with this, of course. Talk to him after it's been 16 years.