Moment fisherman clings to capsized small boat off coast on Nantucket

A fisherman trapped on a capsized boat off the coast of Nantucket was saved by two Good Samaritans who only noticed him out of the corner of their eyes. 

Joe Thormay and Nick Whitbeck were testing fishing lures for their company, Island X Lures, when they noticed a 'frantically' waving man on top of an overturned vessel on Saturday. 

'I sort of saw out of the corner of my eye, something a little unusual,' Thormay told NBC Boston. 'At first, I thought it was maybe, like, a dead whale.'

'We were sort of both looking and then that is when we realized there is somebody waving sort of frantically on top of what happened to be an overturned vessel,' Whitbeck said. 

The man, who was not identified, was seen waving at the men as he kneeled on his overturned boat, video showed. 

The man told him he had been out there for an hour and three boats had already gone by him when he failed to get their attention, Whitbeck recalled. 

The pair threw him a lifejacket after pulling up close to his boat and Thormay - who used to work for the Coast Guard - called for help. 

'The way he explained it on the boat, he was fishing down a rip line, and we did have waves, there was no wind, it was calm, we had rollers that were four-to-six-plus feet that would occasionally come through. 

'I think in almost a perfect scenario, he got caught in the rip and it rolled over his stern and immediately flipped the boat,' Whitbeck said. 

The rescue came just hours before sunset - and two Good Samaritans feared what would have happened to the older man if he had been left to battle the 'strong rip currents' and tides overnight. 

'That is a whole other game,' Thormay told NBC Boston. 'We are very thankful that he's able to be on dry land and everything worked out well.' 

Whitbeck and Thormay were able to get in contact with the fisherman's wife the next day, who said her husband was doing fine. 

The fisherman's boat is in the repair shop and he plans on getting back in the water soon, according to NBC Boston.