Australian Teen Rescues Family Lost at Sea

Guest Commentary

Audio By Carbonatix

By Amber Ginter, Crosswalk.com

If you were given the opportunity to risk your own life for the sake of saving others, would you? For 13-year-old Austin Appelbee, this was a no-brainer. Absolutely.

After seeing his family lost at sea, Appelbee swam through 4km of ocean to help rescue his mom and two younger siblings. What started as a fun day kayaking and paddle-boarding on the ocean quickly turned deadly when the waves flipped their boards and dragged them out further into the sea.

Despite fear, Appelbee said that Christ and his family got him through his fears. As he swam, he kept thinking to himself, “I’m going to make it through. I was thinking about all my friends at school, and friends at my Christian youth,” he said.

Diving headfirst into the tumultuous sea with just his life jacket, Appelbee eventually threw it off to swim quicker and with more ease. Even in exhaustion, he said the exhaustion didn’t faze him: “I was very puffed out, but I couldn’t feel how tired I was.” Running on fumes and fight or flight energy, Appelbee kept going: “I just said: ‘Alright, not today, not today, not today. I have to keep on going.’” And that’s exactly what he did.

"At this time, you know, the waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on. So anyway, I just keep swimming. I do breaststroke. I do freestyle. Survival backstroke."

Preoccupying his mind with happy things and singing the theme song from “Thomas the Tank Engine”, Appelbee eventually reached the beach and called emergency services to send boats, helicopters, and planes. According to Marine rescue volunteer Paul Bresland, Appelbee’s 4-hour swim saved his family.

"He swam, he reckons, the first two hours with a life jacket on. And the brave fella thought he's not going to make it with a life jacket on, so he ditched it, and he swam the next two hours without a life jacket. That boy is superhuman,” said Bresland.

Thanks to Appelbee’s efforts, his family was eventually found clinging to a paddleboard in the middle of the ocean just off the town of Quindalup.

His Dad and Sister Were in Danger So This 7-Year-Old Hero Swam over a Mile to Save Them

Amber Ginter is a teacher-turned-author who loves Jesus, her husband Ben, and granola. Growing up Amber looked for faith and mental health resources and found none. Today, she offers hope for young Christians struggling with mental illness that goes beyond simply reading your Bible and praying more. Because you can love Jesus and still suffer from anxiety. You can download her top faith and mental health resources for free to help navigate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers from a faith lens perspective. Visit her website at amberginter.com.