No sign of sea legs: Louis Jordan is hospitalised after 66 days at sea.

No sign of sea legs: Louis Jordan is hospitalised after 66 days at sea. Photo: AP

A real life castaway has been found alive after surviving more than two months in the Atlantic Ocean on a capsized yacht.

US Coast Guards said 37-year-old South Carolina native, Louis Jordan, kept alive for 66 days by rationing the food he had on board, eating raw fish which he caught and drinking rainwater after the mast of his yacht broke in bad weather.

He was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean about 320 kilometres east of Cape Hatteras, off the coast of North Carolina, reports said.

Louis Jordan, second from left, walks from the Coast Guard helicopter to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Louis Jordan, second from left, walks from the Coast Guard helicopter to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Photo: AP

Cape Hatteras is about 300 kilometres north of Bucksport Marina where Jordan took off to sea to fish on his 35 foot yacht named Angel.

He left on January 23 and not having returned seven days later, his family reported him missing on January 29.

Hopes of finding Jordan were fading before a German tanker spotted him sitting on the hull of his overturned boat at 1.30pm on Thursday.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew to the tanker, the Houston Express, and hoisted Jordan to safety.

According to reports, they arrived onto the US mainland at around 7.30 pm and Jordan was taken to the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia. His parents arrived at around 10.00pm.

Photos showed Jordan walking unaided on his own indicating he was in a good condition.  News reports confirmed he had a shoulder injury.

News bureau wavy.com received an audio of Jordan talking to his father, Frank Jordan, after being rescued.

"We prayed and we prayed, and we hoped that you were still alive," Frank told his son.

"So, that's all that matters. That's the only thing that matters."

"I was just praying about you, 'cause I was afraid that you guys were crying and sad that I was dead … and I wasn't dead," Jordan said.

Coast guards also told reporters Jordan had been travelling north when his yacht lost its mast in rough weather and his electronic equipment was destroyed.

A feat of such endurance has never been heard of, they said. 

Water temperatures in that part of the Atlantic Ocean at this time of year is about 14 degrees, according to US National Oceanographic Data Centre. 

Where Jordan was found was also not far from the Bermuda Triangle, an area in the Atlantic Ocean where aeroplanes and ships have mysteriously disappeared.