US Coast Guard documents have revealed the final moments of two sailors lost at sea when the ill-fated yacht, the Albatross, foundered in a tropical storm off Bermuda.

The sailboat was travelling from Long Island to the Caribbean when it got caught in 40-foot seas and gusts of 50 knots emanating from tropical storm Noel.

According to documents, photographs and audio tapes obtained by the New York Post, skipper Andy Pfanner, 45, of Brooklyn, told investigators he thought he could guide his wife and three friends to safety — by bypassing the approaching storm.

But after three days of raging seas, his crewmates urged him to call the Coast Guard, and a rescue attempt ensued. A Panamanian freighter, the Martorell, came to the aid of the vessel, 270 miles north of Bermuda.

According to the New York Post, the crew tried to scramble up a cargo net over the side of the 645-foot freighter, which reached ten-storeys in height.

However, in their panicked attempt to reach safety, Mr. Pfanner's wife and his best friend fell into the water and were lost at sea. The Post said: "The Martorell crew made a frantic attempt to save Pfanner's best friend and sailing partner, Kurt Raymann, 44. But they could only watch in horror as his grip slipped from the cargo net and he drifted away."

The skipper's wife, fashion designer Carolyn Wong, 47, was crushed between the yacht and the freighter. Her body was also never found.

Bermuda's Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (RCC) told The Royal Gazette at the time that the crew called for help on November 3, saying some were seasick and one person had received a head injury in the stormy seas.

The BCC, working with the US Coast Guard at Norfolk, Virginia, asked the Martorell to assist and a US Coast Guard aircraft was dispatched to oversee the rescue effort.

An RCC spokesman told The Royal Gazette in November: "It was during the ship's initial pass alongside the yacht that, rather than taking additional safety equipment passed to them from the ship, the apparently desperate sailboat crew, who were all wearing life jackets, leapt across to the ship.

"Three of the crew were able to cling to hanging cargo nets and were pulled aboard, while the other two fell into the sea."

The Martorell immediately began a search of the area, assisted by three planes and a helicopter from the US Coast Guard, but the sailors were lost at sea. The search was called off on November 5.

The survivors of the Albatross were taken aboard the car freighter to Charleston, South Carolina.