Scott Sutherland, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Victoria - A British Columbia tuna fisherman says at first he thought the U.S. military was making too big a deal with his rescue 800 kilometres off the California coast.

But from his San Jose hospital bed the 53-year-old gratefully admitted Tuesday they saved his life with the dramatic deep-sea rescue.

"I thought they were making a big to-do out of nothing, but apparently I was a lot sicker than I gave myself credit for," Gordie Farewell said in a phone interview from the Regional Medical Centre of San Jose, where he spent the last six days "flat on his back."

Farewell, who said he's been fishing since he was eight years old, left B.C. with three other men on June 26 aboard the Victoria-based tuna boat Ocean Marauder.

They were pulling in tuna July 9 when a small fish spine punctured his left calf. He said he'd sustained similar injuries "at least 100 times."

"I didn't think it was no big deal because I kept working," he said.

But days later the leg had swollen badly and first aid efforts were having little or no effect. Farewell is allergic to penicillin.

The boat's skipper called the U.S. Coast Guard and what happened next is a bit of a blur for the veteran seaman.

"The next thing you know the military helicopters were coming out to drop some paramedics off, pick me up and fly me back, refuelling the choppers in mid-air, then I landed right here at the hospital," he said.

Behind the scenes, however, a lot had gone on, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Kevin Neff, based in Alameda, Calif.

Flight surgeons determined an air-lift was warranted.

But the Ocean Marauder was more than 800 kilometres off the coast.

"The boat was far beyond the range of what our helicopters could get to, because we don't have the ability for in-flight refuelling, like the Air National Guard does," Neff said.

On June 16, a specially equipped Combat Shadow air tanker from the Air National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing took off from Moffett, Calif., and dropped four "para-rescuemen" to the ship where they spent the night treating Farewell.

The following day, a pair of Pave Hawk helicopters and two Combat Shadow tankers returned, hoisting the medics and their patient for transport to the hospital.

Farewell said he hopes to return to Victoria on Wednesday - and head back out to sea after a couple of weeks of recuperation. Tuna season doesn't end until October.

"I've got some antibiotics they want to keep me on for a couple of weeks, then, after that, I'm going fishing," he vowed.

After U.S. rescuers took care of Farewell, Canadian military rescuers based in Comox, B.C. were called out Monday for a medical emergency aboard an American warship 400 kilometres off the coast of Vancouver Island.

The 442 Squadron airlifted a 19-year-old sailor from the back deck of the destroyer USS Milius amid three-to five-metre swells.

"It was my first time working with a U.S. naval ship, the medical crew working with the patient was helpful and ready to go when we arrived," search and rescue technician Master Cpl. Wayde Simpson in a statement issued Tuesday.

The unidentified patient was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox. A hospital spokesperson said Tuesday the patient was in stable condition.