We were on a patrol, and got a call from the Navy that there was a 'lost' sailor down by Atlantic City, N.J. He had contacted the Navy vessel asking for directions to NYC harbor, they proceeded to give it to him, then they called us. We came upon his vessel {a 28' sailboat} and tried to converse with him, only to find out that all he could speak was French. The Captain [McKenzie] asked if any of the hands could speak French. Up comes SN Gerow. This gentleman could speak it better than the 'Frenchman'. We finally talked the Frenchman, thru Gerow, into coming along side so Gerow could board and get an inspection. The sea was a little rough. Nothing big to us, but for that 28'er! That is a different story. Gerow got onboard with luck, but in the transfer the sailboat rolled one way, and we rolled the other way. You guessed it. Rolled together. Consequence: Broken Mast!! Emotional state: Even Gerow couldn't understand him. Did find out he knows 'hand gestures'. He also likes to 'throw' things. Didn't matter, as long as he could pick it up. He 'Frenchman', pushed his boat away from the Tam, and there was poor Gerow. "Now What?" The Capt. tells Gerow over the bull horn that we would throw him a line to secure it and we would tow him and Frenchman and his boat to NYC harbor. We get the little line to the boat and Gerow secures it only to have the Frenchman 'cut' it with his knife. So the Capt. says, "Do it again, only use a bigger line this time". This time the Frenchman uses an 'axe' to cut the hawser. The Capt. is getting kinda upset by now, and this time, we pass a small line attached to a hawser which is attached to a 1" cable. Gerow finally gets this secured and we all watch the Frenchman from the Tam try his best to figure out a way to unhook, cut or whatever it took to become 'free' of his albatross. I was on 'flying bridge' lookout duty since we were towing an object, and I would get down behind the winter front and eat the viddles that I always took from the lookout watch mess. I would look occasionally and see that it was all going well. This one time, I looked and did not see the line. I saw it hanging limp over our stern and saw the 2 guys on the fantail duck below the handrails and run towards the bow of the ship. I got on the 'tube' and stated "He has cut it again!!". The Tam, makes a HARD LEFT turn with FULL POWER. Ooops. I don't know even to this day 'why' those guys ducked and ran. I do know that the line was 'still' fastened. It apparently had dropped well into the water either from his riding a wave down, or we slowed down. Have you ever been on a water ski behind a boat doing a 'donut'. :-) Yep, that is what happened to that 28' sailboat!! We finally got him into NYC harbor and dropped him off at the US Quarantine there on Staten Island. Here is the clincher. He had 'escaped' from a gooney ward in England, stold the sailboat, and did all this not knowing the 1st bit about sailing.