Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors.  He was fantastic in the movie "Master & Commander" where he played the brave, swashbuckling British Captain Jack Aubrey set during the Napoleonic Wars over 200 years ago.

He brilliantly commanded the H.M.S. Surprise, a British frigate, in all types of hellish weather in an effort to capture or destroy a French privateer named Acheron which was sailing in the Atlantic Ocean off South America. 

So it came as somewhat of a surprise today when I read a press release by the U.S. Coast Guard that a Coast Guard boat crew rescued actor Crowe and one of his friends, near Huntington Bay, Long Island, N.Y., last night. 

It seems that the 48 year old actor and his buddy had lost their way kayaking off of Long Island. They decided to beach their kayaks in Huntington Bay after nightfall when sea conditions worsened. Fortunately, a Coast Guard crew was on patrol in Huntington Bay.

Crowe and his friend flagged the Coast Guard boat down and they and their kayaks were rescued and taken to Huntington Harbor.

The Coast Guard said that Crowe was wearing a lifejacket and acted prudently to request assistance when it got dark and conditions worsened on the water.

One of the Coast Guard crew members said it "was very cool to help Russell Crowe and his friend.”

Yesterday I wrote an article about the extraordinary services provided by the U.S. Coast Guard by flying hundreds of miles out to sea to hoist ill passengers from cruise ships.

But rescuing a brave British master and commander in a kayak?  That takes the cake!