The American boater whose wife vanished into shark-infested waters in the Bahamas last weekend staggered ashore hours later and admitted they had been 'drinking' and 'were drunk', the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal. 

Brian Hooker - who was arrested on Wednesday - showed little visible emotion as he told a startled boatyard security guard that his wife Lynette, 55, had been 'thrown' from their small dinghy in darkness and rough seas as they headed back to their moored vessel in the Abaco Islands. 

The 59-year-old told night watchman Edward Smith, 56, the couple had been returning to their 50ft sailboat, Soulmate, from Elbow Cay when, 'my wife was just thrown out of the boat' in atrocious weather.

But according to Smith, Hooker did not appear hysterical or emotional. 

'He wasn't crying or anything. He didn't seem stressed in that way. There wasn't a lot of emotion. There were no tears,' Smith told the Daily Mail.

'He expressed nothing that you would imagine in those circumstances. He was more exhausted than emotional because he kept asking for water.

'He drank and kept asking for more. He had some water from my cooler, I then gave him another liter. He drank that down and then he wanted even more.'

Hooker ditched the dinghy just south of the boat yard where Smith works in Marsh Harbour on the main Great Abaco Island around 4am Sunday and stumbled along rocks until he found rescuers.

He had been alone in the 8ft vessel after Lynette plunged over the side around 7.30pm Saturday, taking with her the engine's kill-switch key which was attached to her by a cord. That cut the tiny vessel's power.

According to his account to the security guard, Hooker battled more than eight hours and with just one paddle to cover around seven miles to shore on the main island after 'losing sight of my wife'.

Smith told the Daily Mail: 'I said to him, why on earth go out in that small boat in the dark and those conditions?

'And he did show some emotion then when he said, "We were drinking, we were drunk. I should have known better. I shouldn't have done it"'.

'But he then added, "whatever happened, happened. The wind was blowing so hard when it happened she just went over".'

Smith continued: 'Mr Hooker said he was trying to paddle to get back towards the lady. But he said he only had one paddle and the wind was so strong it blew him away from her in the dark. So he couldn't see where she was.

'He said the last time he saw her she was swimming towards Hope Town on Elbow Key, but it was so dark he could not be clear. He then lost sight of her.

'He said after she went over a boat passed by and he shot up a flare. But the boat didn't see it. Then a couple of minutes later another boat passed and he shot up another flare. They also didn't see it.

'I asked him, where's your wife now? He said, "she's still in the water." I immediately stopped talking and called 911 and they called the police, who arrived ten minutes later.

'Officers started questioning him straight away here. I didn't hear what they were asking because they were inside the security booth. They were still questioning him at 7am when I went off my watch.'

Hooker was taken to Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama on Thursday evening where he will continue to be questioned by the Royal Bahamas Police Force following his arrest on Wednesday night, his attorney Terrel Butler told the Daily Mail.

But there has been no sign of Lynette. Former fisherman Smith believes sharks will have pounced within minutes – a belief backed up by a highly experienced high-end boat skipper who also spoke with the Daily Mail.

'Those waters where she went in are full of bull sharks, and they can be monsters,' said Smith. 'Everything round there is bull sharks. They'd get her straight away.'

Locals in Marsh Harbour who knew the Hookers said it was well known Lynette always 'drove' the dinghy and so would have the kill-switch key attached to her.

They did not report outward signs of tension between them despite accusations by Lynette's daughter Karli Aylesworth, 29, of a 'history of domestic violence'.

The couple from Onsted, Michigan were four years into a voyage they were documenting on social media that had started in Texas and drifted to The Bahamas via Florida.

Despite Hooker being far closer to Elbow Key when Lynette vanished, strong currents and winds would have pushed him towards the farther Marsh Harbour, said the high-end charter skipper we talked to.

'I understand their boat was around a mile from the restaurant, so very little distance but the weather that night was appalling,' he said.

'The wind gusts were up to 20mph and even in the sheltered spots the chop would have been three feet high. Outside that it could have reached six feet.

'First, going out in that in an 8ft dinghy was crazy. I don't know if there was foul play, but someone could easily tip over, especially if there was alcohol involved.

'If Mr Hooker was paddling, he would have been swept in the opposite direction to Elbow Key. That is a reasonable explanation for him being there.'

The skipper, who declined to be named, explained Hooker's dilemma if his version of events is true. 'Once someone is out of a boat like that it instantly becomes lighter and faster,' he said.

'If Lynette was on Elbow Key side of the dinghy, the small boat would have been moving away from her pretty quickly. That's not to say Brian couldn't have battled to stay steady with whatever paddle he had.

'At that time, it wasn't actually that super dark. Unless she was knocked out, she maybe could have swum and he could have paddled so they hopefully met in the middle.

'But only two people can tell you what happened that night. And one of them is dead. I believe unless they find her body, he will walk free. If he isn't prosecuted, the court of public opinion will do the rest.

'And the chances of finding her are next to slim. It's simply not a question that she's going to wash up some place.'

He added ominously: 'Bodies sink fast, they only start to rise when they decompose – but round here the sharks get to them way before that. If she was bleeding when she entered the water, it would have been within minutes.'

Authorities say they are in a recovery operation to find the body. But the skipper revealed the US Coast Guard's high-tech imaging aircraft has scanned the entire area in a systematic grid without any results.

'The water is super clear and only between three and eight feet in most places. That aircraft can see everything. And there was no sign of a body,' he said.

Hooker has denied any wrongdoing in a statement to the Daily Mail, saying: 'I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.

'Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.'

Meanwhile the couple's boat is now moored on the fringes of an upscale marina in Marsh Harbour, as revealed in Daily Mail exclusive photos.

Hooker's 'we were drunk' declaration follows unfolding claims of tension between the couple, including a report that a 'drunk' Lynette was arrested in 2015 for allegedly punching her husband. 

The warrant against Lynette was ultimately denied after authorities deemed there was 'insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.' 

The claim follows serious accusations by Lynette's daughter Karli Aylesworth to Fox News that: 'There's a history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard.

'So the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there's more to this story.'

Hooker himself fell overboard from a police transit after being arrested on Wednesday night, his attorney Terrel Butler told the Daily Mail.

'Under conditions of heavy rain and strong-force winds, he was taken by boat to his boat, the Soulmate for a police search,' she said. 'Despite the choppy and dangerous sea conditions, he was kept in handcuffs.

'While attempting to move sideways across the wet, unstable flooring of the boat to maintain his balance—with a bundle of clothes in his restricted hands—he lost his footing and fell overboard.

'He was submerged in the cold water and took in a significant amount of seawater before his life jacket brought him to the surface. He had to be rescued from the water by the police. 

'As a result of this fall, Brian sustained an injury to his knee, which has caused him to limp, as well as a visible abrasion.'

Butler added: 'Brian appears completely heartbroken and deeply distressed. His primary concern and source of intense frustration is his inability to continue the search for his wife of 25 years. 

'The trauma of her disappearance, coupled with his current detention as a suspect, has left him in an extremely fragile state.'