A 65-year-old British woman attempted to swim out to a cruise ship under the false assumption her husband was on board. Picture: Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

The British woman, Susan Brown believed her husband was aboard the Marco Polo cruise ship as it left the Madeira Islands in Portugal after the couple had an argument at Funchal airport.

She told police that they had decided to fly home early from their 32-night cruise when it stopped over for the day in Madeira, but became separated after having an argument at the airport.

“Feeling desperate”, Brown attempted to swim out to the ship when she saw it sailing out in the evening thinking her husband might have been on board.

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Police have since found her husband boarded a flight to Bristol, England.

A cruise spokesman said a flight was booked for the couple, as was a taxi to the airport.

Funchal port captain Fernando Felix Marques told local radio: “For reasons that are as yet unknown, with the airport being right by the sea, she must have gone and thrown herself in.”

When the fishermen rescued Brown after midnight, she only had her handbag.

The water was 18 degrees celsius, and she was taken to hospital with advanced hypothermia before being moved to a psychiatric ward.

Police intend to interview her again.