He stayed with his dog in a catamaran that was unable to maneuver 2,200 kilometers off the coast: after three months on the open sea, a shipwrecked sailor from Australia was rescued in the Pacific by a Mexican tuna fisherman. On Tuesday the trawler will Maria Delia with the man on board in the Mexican port city of Manzanillo, said the company Grupomar, which owns the rescue ship. The man is fine, said the port captain, Marciano Valdez, of the German Press Agency.
Smiling, with a bushy beard, looking emaciated and tired: This is what Timothy Shaddock looked like in the photos distributed by the company. Some showed him with a blood pressure monitor on his arm. The bitch Bella also seemed to be doing well there, given the circumstances.
Shaddock got on the catamaran Aloha Toa however found in an extremely precarious situation without adequate food and shelter, the company said. Accordingly, the man is 54 years old. The media from Australia had spoken of 51 years.
At the end of last week, the sailor was sighted by a fishing helicopter, several Australian media reported on Monday. The newspaper reported that he and his dog only ate raw fish and rainwater for weeks Guardians. The on-board electronics had previously failed after a storm. Shaddock himself told broadcaster 9News the past few months have been “a terrible ordeal” been. “I just need rest and good food because I was alone at sea for so long. Otherwise, my health is very good.”
According to media reports, the catamaran was discovered by the trawler, whose crew was on the lookout for schools of tuna with a small helicopter. The fishermen set course for the catamaran and brought the man and dog on board.
Rescued: Shaddock with his dog aboard the Tuna Fisherman.
(Photo: AP/AP)
According to reports, the shipwrecked man set sail in April in La Paz, Mexico. The original destination was French Polynesia – thousands of kilometers away in the Pacific. The man and dog are in surprisingly good condition, 9News quoted a doctor who was able to examine Shaddock on board.
The Association of tuna fishermen “Atuneros mexicanos” posted on Facebook: “It has been reported that the trawler Maria Delia of the company Marindustrias has just rescued a shipwrecked man after three months. There is no doubt: God is great!” Marindustrias is owned by Grupomar. “I’m proud of my sailors,” said company boss Antonio Suárez.
Survival expert Mike Tipton told 9News that Shaddock was extremely lucky. Discovering such a small boat in the ocean is “like finding a needle in a haystack”. The fact that the dog was there probably “helped enormously” in the long time without human contact, said Tipton. “I think maybe that made the difference.”