An adventurer who was just days from completing a solo row from the US to Australia has been rescued by a warship after getting caught in a tropical cyclone.
Aurimas Mockus was in the final stages of his 7,500-mile voyage across the Pacific Ocean, which he started in an enclosed boat in October.
After hitting stormy seas and 50mph winds generated by Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the Lithuanian 44-year-old became stranded for three days in the Coral Sea around 460 miles east of the Queensland coast.
He had been rowing from San Diego in California to the Queensland capital of Brisbane.
Mr Mockus was taken aboard the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Choules on Monday and was being medically assessed.
He activated an emergency beacon on Friday after hitting the stormy conditions, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.
Officials said a plane was sent and made radio contact with Mr Mockus on Saturday, adding he was “fatigued”.
The warship is taking Mr Mockus south beyond Brisbane to Sydney, the navy said.
The cyclone was 280 miles east of Brisbane on Monday and is forecast to cross the Australian coast on Thursday or Friday.
Mr Mockus was attempting to become one of the few rowers who have crossed the Pacific alone and without stopping.
Briton Peter Bird arguably became the first in 1983 after setting off from San Francisco.
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He was towed the final 30 miles to the mainland, but is considered to have rowed close enough to Australia to have made the crossing.
However, some believe British adventurer John Beeden was the first to row solo and non-stop across the Pacific Ocean when he travelled from San Francisco to the Queensland city of Cairns in 2015.
Australian Michelle Lee became the first woman to make the crossing in 2023, rowing from Ensenada in Mexico to Queensland’s Port Douglas.
