BOSTON (AP) — A Scottish man seeking to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone in a rowboat has abandoned his 3,400 miles quest after being rescued some 500 miles off Massachusetts.
The Coast Guard’s Boston office says Niall Macdonald triggered his emergency radiobeacon at around 12:30 a.m. Friday after his specialized ocean rower started taking on water during rough seas.
Macdonald abandoned the ship, boarded the vessels’ life raft and contacted officials in the United Kingdom by satellite phone.
A Dutch cargo chip, the Dolfijngracht, responded to a distress bulletin from authorities and located Macdonald at about 5 a.m. The Coast Guard says Macdonald will be travelling with the ship to Canada.
Macdonald set off from Norfolk, Virginia May 23 and hoped to journey to his hometown of Stornoway, on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis.
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