The Australian shipwrecked Timothy Shaddock, 54 years old, was located on Sunday by a Grupomar company tuna vessel, while he was adrift on his damaged catamaran. He was found next to his dog and they both survived on raw fish and rainwater.

The ship’s company said in a statement released Monday that the Australian “was more than 1,200 miles from land” when it was found.

“I am grateful, I am alive (…). I just want to take it easy,” Shaddock told the press after getting off the ship in the port of Manzanillo (west). “To the captain and the company who saved my life, what can I say? I am very grateful.”

Shaddock emerged from the boat with a full beard and wearing a cap from the tuna company that salvaged him.

The navigator explained that the days he spent at sea were difficult, since he was also at the mercy of a storm. “In terms of health, it was difficult for a while, I was very hungry, I thought that I would not survive the storm, but now I am very well,” he said, detailing that he is now very thin.

Shaddock said that he fished a lot during his days at sea and had good provisions. However, during the shipwreck he lost his cooking equipment, so he had to eat raw fish.

Shaddock and his dog Bella had left aboard a catamaran last April from La Paz, in the Mexican peninsula of Baja California, to make a trip of about 6,000 km to French Polynesia.

But their boat, called the Aloha Toa, broke down after a severe storm in the Eastern Pacific left them adrift for more than three months.

Shaddock said that he found a way within himself during the days of his shipwreck. “Fatigue is the hardest part. You’re always fixing something and I was trying to find joy within myself. I found it being alone in the sea,” he said.

The man also said that his dog is “incredible.” He explained that he found the animal in Mexico and that she followed him despite the fact that he tried to find her a home three times.

“It is an incredible animal, I am grateful that it is alive, it is much braver than me,” he explained. The dog, after being rescued, stayed on board the tuna boat, according to an AFP journalist.

The founder of Grupomar, the company that owns the ship that rescued Shaddock, Antonio Suárez, thanked the ship’s crew for having rescued the Australian navigator. “Life is very beautiful and we have been responsible for saving the life of a human being and a dog that accompanied him.”

“We have medical service on board our boats (…) it fell into very good hands,” said Suárez, who also added that the boat that rescued the castaway is the smallest and oldest of his company, and that this trip in The one who found Shaddock will surely be the last one on the ship.

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