An Australian sailor who was rescued by a Mexican tuna boat after three months adrift at sea with his dog Bella is ‘grateful’ to be alive after stepping on dry land for the first time since his ordeal began.
Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock, 54, revealed that he survived on “a lot of sushi” after disembarking from the fishing boat that rescued him, the Maria Delia, in the Mexican city of Manzanillo on Tuesday.
I feel good. I feel much better than I was, I tell you,” Shaddock, smiling, bearded and thin, told reporters on the pier in the port city, some 210 miles west of Mexico City.
‘To the captain and the fishing company who saved my life, I am very grateful. I’m alive and I really didn’t think I’d make it,” Shaddock said, adding that both he and his “wonderful” dog Bella are doing well.
The Sydney man’s catamaran set sail in April from the Mexican city of La Paz bound for tropical French Polynesia but was ground to a standstill by bad weather weeks into the 3,700-mile voyage.
Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock, 54, revealed that he survived on “a lot of sushi” after disembarking on Tuesday in the Mexican city of Manzanillo from the fishing boat that rescued him
He said the last time he saw land was in early May when he left the Sea of Cortez for the Pacific. There was a full moon.
Shaddock described himself as a calm person who loves to be alone in the ocean. When asked why he had left the Baja California Peninsula to cross the Pacific Ocean, Shaddock struggled to explain.
“I’m not sure I have the answer to that, but I really enjoy sailing and I love seafarers,” he said. ‘It is the people of the sea that unite us all. The ocean is in us. We are the ocean.
Shaddock said he was well provisioned, but a storm destroyed his electronics and ability to cook. He and Bella survived on raw fish.
“It was a lot of chewing on ‘sushi,'” he joked, noting how “skinny” he had become.
Shaddock said there were “many, many, many bad days” at sea, but also good ones.
“The energy, the fatigue is the hardest part,” he said. He spent time fixing things and stayed positive by going in the water to ‘just enjoy being in the water’.
“I would try to find happiness within myself, and I found it a lot alone in the sea. I would also get in the water and just enjoy being in the water.
“There were many, many, many bad days and many good days,” he said.
Shaddock said he was well provisioned, but a storm destroyed his electronics and ability to cook. He and Bella survived on raw fish.
Shaddock and his dog Bella are seen aboard the fishing boat that rescued them at sea.
Rescuers arrive at Shaddock’s disabled catamaran, where the sailor spent three months adrift after a storm disabled the ship.
Shaddock said that the tuna boat became his land and that Bella was an immediate hit with the crew. The dog is seen playing on the deck after the rescue.
When the tuna boat’s helicopter spotted Shaddock’s catamaran about 1,200 miles from land, it was the first sign of humans it had seen in three months, Shaddock said.
The pilot tossed him a drink and then flew away, returning later in a speedboat on the Maria Delia, he said.
Grupomar, which operates the fishing fleet, did not specify when the rescue occurred.
But it said in a statement that Shaddock and his dog were in a “precarious” state when they were found, without supplies or shelter, and that the tuna boat crew provided them with medical care, food and hydration.
Shaddock said that the tuna boat became his land and that Bella was an immediate hit with the crew. He also explained how he and the dog met.
‘Bella found me in the middle of Mexico. She is Mexican,’ she said. ‘She’s the spirit of the middle of the country and she wouldn’t let me go. I tried to find her a home three times and she kept following me to the water. She’s much braver than me, that’s for sure.
Australian sailor Tim Shaddock smiles after arriving at the port of Manzanillo on Tuesday
The crew of the Mexican tuna boat “Maria Delia” poses for some photos with Bella, Australian Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock’s dog, whom they rescued at sea
A member of the fishing boat crew will adopt Bella from Shaddock on the condition that she take good care of the dog.
Perhaps for that reason, Bella didn’t leave the boat until Shaddock had left on Tuesday.
He had already chosen Genaro Rosales, a crew member from Mazatlán, to adopt her on the condition that he take good care of the dog.
Shaddock said he will return to Australia soon and looks forward to seeing his family.
Antonio Suárez, president of Grupomar, said that this could be the last voyage of the María Delia because it is modernizing the company’s fleet and the ship is the smallest and is over 50 years old.
If so, it would be a “wonderful farewell, saving human lives,” Suárez said.
