Injured Atlantic sailor calls his local pub in Sussex for help

Six hundred miles off the coast of Bermuda, British sailor Alan Thompson stumbled aboard his new yacht and badly injured his pelvis. In considerable pain, the 61-year-old Thompson picked up his satellite phone and phoned a friend - the landlord of his local pub in Fishbourne, West Sussex.

The call triggered a rescue alert, coordinated between US and UK coastguards, which ended more than five hours later with Thompson hauled on to an oil tanker and his yacht, Padolu, left abandoned to the waves. Roger Pocock, 62, licensee of the Bull's Head, heard from his friend early on Saturday evening. "We received a call from him saying he was in trouble. He said he'd been on deck and taken a fall.



"It was obvious he was in constant pain. I don't know why he didn't put out an SOS, but maybe he didn't want to make a big alert."

Pocock immediately called Falmouth coastguards, who were able to establish the yacht's position using onboard navigation equipment. It was out of helicopter range and the US coastguard dispatched the nearest vessel, an oil tanker, which was five hours' steaming time away.

When the rescue vessel arrived, two US coastguards boarded to help him abandon the boat and assist him up on to the tanker, which turned back to the US.

Photo from here.