MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2023) French adventurer Lucas Monteu has shared his story of sailing with a Russian tanker crew after he and his companion dog Venus were stranded aboard a drifting yacht in the middle of the Atlantic.
The Russian Defense Ministry, whose Northern Fleet tanker Kama picked up the adventurer late on January 30, published a video of an interview with the 34-year-old on Saturday.
"I was sailing for 10 days between Cabo Verde and French Guiana when my automatic pilot stopped working. So, I had no other choice but to keep sailing during the day and stop the boat at night," Monteu said.
He estimated that he could keep going for a couple more weeks but the boat's rudder blade broke the hull, causing it to take on water.
"The day after, when I woke up, water was entering the boat. Actually, the rudder just broke the bottom of the boat and the situation was going to get worse," he said.
The adventurer was monitoring the automatic identification system (AIS) screen for ships when the Kama turned up.
"I had not seen a single vessel for days on my AIS screen but when I looked at it just before (going to) sleep in the middle of no man's land I saw the Kama," he said.
"I called them on the emergency radio channel and they immediately asked for my position. I knew that they could not see me on radar or AIS so I launched a parachute rocket and two minutes later I saw the Kama tanker changing its course to rescue me," he added.
The Russian crew helped the man and his dog onto the tanker and they spent more than a week traveling to Cape Town in South Africa where the tanker's group was due for a port call.
"Every single member of the crew has been more than friendly with me and my dog and we have been welcomed like ambassadors," Monteu said.
"I could call my parents who had received a distress satellite signal almost immediately after my arrival on the ship and the authorities called me a few days later," he said.
The adventurer's parents sent a letter to Russian Ambassador in France Alexei Meshkov to thank Russian sailors for rescuing their son and his dog. Monteu disembarked in Cape Town after promising to meet the crew in their home port.
"I feel limitless gratefulness for the captain and his lovely crew... I would like to stay and work with them until the end of their journey but if I can't I will be waiting for them in Murmansk. They have my word," he said.
