Australian Navy Rescues Rower Crossing Pacific from California
2025-03-12
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1A Lithuanian rower attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean has been rescued by an Australian warship after hitting stormy waters off the coast of Queensland state.
2Royal Australian Navy officer Justin Jones said in a statement that Aurimas Mockus was brought aboard the warship on March 3.
3The 44-year-old adventurer began his trip alone in October from San Diego, California.
4He made it to within 740 kilometers of Australia's mainland before running into a tropical cyclone.
5Australia's Maritime Safety Authority organized the rescue.
6It said the enclosed boat that Mockus traveled in was mostly destroyed by the powerful waters.
7He was only able to recover a few personal belongings from the boat.
8Mockus was stranded for three days in the Coral Sea east of Queensland's coastal city of Mackay.
9His goal was to make it from California to the Australian state's capital, Brisbane.
10The whole distance is about 12,000 kilometers.
11The rower turned on an emergency signal while experiencing stormy seas fueled by 80-kilometer-per-hour winds caused by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
12That led to rescuers establishing radio contact with Mockus. Mockus reported he was "fatigued," the team said.
13Navy officials said the warship was taking Mockus to Sydney in New South Wales.
14Rowers traveling by themselves have crossed the Pacific Ocean nonstop in the past.
15Mockus was attempting to become one of the few to cross the sea alone and without stopping.
16Peter Bird of Britain became the first to do so in 1983.
17He rowed from San Francisco and was pulled behind another boat for the last 48 kilometers to the Australian mainland.
18Even though he did not complete the whole trip alone, he is considered to have rowed close enough to Australia to have made the crossing.
19Fellow British citizen John Beeden rowed from San Francisco to the Queensland city of Cairns in 2015.
20He is considered by some to have made the first successful crossing.
21Australian Michelle Lee became the first woman to successfully make the crossing in 2023.
22She rowed from the Mexican coastal city of Ensenada to Port Douglas in Queensland.
23Another Australian, Tom Robinson, attempted to become the youngest to row across the Pacific in 2022.
24He was 24 years old at the time.
25During his trip, Robinson took a rest in the Cook Islands.
26He set out from Peru and spent 265 days at sea before he was rescued off the southwestern Pacific nation of Vanuatu in 2023.
27I'm Jill Robbins.