Watch: Australian sailor and dog rescued after three months at sea

A ‘real life Castaway’ from Australia has survived after being lost at sea for three months alongside his dog.

Sydney resident Tim Shaddock, 54, and his dog Bella were making a 6,000km voyage between Mexico and French Polynesia in April 2023, when a storm damaged their catamaran and cut off the electronics.

A trawler came to their aid last week after a helicopter spotted the duo floating in the North Pacific, some 2,000 km off land. The helicopter pilot threw Shaddock a drink before a speed boat from the Grupomar-operated Maria Delia arrived to help him.

Speaking to Australia’s 9News, the doctor aboard the trawler said Shaddock had “normal vital signs”.

Shaddock — who has lost a significant amount of weight and was sporting a bushy beard — says he survived by eating raw fish caught using fishing gear that was on board. “I have been through a very difficult ordeal at sea,” he said in a video obtained by 9News.

“I’m just needing rest and good food because I have been alone at sea a long time. Otherwise, I’m in very good health.”

Shaddock says that he used the boat’s canopy to provide shelter from the sun, and caught rainwater for drinking. He joked there had been “a lot of chewing of sushi”.

“To the captain and fishing company that saved my life, I’m just so grateful. I’m alive, and I didn’t really think I’d make it,” he said after arriving in Manzanillo, Mexico. Shaddock is expected to make a full recovery and will return to Australia soon.

Shaddock says he had “many, many, many bad days and many good days” and spent his time fixing things on the boat and taking dips in the ocean.

“I would try and find the happiness inside myself, and I found that a lot alone at sea. I would go in the water too, and just enjoy being in the water,” he says.

Asked why he made the trip, he explained: “I’m not sure I have the answer to that, but I very much enjoy sailing and I love the people of the sea.

“It’s the people of the sea that make us all come together. The ocean is in us. We are the ocean.”

Shaddock says that Bella “found him” in Mexico before he departed, and kept following him into the water. He praised the pooch, saying she was “braver” than him. However, he is parting ways with the dog after he leaves Mexico.

One of the tuna vessel’s members, Genaro Rosales, will adopt her, it has since emerged.