They don’t call dogs “man’s best friend” for nothing — and for one sailor, the moniker is truer than ever.
Australian sailor Tim Shaddock, 54, who spent months adrift at sea with his dog Bella, reunited with the canine at Mexico’s Manzanillo beach after the pair spent several days apart following their rescue on a sailing trip.
“I’m so happy to have seen my dog again,” Shaddock told The Sunday Times in an interview published on Friday.
“She’s still as lively as ever,” he added.
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The pair had formed a strong bond after being stranded in the Pacific Ocean for at least two months after setting off from Le Paz, Mexico, in April. Shaddock had intended to travel 3,000 miles to French Polynesia, but his catamaran became damaged in May due to a storm.
Mexican fisherman Genaro Rosales, a member of the crew that rescued Australian sailor Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella after more than two months adrift on the Pacific Ocean, poses with the canine in Mexico on July 20, 2023.
ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty
Shaddock and Bella were rescued earlier this month when a helicopter accompanying tuna trawler Maria Delia spotted Shaddock’s vessel off the coast of Mexico and brought him and Bella onboard. Following the rescue, Shaddock announced during a press conference that a crew member from the ship that saved them, Genaro Rosales, would adopt Bella.
Shaddock told the Times that he opted to let the pup, who had followed him in Mexico, be adopted as he planned to embark on another adventure — this time in Belize.
“I’ll see if I can get lost in the jungle there,” Shaddock said of his next trip. He noted that he didn’t want to put Bella in danger again, saying, “She’s been through a lot with me as it is.”
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“She’s a remarkable animal,” he continued. “I’ve had her since she was a pup, and she just hasn’t stopped following me.”
He said that Bella held her own while they were stranded at sea and helped keep him “calm.”
“You wouldn’t believe how well she managed out there. When we were rescued, all the crew commented on how fit she still looked, especially compared to me,” he told the Times.
He said Bella “got a really good outcome,” having been adopted by Rosales and his family. “The worst outcome was that she would lose her life out there with me,” he said of their fateful trip.
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He admitted that he “bit off more than I could chew,” with the trip, noting that he had only previously sailed down Australia’s Gold Coast, from Brisbane to Sydney, and had “always” been “in sight of land.”
Physiology professor Mike Tipton, who works at the University of Portsmouth’s extreme environment laboratory, told Sky News that Bella may have made a “difference” in Shaddock’s survival.
“He had companionship,” Tipton told the outlet. “Once you’ve got enough food and water, then I think the dog has an advantage. Your survival time is as long as you can keep collecting water, getting occasional food and doing things that help you stay positive.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education