Fednav Limited, disembarked well-known British athlete and adventurer, Sarah Outen, in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, a week after she was picked up by the crew of Federal Oshima on October 3.
The Fednav vessel, under the command of Captain A. K. Gupta, was en route from the Mediterranean to the Great Lakes, when it was contacted by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Falmouth, UK, to evacuate Ms. Outen, who was attempting to cross the Atlantic in an ocean rowing boat. Captain Gupta commented, “With the approach of Hurricane Joaquin, weather conditions were severe in the North Atlantic—challenging for any seagoing vessel, but particularly perilous for an 18-foot row boat.”
Ms. Outen was on her last major leg of a four-and-a-half-year journey around the globe using only human power for a fundraising initiative when she was forced to abandon her attempt to row the Atlantic solo after 143 days. Ms. Outen, though deeply disappointed that her ocean rowing boat, Happy Socks, had to be left behind, is very grateful that the crew of Fednav-owned Federal Oshima was able to evacuate her before she was hit by the hurricane.
Although Ms. Outen was picked up from her vessel without incident, her craft was adrift before her travel documents and belongings could be retrieved. At the crew’s third attempt, the Fednav ship hooked onto the smaller boat gone adrift and Ms. Outen’s belongings were recovered.
“In spite of the high risk to our crew, our first goal is to save a person in distress, which was demonstrated in this evacuation procedure,” according to Captain Kumar.