Transatlantic slave-route rower rescued after springing a leak

AFP ^ | Sun May 7 | AFP

[ConservativeMind]

A man attempting to row across the Atlantic from Senegal to New York in memory of victims of the slave trade and to raise money to fight AIDS watched his boat sink when he was rescued after it sprang a leak, police told AFP.

Victor Mooney, a 41-year-old New Yorker, set off from the island of Goree off Dakar on Sunday morning planning to row 8,000 miles (12,900 kilometres) via South America and the Caribbean in a 24-foot (7.3 metre) boat.

The Senegalese navy received a distress call from Mooney about an hour into his journey and contacted police who sent rescuers, said a police officer who took part in the rescue and asked not to be named.

"We rerouted the tugboat to bring help (to Mooney). We tried to tow the boat, but we couldn't because it was taking water," the officer said.

Rescuers retrieved important items from Mooney's boat and brought the rower back to port. The officer described Mooney as "safe and well".

The Internet site dedicated to Mooney's project confirmed the sinking. It said the boat had been damaged while being launched weeks earlier in Dakar and not properly repaired.

Mooney said before setting off that his voyage aimed to raise awareness of his ancestors, slaves who died during the transatlantic slave trade that ended on a large scale in the 19th century. He also aimed to attract donations to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Before the trip he set up an Internet site where people also make donations. He also visited the nearby UNESCO World Heritage site House of Slaves where he paid tribute to slaves who were held prisoner there on the trafficking route.

The voyage was to take seven or eight months. Mooney had planned to declare it over when he reached New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

[Jotmo]

"Thanks for all the donations guys. I think I'll just fly home instead."

[CurlyDave]

Can anyone say "complete dingbat"?

I would hate to have to rely on the Senegalese Navy for a rescue, especially after only an hour of rowing.

[wardaddy]

hmmm..reminds me of that world sailborder from France who left his girlfriend at the beach on the Kali to Hawaii leg and adios....never seen again.

Extreme sailing...sometimes extremely dumb

[A message]

Victor even has had an opportunity to meet the Pope. He is quite the celebrity.

He is an avid rower and his plans to row across the Atlantic while seeming a bit extravagant as far as good sense is not something I will knock.

There is no excuse for slavery.

But I also think if Victor were to put his rowing talents to use in expanding anti slavery awareness he should highlight the plight of Africans and others that even today are bound as slaves. The United States has solved this problem.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Mooney said before setting off that his voyage aimed to raise awareness of his ancestors, slaves who died during the transatlantic slave trade...

If his ancestors didn't make it, what's he doing here? ;-)

[garyhope]

I've been across both the Atlantic and the Pacific by ship.

The ocean is VERY LARGE, VERY DEEP AND VERY LONELY OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.

You can disappear and no one will hear or see you ever again. You are smaller than a mere spec in the middle of the oceans

Stay home or take a very large boat.

[rightwinggoth]

Should have used a Spanish galleon to make the experience more accurate.

[rightwinggoth]

Should have used a Spanish galleon to make the experience more accurate. Much more seaworthy, too.

[LK44-40]

Leaving aside the comic aspects, the PC causes, etc., I am just sick of people staging their big adventures as something that other people should contribute to.

My sucker of a local TV station featured a "news item" the other day about some dingbats going on a round the world bicycle trek for some cause de jour.

Big adventures might be fun....but you might as well pee up a rope as to try and get me to donate. And how they keeping hooking media with these gimicks is a hoot.

[bondjamesbond]

He should be careful. I hear that there are still sharks who congregate along these old routes out of a instinctive memory of all the slaves who were thrown overboard back in the days of the slave trade^*.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

He sank in the first hour?

[martin_fierro]

The Senegalese navy received a distress call from Mooney about an hour into his journey

Dude, you're never gonna make The National Geographic Channel at that rate.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

[martin_fierro]

anti slavery awareness he should highlight the plight of Africans and others that even today are bound as slaves.

And failing that, there's that Darfur thing.

Stuff going on NOW.

[Spirochete]

He should be careful. I hear that there are still sharks who congregate along these old routes out of a instinctive memory of all the slaves who were thrown overboard back in the days of the slave trade

So says Major Owens.

[SlowBoat407]

I've been across both the Atlantic and the Pacific by ship. The ocean is VERY LARGE, VERY DEEP AND VERY LONELY OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. You can disappear and no one will hear or see you ever again. You are smaller than a mere spec in the middle of the oceans Stay home or take a very large boat.

Four of us crossed the Atlantic on a 42-foot sailboat 12 years ago. It is indeed a humbling experience. One of our crew refused to wear his harness when he was on watch alone, so we did a little demonstration for him. We tossed a large, hollowed out melon rind (about the size of his head) into the water in broad daylight and told him to watch it for as long as he could. He lost it after about two minutes.

He wore his harness after that.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

LOL

[stevio]

LOL!

[CivilWarguy]

He claimed he tried to row the Atlantic in a boat that hadn't been repaired? Either he's the world's dumbest person, or else this whole thing was a publicity-seeking fraud from day one.