British man attempting to row across Pacific seeks rescue

A British man attempting to row a boat across the Pacific sought rescue from Japan's Coast Guard on Saturday after his rudder broke and he was forced to abandon his trip.

A British man attempting to row a boat across the Pacific sought rescue from Japan's Coast Guard on Saturday after his rudder broke and he was forced to abandon his trip.

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Mick Dawson called Japanese authorities via a satellite telephone at around 4:58 a.m. Japan time (1958 GMT Friday), said a Coast Guard spokesman who asked not to be named.

The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol boat and a search plane to locate Dawson, who was about 560 kilometers (350 miles) off the coast of Miyagi prefecture (state) in northern Japan. Heavy fog prevented the plane from spotting Dawson, but the patrol boat was due to reach him before dawn Sunday, the official said.

Dawson, who had set off from Japan's eastern coast for San Francisco on June 2, has plenty of food and water and is not injured, he added.

A former member of Britain's Royal Marines, Dawson successfully rowed across the Atlantic in 2001 with his brother, according to a Web site about his Pacific crossing attempt.