Hapless sailor rescued off Isle of Sheppey

London: A man who thought he was sailing along the coast of southern England had to be rescued by emergency services after his motor boat ran out of fuel while repeatedly circling a small island in the River Thames estuary.

The man, who had no nautical guides and only had a road map to navigate by, had been trying to sail from Gillingham, about 56km east of London, to Southampton on April 19 by following the southern coast of England.

But he ended simply doing laps of the 57-square km Isle of Sheppey a short distance away in the mouth of the Thames.

Eventually a lifeboat and coastguard were sent to rescue him after he used up all his fuel and ran aground, officials said yesterday. He told them he had been trying to navigate by keeping the coastline to his right.

"He was attempting to travel around the UK from Medway to Southampton and had somehow lost his bearings and ended up travelling around the Isle of Sheppey," said Robin Castle, a member of the local lifeboat station. "It seems he didn't have the usual maritime charts or navigational equipment."