Video: Moment sailor rescued after months at sea eating raw fish

Sydney man Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella were picked up by a tuna trawler off the coast of Mexico, after being spotted by a helicopter accompanying the ship, two months after their ship was damaged in a storm.

The pair set sail from La Paz in Mexico to French Polynesia in April, but a few weeks into the journey a bad storm destroyed electronics on the catamaran.

Nine News obtained footage of the miraculous rescue, filmed by rescuers, which shows a gaunt and shaggy Mr Shaddock explaining he only had “fishing gear, survival gear” aboard the catamaran.

Once on board the trawler, he recalled his “very difficult ordeal at sea”.

“I‘m just needing rest and good food because I have been alone at sea a long time,” he said.

“I have not had food, enough food for a long time.”

Yet, despite only having rain water to drink and eating raw fish to survive for two months, doctors say Mr Shaddock suffered no major illness or injury during his time lost at sea.

It is understood he also avoided sunburn by hiding under a canopy on the catamaran.

“I have very good medicine and I’m being looked after very well,” Mr Shaddock said.

A specialist doctor assisting Mr Shaddock’s recovery told Nine News the sailor is eating small meals and remaining conscious and chatty following the ordeal – which he likened to something out of the movie Castaway.

Mr Shaddock is still on a journey to dry land in Mexico where he will receive more medical treatment.