The crew of a yacht rescued after their boat broke up in heavy seas last night thanked Bermuda for its hospitality.

Len Rorke, wife Lisa and crewman Henri Worthalter were plucked from the sea in the early hours of last Friday by a massive tanker after their boat Blue Pearl sank more than 900 miles off the Island.

Their rescuers — the crew of the Tilda Kosan — diverted to Bermuda to drop the three, and the Rorke’s pet Jack Russell terrier Dexter — off on the island on Monday.

And Mr Rorke said: “The Bermuda people have been absolutely outstanding — they have opened their arms and hearts to us.

“Everywhere we’ve been, from the Mariners’ Club to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, have opened their arms to us — everyone who has known about it has been incredible.

“We would like to thank them, really and sincerely, from the bottom of our hearts.

“Everyone we have met, the words of comfort and everything ... when you have lost everything in the ocean, it’s the smallest things that help, the kind words and empathy people have shown.

“We all wish we had hit Bermuda under different circumstances.”

The three were speaking at the Bermuda Sailors’ Home in Hamilton, which looks after sailors in distress as part of its mission, only days after they lost everything when the Blue Pearl sank while they were en route from the Caribbean to the Azores.

Mr Rorke said the three had arrived in Bermuda with only the clothes they had been wearing when they were forced to take to their life raft in 25-foot seas.

“When we were driving around, we thought ‘this is lovely’,” he said.

Mr Rorke, a retired South African police detective who later ran his own private detective agency and Lisa, a teacher, gave up life on shore to live on their boat and travel the world.

British-born Ms Rorke said: “The boat was our home — that’s what we still want to do. We’re desperate to that — but not right away. We’re looking forward to getting home to see family.”

Mr Worthalter said: “I’m feeling good because I’m happy to be alive. You have got to think about that.”

All three praised the seamanship and heroism of the crew of the Tilda Kosan, who manoeuvred their 351-foot tanker alongside the life raft in high seas.

The crew were unable to launch one of the ship’s tenders because of the stormy conditions — so they had to get close enough to winch them aboard.

“It was elation, the disbelief when we saw this tanker,” said Mr Rorke. “I saw their light and I said ‘what’s that? It’s really bright.’ Len said it was our beacon. Then Henri just screamed it was a ship.

“It was elation, the disbelief when we saw that tanker. I couldn’t believe it. We were still bailing water.”

Mr Rorke said the captain used the tanker to shield the life raft as its crewmen — deluged in huge waves — battled to get them on board.

“He was in close — he was protecting us because we were blowing away from him,” he said. “After we were on board, the captain told us straight that they were terrified they were going to kill us. But if it hadn’t been for them, we would probably be dead.”

Ms Rorke added: “We said ‘we’re saved, we’re saved’ — that’s all we kept saying.”

She added that crew of the UK-registered Tilda Kosan had treated them “like family.”

“From getting off the life raft to now, we’ve met incredible people,” she said. “The only time I cried was leaving the Tilda Kosan. They were that good to us.”

She added that, minutes after the Bermuda pilot boat dropped them in St George’s around 6pm on Monday, a local cafe owner they know only as JB arrived with coffee and carrot cake for them, and turkey for Dexter.

The Rorke’s boat got in trouble last Thursday evening after mounting seas put strain on the aft bulkhead of the yacht, which acts as a support for the rudder.

The bulkhead gave way under the battering from the sea and the rudder cables snapped, leaving the yacht taking on water and at the mercy of the waves

“Within a couple of hours, she was gone and we were leaping for our lives into a life raft,” said Mr Rorke.

A relieved Mr Worthalter said he will travel home to Belgium via the BA flight to London on Thursday after his brush with death,

But the Rorkes said they would have to wait to arrange a pet passport to allow Dexter to travel to England with them.

“His pet passport went down with the ship,” said Mr Rorke.