Lucky-to-be-alive skipper Robert (Bobby) Lambe yesterday put his feet on land for the first time since his fishing boat sank off the coast of Bermuda and told : “I am no hero.”

In an exclusive, in-depth interview in Madrid, Spain, where the 35-year-old fisherman arrived yesterday before beginning his long journey home, Mr. Lambe talked about his sadness, fears and fortunate escape from the fishing tragedy that has changed his life for ever.

It is ten days since his boat sank 70 miles off the coast of Bermuda - taking his friends and crewmen Alan Edness, 56, and Micah Battersbee, 29, down with it.

For every day that has passed, Mr. Lambe has faced a greater torment about what happened that sad day on Tuesday, January 7, and why his friends were killed in minutes, yet he managed to survive after floundering at sea for an incredible 20 hours.

“I don't consider myself to be a hero,” said Mr. Lambe as he relaxed in a small caf? in Madrid's Plaza Mayor square last night.

“You can't consider yourself a hero if you leave with three people and you come back with one.

“I'm an average fisherman who had luck on my side. I don't blame myself for what happened; we were there as a team. It's not like some equipment malfunctioned on the boat.

“But, could I have done something else? I'm still trying to sort that out and think that one through.

“As a captain, I wanted to come back with everybody. I leave as a team and I want to come back as a team.”

The three men had left the Island in search of the abandoned yacht and were heading back to Bermuda early due to worsening weather conditions when they ran into trouble. As Mr. Lambe was about to hand over the steering wheel to his friend Mr. Edness, a freak wave hit the boat, causing it to overturn in an instant.

The boat filled with water, but Mr. Lambe was thrown into his fishing box - an airtight pocket on the boat from which he was able to escape through a hatch.

However, despite prolonged attempts to shout, scream and bang for his friends, he never saw or heard from his two crewmen again. They are believed to have gone down with the boat when it sank about 20 minutes later. After a massive search by Bermuda Harbour Radio and the US Coast Guard, Mr. Lambe was eventually spotted some 20 hours later clinging to a broken piece of his boat in seas with up to 15 foot swell.

He was thrown a life raft, and soon afterwards was plucked from the treacherous Atlantic ocean by the American navy hospital ship , which was on its way to the Persian Gulf to prepare for possible war against Iraq.

Mr. Lambe remained on the warship until yesterday morning, when he was finally allowed to disembark at Cadiz, before being flown to Madrid, where he collected travel documents from the British Consulate General. Today he will fly home, arriving in Bermuda this evening on the British Airways flight to his waiting friends and family. met up with Mr. Lambe at the British Consulate General yesterday and spoke with him for more than four hours in the heart of Madrid.

Still reeling from the shock and death of his friends, Mr. Lambe said he just wanted to get back home so he could spend time with his own family and visit the families of Mr. Edness and Mr. Battersbee, who were both fathers. He said during the past ten days he had relived the nightmare over and over in his head, and believed he had the sequence of events clear in his mind.

“Every night, I toss and turn thinking about it,”said a pensive Mr. Lambe.

“I lay awake on the ship many a night just trying to piece it all together. I think I pretty much have everything sorted.

“When I close my eyes at night I see my two friends. I think about them the same way that I left them; Alan was behind me and Micah was half asleep. I was handing around small doughnuts and we were laughing.

“Micah was feeling sea sick, and I told him that if he was sick, the whole Island would know about it when we got home. He laughed and said he didn't care.”

But Mr. Lambe, of Beach Estate, Somerset, said although he planned to get back out on the water when he got home, he could not imagine his life without his two friends. He said he had known Mr. Edness for about 15 years, and had fished with him many times. He had also been friends with Mr. Battersbee for a long time, an the pair had become particularly close friends during the last year, fishing together regularly and hanging out in the evenings.

“I ask myself the question all the time, ‘why them and not me',”said Mr. Lambe.

“That's the one question I have not been able to answer. I didn't manage to get out because it was my boat and I knew the boat better - we all knew the boat extremely well. I got out because I fell into the fishing box.

“I think I have grieved a little bit, but that will really begin when I get home with my family. As for regrets, you could always have regrets, but we should not have gone out at all if you look at it from that point of view.

“If you thought about things that might happen on the ocean, then you would not go fishing. Fishing is the life that we all chose. It was what we knew and what we loved.”