The three Americans stranded in the Atlantic overnight when their yacht broke down are due in Bermuda in the early hours of Friday morning.

A rescue mission had to be aborted early yesterday because of rough seas but the crew of Joy for All were given 60 gallons of fuel to help get them to safety.

The 45-foot sailboat had taken a hammering in high winds and waves and had sent out an SOS at noon on Tuesday after it lost power and its rudder and sail while 175 nautical miles north west of Bermuda.

US Coast Guard spokesman Mark Hurziger said cargo ship Patriot tried to reach the two men and one woman on board to get them off the stranded craft at about 7 a.m. yesterday.

He said: ?It was simply too rough to transfer the people but they passed five gallon jugs across.

?With wind of 40 knots and 20-foot seas, it took some time to get the fuel across and they are now underway to Bermuda. It should take them about 40 hours.?

He said the crew, from Mystic, Connecticut, had left the US Virgin Islands bound for Bermuda when trouble struck. But they seemed pretty upbeat despite their ordeal and had managed to fix the rudder.

A US Coast Guard C130 was scrambled to monitor the transfer but it came back when the rescue mission was ditched.

Rough weather also delayed the arrival of cruise ship Crystal Serenity which arrived yesterday morning from the Azores after being due in on Tuesday afternoon.