forced to abandon ship when it lost its rudder in the middle of a fierce storm.

Mr. Wadson was sailing back to Bermuda on the 31-foot Swift of Paget when he ran into trouble last Saturday night about 185 miles northwest of the Island.

He sent out a mayday and was picked up by the tanker, the Sea Empress , which took both Mr. Wadson and a fellow crewman to Philadelphia.

Last night Mr. Steve Hollis, who made a last-minute decision not to sail with Mr. Wadson, said he had spoken to his friend who was safe and well.

"His rudder fell apart and he was smack in the middle of tropical storm `Barry' with nowhere to go.'' The boat was abandoned, but a recovery mission has apparently not been ruled out. "Tom said he wanted to go and try and get the boat back. He said he had a good analysis of where it would have drifted.

"It was a great little vessel and losing your boat is like losing a friend.

It was something he had put a lot of time into, it was a tragic loss.'' Mr. Wadson was taking his boat back from Newport, Rhode Island, following the Bermuda One-Two race, and Mr. Hollis was meant to sail back to the Island with his friend.

"It was only at the last minute that I decided not to come back, I didn't have the time,'' he said.