MADRID – A U.S. man attempting to row a boat from Africa to New York for charity was rescued by a Spanish tuna trawler after spending five days adrift in the Atlantic, the company that operates the fishing boat told Efe on Friday.

Grupo Calvo said that Victor Mooney, 43, was picked up Thursday.

Mooney was making his second attempt to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat as part of the Goree Challenge II, a project meant to raise awareness about AIDS and global warming.

He began the voyage from Goree Island, off the coast from Dakar, and aimed to reach New York in five months aboard The Spirit of Zayed, a boat handcrafted from composite materials and equipped with a video uplink to the Internet.

Mooney is in good health despite his going five days without liquids after the boat’s water-purifier broke down, according to Grupo Calvo, which said the rower will arrive in Dakar late Friday aboard the trawler Montecarlo.

The fishing boat was about 80 miles from Mooney’s position when the crew picked up his distress call on Wednesday.

A French military reconnaissance aircraft helped pinpoint Mooney’s exact location and the Montecarlo reached him on Thursday.

Mooney’s first attempted Atlantic crossing, in May 2006, ended after a few hours when his boat foundered. EFE