A skeletal man was rescued off the Florida coast by the US coastguard when they found him in an emaciated state after just 70 miles of running in his hamster-wheel vessel.

The human powered vessel was being used to attempt the first crossing of the Atlantic by hamster wheel.

Unfortunately the effort needed to power the wheel and a daily diet consisting only of a box of Trill bird seed and a liter of water was not enough.

The sailor weighed only 18 kilos when he was picked up by the coastguard and transferred to a cage full of warm sawdust onboard the pickup vessel.

Australian Bill "Hammy" Heslop, who identifies as a marsupial, told FNN:

Good on yer cobber! I tried to hop across Australia until I broke my hip just outside of Sydney and had to give up.

Hey Muriel! Fetch me a tinnie. I'm parched.