Alex Bond was delivering a yacht from Hawaii to Australia when he became involved in an international rescue mission to save 24 starving islanders on Kanton Island.

Alex and his crew had anchored off Kanton Island when they came across the 14 adults and 10 children who had been living on fish and coconuts for months.

Alex did what any sailor would do, got on to the UK Coastguard in Falmouth thousands of miles away. The UK Coastguards contacted their US counterparts to arrange an emergency supply of food.

Mark Thomas, watch manager at Falmouth coastguards, is quoted on the BBC News website: "Mr Bond called us to say the islanders were starving.

"They had not had any food for a number of months and had been living off coconuts and fish.

"He had given them as much food as he could spare, but the situation was quite dire."