A lone sailor has been rescued after drifting in the Pacific ocean for four months with a broken mast in a survival story being likened to that of Robinson Crusoe. The man, a Vietnamese immigrant, survived by living on seagull, turtle and rainwater.

Richard Van Pham, 62, told rescuers that he set off on his 26-foot boat, the Sea Breeze, from Long Beach in southern California to make the 25-mile trip to Catalina island, a popular day out for local sailors.

But he ran into a storm which had snapped his mast, he said. After his radio and outboard motor also broke down, he found the boat drifting south.

When he was rescued by the US Navy on September 17, Mr Pham had drifted 300 miles south-west of the coast of Costa Rica. By this time he had been at sea for four months, he said.

Mr Pham, who came to the US as an immigrant in 1976, had been living in his boat in a berth off Long Beach at the time of his trip.

A single man with no family, he had not told friends of his plans and so no alarm was raised when he failed to return after a planned day trip.

With only enough food for a day, he had to use survival skills to stay alive.

He collected rainwater in a five-gallon bucket and caught what fish he could. He nailed some of the fish to the boat to trap seabirds which he roasted on a fire made from panelling ripped from the side of the boat. He trapped a sea turtle and then used salt from sea water to preserve it for days when he had caught no fish.

Staying under cover for most of the day to save himself from a blazing summer sun, he did have some entertainment: his solar-powered generator sometimes gave him enough power to operate his television so that he could watch videos he had on board.

But he had lost 40 lbs from an already slim frame when he was finally seen by a US Customs drugs spotting plane flying off the Costa Rica coast.

They alerted the US Navy and the USS McClusky, a guided missile frigate, investigated.

They were greeted by the sight of a lone sailor waving at them frantically.

"I see nothing," Mr Pham told the Los Angles Times of his ordeal. "Then one day I see a plane.

"I know I'm close to people. They tip their wings to say hello. Two hours later a ship comes to my boat, I am very, very happy."

The McClusky initially addressed him in Spanish but he responded in broken English.

He said he did not need medical treatment and merely asked the crew to help him fix his mast. After he had been persuaded that the boat was in such bad condition that it was not worth saving, Mr Pham reluctantly allowed the navy crew to sink it, going below deck so that he did not have to watch the boat being set on fire. He then travelled with the McClusky to Guatemala. The crew had a whipround on board to raise enough money for his $800 (£510) plane fare back to the US.

"The crew really adopted him," said a navy spokesman. "I think he's a very special man."

Captain Terry Bragg, the commander of Destroyer Squadron One in San Diego which oversees the McClusky, said: "It's a three-hour cruise gone bad. It's like cross between Gilligan's Island and Robinson Crusoe."

Mr Pham's adventure was not over when he reached LA international airport.

In these times of heightened security, the immigration authorities detained him so that they could check whether his papers were in order.

He was finally allowed back into the US - but his home is now at the bottom of the Pacific.