75-Year-Old French Adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin Dies While Trying to Row Across the Atlantic Ocean By Himself

A French adventurer, Jean-Jacques Savin, has died while attempting to row across the Atlantic Ocean by himself in a canoe. He was 75 year old.

January 23, 2022

Photograph of the Atlantic Ocean — Image via Getty/Tim Graham
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The French adventurer, Jean-Jacques Savin has passed away while trying to row across the Atlantic Ocean by himself. He was 75 years old.

His team issued a statement via Facebook, writing, “It is with great sadness that we have just learned of the death of our friend Jean-Jacques. The body of Jean-Jacques was found lifeless inside the cabin of his canoe l’Audacieux (The Audacious).”

“Unfortunately, this time the ocean was stronger than our friend, who loved sailing and the sea so much,” Savin’s team wrote.

The last contact he had with his team was early Jan. 21, which is when he sent out two distress beacons, signifying that he was in trouble. He had left for his trip on Jan. 1 from southwest Portugal and was making his way to Ponta Delgada in the Azores islands.

On Friday, Portugal’s maritime authority discovered Savin’s boat in the water, which had overturned close to Azores. A diver was sent to inspect the boat and found Savin’s body inside the small cabin.

Savin leaves behind a daughter and a partner. Prior to this adventure, he had taken a 2,930-mile trek across the Atlantic in an orange barrel, finishing the four-month journey in May 2019 when he arrived at St. Eustatius, a Dutch Caribbean island. According to his website, he was a military paratrooper and a private pilot at one time, and had even scaled Mont Blanc in 2015.