A Royal Navy frigate has rescued a man who had been drifting in the Caribbean for 26 days.

Lenny Leon Peter's speedboat had lost power and he was spotted by a lookout on HMS Grafton.

Mr Peter, from Guadeloupe, was taken to hospital suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition.

The HMS Grafton is on patrol in the Caribbean Sea combating drug traffickers, until next month.

We were very fortunate to have discovered this young man

Commander Thomas HMS Grafton

Operator mechanic Billy Robertson, 21, from Strathclyde, spotted the speedboat while on deck on Friday and raised the alarm.

As Mr Peter received treatment from the ship's doctor, the Grafton began a high-speed journey to Jamaica, where he was airlifted by helicopter to hospital.

The frigate's captain, Commander Richard Thomas, told BBC News: "We were on patrol in the Caribbean conducting counter-drugs operations.

"We managed to pick him up some 250 miles south of Jamaica, but about 700 miles from where he set off and broke down.

"So he had come a long way.

Mr Peter received treatment on board

"He was in a pretty poor condition when we got to him.

"Obviously, the issue with being so long in the open boat is a lack of water.

"He'd managed to improvise a device to collect rainwater."

It is the second time Grafton's crew have rescued a stranded sailor.

In August, the crew picked up an injured American yachtsman and took him to shore.

Last month, it seized cocaine worth �100m from a drug-smuggling fishing boat in the Caribbean.