WHEN the half-mile long tanker cut its engines, turned around and cruised by for a second look, the adventurers knew they had made it.

Over the two-way radio, the tanker's captain told them: "I didn't realise people like you existed anymore."

With the captain's tribute ringing in their ears, Teessiders George Rock and Nigel Morris thought that, half-way through their Atlantic rowing record attempt, the world's acclaim was also there for the taking.

But the ocean had other ideas. Before the day was out, the rudder on their four-man boat was shattered, and with it went their dreams of transatlantic glory.

The brothers-in-law, with crewmates Mark Stubbs and Rob Munslow, were exactly at the half-way point between Newfoundland and Falmouth when the cruel sea proved to be very cruel indeed.

Battling against the wind for 21 days, the boat's rudder snapped last Tuesday - the first day the winds had been behind them.

Now safely on dry land, at Mr Rock's home in Ingleby Barwick, the pair relived the moment that they knew the record bid was lost.

"It was just before midnight and I was in the cabin ready for some kip when we heard a bang," said Mr Rock.

"When it was light, we saw the pins holding the rudder on had snapped, so we spent the next ten hours battling to put it right.

"It didn't help, though, that we kept on dropping our tools overboard because of the swells.

"We eventually got it working again, but it only lasted 20 hours, and on the first day the weather had been on our side it snapped again."

When they were picked up to be brought back to the UK by the diving vessel Bar Protector, the ship's crew initially thought the rowers might have been drinking sea water, or something stronger.

"We hadn't stood up since we set off, so our legs didn't work," said Mr Morris.

"They must have thought we were drunk, because we were staggering round. Mind you, we did feel like giants because we had actually moved off our backsides."

It was that region of their bodies which took the most battering on the voyage.

Mr Rock said home comforts seemed very far away.

"For a toilet we just passed a bucket around. We would be sat talking to each other just inches apart, and in mid-conversation you would just do your business. Just as well we were already good friends," he said.

Now safely back in the land of quilted toilet paper and meals that don't need boiling water poured on them, the two men are already getting itchy feet.

Mr Rock said: "We feel like we have got unfinished business. Depending on what our wives and children say, we would like to have another go."