THE son of one of the crew behind the North Atlantic rowing attempt has sent his father a poem to keep his spirits up.

Nigel Morris and George Rock, of Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, along with fellow crew members Steve Dawson and Rob Munslow, say the missive cheered them up on their 2,100-mile journey from Canada to England.

Here is their latest report:

Yesterday we received a poem from Jamie Rock, son of onboard 4th choice chef, George Rock. Great poem Jam - boys were all very impressed.

This seems a good opportunity to mention the ever deteriorating culinary skills of George Rock.

Only a few days ago he was given the responsibilty of bringing to the boil a pan of water, inside which he had to place four boil in the bag meals.

Like his porridge, he deemed it possible reheat the meals using the least possible amount of water. Needless to say, ten minutes later a dubious smell was coming from the pan as contents of meal and foil bag integrated.

Message for Brian Rock (the North East's top chef and father to George): You will have to give your lad some tips on our return. Well everyone, we expect to be announcing some very exciting news within the next 24hrs, so stay tuned.

Yours,

The Crew.

Keep up to date with the crew's progress with regular reports in The Northern Echo.