Dartmouth rowing hero Cayle Royce is now nearing the end of his Atlantic challenge.

And Cayle and the rest of the Row2Recovery military team battling their way across 3,000 miles of the ocean have earned the admiration of Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe.

The actor, who learned of the four man military team's effort tweeted: 'Heard the Light Dragoons team of amputees race against able-bodied opposition. Second place. Inspirational.'

In fact Cayle and the Row2Recovery team – with just a few hundred miles to go – are currently in third place but only some 60 miles behind the four-man crew ahead of them.

The crew are expecting to make landfall at Antigua some time next week after spending more than 45 days at sea in their tiny ocean going rowing boat.

Since setting out from the Canary Island the Cayle and the Row2Recovery team have had to face storms, huge seas and a terrifying capsize which saw them lose some of their stores and Chirpy the boats Teddy bear mascot.

And they have also been confronted with what could have been giant shark.

Cayle, in his latest blog from the middle of the Atlantic, said: 'A splashy night last night but we topped it off with an amazing sunrise.

'I was in a bit of a daze as the sun came up so when I saw a fin off the stern of the boat I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating.

'I kept watching and then I saw it again.

'It started popping up a lot before 'gasp' it surfaced and we saw a 2ft dorsal fin – it was massive!

'I think it might have been a shark, but the water was dark and it was hard to see. At least it gave us something to talk about.'

With Cayle in the Row2Recovery boat are Cpl Scott Blaney of the Grenadier Guards who lost a leg in Afghanistan, Cpt Mark Jenkins a physiotherapy officer with the Royal Army Medical Corps and team leader Cpt James Kyall who served with Cayle in the Light Dragoons reconnaissance force in Afghanistan.

Cayle lost both his legs and suffered other major injuries in a Taliban bomb explosion 19 months ago.