The man, Reza Baluchi, 51, was charged Tuesday in connection with the attempted voyage from Florida to London, cut short when the authorities caught up with him off the coast of Georgia last month.
As Hurricane Franklin was barreling toward the Eastern United States last month, the United States Coast Guard, preparing off the coast of Georgia, encountered another unexpected phenomenon.
Alone at sea was a man in a buoyant human-size hamster wheel, who claimed he was trying to journey on the Atlantic Ocean. Again.
The man, Reza Baluchi, 51, of Florida, told officers he had planned to travel more than 4,000 miles to London in the homemade vessel, which the Coast Guard later described as unsafe, given that it was built with buoys. Mr. Baluchi, who has been attempting similar voyages since 2014, threatened to kill himself should officers interrupt his mission, the Coast Guard said.
He was eventually persuaded to leave his vessel on Aug. 29 and was charged in federal court in Miami on Tuesday with obstruction of boarding and violation of the Captain of the Port Order.
According to the Coast Guard, Mr. Baluchi was first spotted on Aug. 26, around 70 nautical miles off the coast of Tybee Island, Ga. Officers asked him to show his registration documents, but he could not find them, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami.
When officers approached Mr. B
