The luxury schooner skippered by Guyan March, 32, from St Blazey in Cornwall was caught in the full force of Hurricane Mitch off Honduras with a crew of 31 on board.

Wreckage from the 282ft Fantome, including life jackets and part of its staircase, have been discovered.

Mitch has wreaked devastation across Central America

But the seven-day search was abandoned after a piece of the boat's staircase was found.

A US coastguard spokesman said the search was called off after "taking into account the area covered" and the "survivability" of anyone left in the water.

"If any new information came to light we would look at that and possibly fly out there again," he said.

The luxury boat, formerly owned by shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, was on a Caribbean tourist cruise, but had dropped its 100 passengers off in Belize before it went missing.

An early rescue

Mr March's brother Paul said the captain had been a skipper with the company, Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, for nearly nine years and was a "very, very good ship handler".

He said: "I think if anyone was capable of taking the boat through it he would have been. I am sure he did everything he could to get away."

The storm and its aftermath has killed up to 18,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Lieutenant Commander Mark Folwell describes the rescue

But as if to prove that miracles do sometimes happen, a woman who had been swept 80 miles out to sea by Hurricane Mitch was rescued on Wednesday by a British navy ship.

She had survived six days by clinging to a piece of driftwood, despite winds of up to 185mph. She is now said to be recovering on HMS Sheffield.

A team of British aid workers is travelling to Central America to join in the international aid operation, amid criticism that the UK is not doing enough to help.