The army crew named him Little Reg, short for regiment – after the parachute group Petherbridge is a member of.
He said: “We saw it behind the boat; it came alongside and was sort of clearly tired.
“It flew alongside and was trying to find a place to land and get on board. He fell in the water a couple of times and eventually collapsed on deck, so we picked him up and put him in a box.”
The Army team praised Little Reg for showing a “real will and tenacity to survive”.
After handing over their extra crew member, the team went on to complete in the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s race around Britain and Ireland.
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James Stannard, a conservation officer for the Barn Owl Trust, said he received a call about the bird at about 11:00 BST on Wednesday and rallied round services, including the lifeboat service, to get the bird safely back to shore.
He said: “No one in the team has had a call like that… [it’s] a very rare one, and what was really refreshing was how everyone I spoke to was just so invested in getting the owl safely back to shore.”
He believed the bird may have been roosting on a fishing vessel before being taken out to sea, but said it was “nothing short of a miracle” that he found the Army vessel.
There were only ration packs on board the boat, and Stannard said the bird might not have survived if it had not been taken to land.
