NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Ukrainian's dream of rowing across the Atlantic has ended with the rower in New York and his 60,000 pound boat drifting somewhere in the ocean, he has announced.

Teddy Rezvoy, who hoped to become the first person to row the 3,354 miles from New York to Brest, France, had to abandon his quest on Thursday only 200 miles into the adventure after being stopped and searched by the U.S. Navy as a terror suspect.

Rezvoy, 35, drew the attention of the Navy after he radioed a call for medicine for pain related to a liver ailment.

The USS Doyle, a Navy frigate responded, Rezvoy said on Monday.

His boat was searched, but after the search ended he could not continue because his boat was damaged when the Navy tried but failed to haul it up on deck.

The 28-foot boat was specially equipped with anti-capsizing features, had a global positioning system and solar energy panels.

It was returned to the water without what Rezvoy called his "beacon," a device that sent a signal every 90 seconds so his course could be tracked.

"Now the big problem will be how to find it," he said of the boat -- sponsored by a group of Ukrainian businesses. "It's like a piece of sand in the ocean."

The sailor from Odessa said he understood the U.S. Navy's actions. "They tried to help me, but it's the work of the Navy to protect the coast," he said. "Who knows about the boat? Maybe it could explode?"

"They tried to check everything. They checked if I had explosive materials or some weapons," Rezvoy explained on Monday outside the offices of the Consul General of Ukraine.

"They took my knife, some flares -- anything they thought was dangerous off my boat."

Rezvoy said he would not give up.

"It's a bad time for me because I lost my boat and everything on the boat, and time," he said. "But I will try again. Maybe next year."