a cargo ship north of Bermuda.

Harbour Radio said the 31-year-old ship's cook had gone overboard without a life jacket.

Four searches by a US Coast Guard C-130 plane sent from North Carolina yesterday had failed to locate him.

Harbour Radio Watch Officer Chris Turner said: "We don't hold out too much hope.'' He was last seen on board the Norwegian cargo ship Transfennia at about 5.30 a.m. Tuesday.

The ship is still in the location about 250 miles (400 kilometres) north of Bermuda, continuing the hunt.

Harbour Radio said the search would carry on until the early hours of this morning.

Mr. Turner said: "23 hours is the maximum survival time and waves are about 16 feet high out there.'' "The ship has no detection aids so it's very difficult to search from the ship.'' The ship was headed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, when the man went missing.

It was unclear how the man might have ended up in the water. Authorities are not naming the man until relatives have been informed.