Chen Huai-Pu(陳懷璞) navigated 7,000 kilometers by the stars. A London hostel theft may be his hardest obstacle yet.
Chen Huai-Pu, a 23-year-old Taiwanese ocean explorer, survived ten-meter swells, icebergs, and weeks of solitary navigation across the Southern Ocean and South Atlantic — guided only by a sextant, compass, and celestial bodies. But it was a theft at a London hostel on June 26 that brought him to tears on a street in the British capital.
Two external hard drives containing his entire expedition footage were stolen from his room at the Astor Hyde Park Hostel, located near the Royal Geographical Society and Hyde Park. Chen is now offering a £10,000 reward for their safe return, no questions asked.
"Even though I witnessed the magic of nature firsthand, no one will believe me now," Chen wrote in a Facebook post. "The ten-meter waves, the penguins, the icebergs — those images can never be recreated."
A Record-Setting Voyage That Ended in Heartbreak
Chen departed from the Falkland Islands in March 2026, embarking on a 7,000-kilometer non-motorized sailing journey that would take him through the Southern Ocean and across the South Atlantic. He used no GPS — navigating entirely by the sun, moon, stars, and Sextant. The voyage ended successfully at South Africa's Cape of Good Hope in May, and Chen arrived in the United Kingdom in June, with plans to return to Taiwan on July 2.
The expedition was backed by the Argo Yacht Group, TSMC's Youth Dream Building Project, and Taiwan's Ministry of Education Youth Development Administration. It marked Chen's second major oceanic crossing; he previously sailed the North Atlantic in a non-motorized vessel over 47 days.
The Theft and the Investigation
According to Chen, the two SanDisk Extreme PRO USB4 4TB drives (model SDSSDE82-4T00-G25, serial numbers 254930400296 and 254930400439) were taken during his stay at the Astor Hyde Park Hostel. He has filed a police report and lodged a complaint with the hostel, and has also contacted Taiwan's representative office in the United Kingdom to seek assistance.
In a subsequent Facebook update on June 28, Chen expressed frustration with the pace of the investigation, saying London police had yet to obtain a guest registry, visitor logs, or security camera footage from the hostel. Taiwan's Central News Agency reported on June 29 that Taiwan's representative office had formally contacted the Metropolitan Police to urge a more active response.
£10,000 Reward — No Questions Asked
Chen has issued a public appeal, offering an immediate £10,000 reward to anyone who returns the drives with the data intact. He has specified that no advance payment will be made under any circumstances, that the exchange must occur in a mutually agreed safe location, and that payment will be made via instant bank transfer upon verified return of the correct drives and footage.
"If you bought these by mistake, or if you know who has them — you will make far more money returning them to me than selling them elsewhere," he wrote.
What Was Lost — and What Survived
Chen acknowledged one small consolation: his handwritten navigation logs, celestial navigation notes, and paper manuscripts from the expedition remain intact. Still, he described the theft as a devastating blow, saying he no longer knows whether he has the courage to keep pursuing his dream of becoming a professional explorer.
The footage represented months of work under extreme conditions. Due to budget constraints, Chen handled everything himself during the voyage — sailing, operating the sextant, and managing more than ten kilograms of camera equipment, including non-drone aerial gear, all while at sea.
Who Is Chen Huai-Pu?
According to a report by Future Parenting, Chen grew up in Keelung, a port city in northern Taiwan, where a childhood near the sea kindled a lasting fascination with the ocean. In high school, he invented a fish-powered tracking device that extended the operational life of marine research equipment by harnessing energy from fish movement — an innovation that earned him a top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) and secured him direct admission to the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University.
In his third year at NTU, he applied for the university's Exploratory Learning Program to pursue ocean sailing, eventually earning Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster offshore certification. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a delegate to the Third UN Ocean Conference, and served as Taiwan's sole youth representative at the Seventh Our Ocean Conference. Upon completing the current expedition,he is on track for the RYA's highest qualification, Yachtmaster Ocean, and would be the youngest person from Asia to earn it.
Original Article in Chinese
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