A makeshift solar-powered houseboat has washed up on an Irish beach after apparently drifting across the Atlantic Ocean from Canada.

Authorities say the owner was intending to sail on the "floating caravan" but was talked out of it before it broke loose from its mooring in Newfoundland within the last few months.

Locals in Co Mayo on Ireland's west coast were startled by the unusual sighting on Cross Beach, which sparked an emergency rescue mission by lifeboat and coast guard crews.

While no-one was found aboard the 20ft timber and polystyrene boat, a message scrawled inside gave a clue to its origins.