A badly injured French round-the-world sailor rescued by the Australian navy arrived back on dry land on Monday after being plucked from his solo quest in the remote Southern Ocean.

Yann Elies was carried off the naval frigate HMAS Arunta on a stretcher shortly after it arrived at Fremantle Ports, close to the Western Australian capital Perth, at about 12.30pm (0330 GMT, 11.30am Singapore time).

The 34-year-old Frenchman, who spent two days in the cabin of his yacht unable to move and in great pain after breaking his leg on Thursday, was sedated and did not speak to the waiting media.

But he was able to give a small wave and thumbs-up signal as he was placed inside an ambulance taking him to hospital for urgent medical treatment.

The HMAS Arunta's commanding officer, Steven Bowater, said Elies would have died had the naval vessel not reached his position some 800 nautical miles south of the Australian mainland.

'I can tell you that the doctor made an assessment that he would have died if we had not arrived on the scene,' Commander Bowater told reporters.

Elies, a competitor in the round-the-world solo Vendee Globe race, fell and broke his leg when a huge wave smashed into his ship while he was changing a sail. Medics aboard the HMAS Arunta said Elies also suffered several broken ribs and possibly internal injuries in the fall.

The Vendee Globe, which has been described as 'the Everest of offshore sailing', has been running every four years for two decades.

Thirty yachts began the gruelling classic from the French Atlantic port of Les Sables d'Olonne on Nov 9, but 12 have since abandoned the race.