Being lost at sea is, for many, an ultimate fear. Isolated with little to eat or drink, many have perished and never been found. But, for a lucky few, beating the odds has been possible.
Here are some of extraordinary accounts of people surviving at sea.
Amanda Thorns and Dennis White
Amanda Thorns, her father Willie, and godfather Dennis White, had planned to sail from Cape Cod to Bermuda in a trip Amanda described as her idea of “paradise.” After three days of progress, 30-foot waves started to batter the boat. With Amanda and Dennis below deck, a huge wave caught the vessel, taking Willie overboard, along with most of the rigging. Despite attempts to retrieve her father, Amanda had to make the unimaginable decision to let her father go.
The two remaining survivors spent the next three days below deck mourning Willie’s demise and attempting to keep the boat from sinking by constantly bailing out water. With all the GPS and electronic equipment destroyed, their only hope was to a signal passing ships. When this proved fruitless, Dennis took the 10-foot mast from the boat’s dinghy and tied onto what was left of the main mast. They managed to sail 50 miles before spotting a tanker and shooting off their emergency flares. They were saved after 15 days of peril.
Josh Long and Troy Driscoll
Two South Carolinian teens set off for shark fishing on the 25th April, 2005, in their paddle boat. Carried out by a particularly ferocious riptide, the boys found themselves stranded out to sea without any fresh water or food. Subsisting only on the occasional jellyfish, the duo lasted for an amazing seven days before a passing boat discovered the imperiled vessel.
They had already started etching their dying messages into the side of the boat.
Steven Callahan
This one is proof that even the most experienced sailors are at the mercy of the sea.
Callahan was a dedicated sailor and naval architect, who had planned to sail across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas in a self-built boat. A mere week into his journey, his vessel was seriously damaged in a bad storm and he was forced to abandon ship. Luckily, Callahan managed to recover food and water rations, navigational charts, a sleeping bag, a speargun, flares, a copy of sea survival guide, and some solar stills.
Aware that no one expected to hear from him for several weeks, Callahan realised he was very much on his own. He also realised that if he managed to drift in the South Equatorial Current, he would eventually reach landfall. So began a 76-day ordeal (which included having to repair a rip in his life raft caused by his own speargun) that culminated in him being picked up by fisherman off the coast of Guadalupe.
He didn’t even spend the night in the local hospital before “recovering” on the island.
Chill dude.
Samu Perez, Filo Filo, and Edward Nasau
What is it with teens and getting lost at sea?
The three Fijians decided to row home from Atafu Atoll in a small metal dinghy. However, they were swept off course and presumed dead after a huge search operation turned up empty. The families even had memorial services for the three teens.
In fact, the boys were very much alive, surviving on fish, seagulls, and rainwater. Only after 50 days at sea were they discovered by a tuna boat. Things had got so desperate that they had even started drinking sea water and, when found, they couldn’t even stand up under their own power.
In the hospital, they were treated for severe dehydration, starvation, and sunburn before being returned to their overjoyed parents.
José Salvador Alvarenga
José Salvador Alvarenga departed the tiny fishing village of Costa Azul off the coast of Chiapas in late December 2012. He reportedly was with another man around the same age, named Ezequiel, when they set out for a day fishing trip.
According to Alvarenga, their motor died the first day and they began to drift. Over the next 13-18 months the little boat drifted over 5,000 miles to the Maldives. Alvarenga says that at four months his companion Ezequiel gave up hope and died of malnutrition.
When Alvarenga finally reached the Maldives he swam to shore.
Speculation about the validity of Alvarenga’s story is very much ongoing but it’s hard to deny the exacting ordeal he must have endured.
Louis Zamperini
While almost every aspect of Louis Zamperini’s life is truly remarkable no matter how you look at it. His time lost at sea after his plane suffered from mechanical failure during WWII is mind-blowing.
The three survivors of the plane crash, including Zamperini, were left with no water and very little food, surviving on what little wildlife they could catch and rainwater.
They were attacked multiple times by a Japanese bomber, which puncturing their makeshift life raft. One of the men died after 33 days, before the surviving pair finally made it to the Marshall Islands after 47 days at sea.
Only to be captured by the Japanese Navy.
Harrison Okene
While Harrison Okene only survived for 60 hours at sea, the manner in which he was rescued is a truly extraordinary tale.
The 29-year-old cook of the Jacson-4 was on the toilet when the ship started taking on water. As the tug plunged 30-metres into the icy depths, the Nigerian found himself trapped in a 4ft sq air bubble with only a bottle of Coke as sustenance.
After 60 hours in total darkness, Harrison heard a slight hammering sound. Replying in kind, Harrison was shocked to see a diver from a South African recovery team approach him and grab his hand.
Okene was strapped into diving equipment, led to a diving bell, which took him to the surface. He then spent two days in a decompression chamber.
Ice Box Survivors
On 23rd August 2008, a small Thai fishing vessel started to sink. As the 20-person crew desperately abandoned ship, two jumped into the ice box used to store fish.
The two men floated through shark-infested waters for months, all the while being battered by 50 knot winds. They survived by drinking the accompanying monsoon rainwater and eating what fish were left in the container.
They were finally discovered by the Australian Coastguard on the 17th of January.
Richard Van Pham
The story of a 62-year-old man who got stranded off the coast of California after trying to make the relatively short strip to the resort island of Catalina, is a surprisingly resourceful one.
Stormy weather caused his engine to break, his communication equipment to fail, and mast to collapse. He would be stranded for almost four months.
One of the many ways that Van Pharm survived was by killing a turtle and then using it as bait for seagulls. He would then would purify the salt water to preserve the meat.
He was spotted by plane and quickly rescued just as he was running out of food.
Not even two years later, he was discovered floating in the ocean again, luckily this time for only for a couple of days. After this rescue he was fined for not having the appropriate equipment on board.
Hmmm.
