Survival Stories at Sea
The open ocean is by far the worst place you can possibly become stranded, with literally nothing to gather and no fresh water unless it rains, its the single hardest place to survive in. So far the record for someone staying alive at sea is 438 days, a record that was set mostly on luck and no one has come to that length in the same circumstances since.
The Robertson Family – 38 days at sea
This family of four had planned a world cruise in their 43ft wooden schooner named “Lucette”, and for 17 months had the time of their lives, right up until a killer whale fractured the hull of their ship. The next 16 days were spent in a lifeboat which had 6 days worth of food.
After the lifeboat gave out they were forced to squeeze into a 9ft long dingy they had, which left them with only 1 dry seat they had to keep switching between for the next 22 days. After a total of 38 days at sea the family were picked up by a Japanese ship which saw one of their flares. They all made it back safe and sound and later wrote an account of their events at sea called “Survive the Savage sea”.
José Salvador Alvarenga – 438 days alone at sea
This is one of the most incredible sea survival stories there is, mostly because this is the only man in history that has survived for more than 1 year stranded at sea. What was supposed to be a 30 hour fishing trip turned into a nightmare after his ship was blown off course during a storm, and after their supplies ran out and his partner died, it became a daily battle to scavenge enough food and collect enough rain water to survive.
He managed to live off turtle meat and the occasional bird he could catch that landed on his boat, he also gathered some food that formed in a small eco system that established itself under his boat, with small fish swimming close to the surface in its shade and feeding off the plant life that grew on the underside. These fish were his only friends during his ordeal and he was forced to eat them many times. Eventually washing up near the Marshal islands, he made his way to a small fishing hut and finally found rescue.
Steven Callahan – 76 days at sea
This keen boat builder went on a voyage in 1982 to test out his latest creation, a 21ft long single mast sailing ship he planned to venture round the Atlantic ocean in. During one night an unknown object hit the side of his boat and punctured the hull, causing it to slowly sink.
He spent the next 76 days floating around 1800 nautical miles in a 6 man life raft, sometimes living off as little as 1 pint of water a day and having to eat raw fish. He was eventually found by some fishermen near the shore of the island of Marie Galante in the Caribbean.
Harrison Okene – 60 hours underwater
This story is the shortest time in a survival situation on the list, but by far the most unusual. Okene was a cook on a fishing vessel that was turned over by a huge wave during a storm and quickly sank to the bottom of the sea bed. The rest of the crew died but Okene managed to run into a compartment at the front of the ship while it was sinking at an angle.
Due to the angle the ship went down at, all the oxygen in the other compartments was compressed into the room Okene was in by the sea water forcing its way into the vessel. This provided enough air for him the breath until rescue came 60 hours later. In the event he was underwater in the same sized room if it hadn’t been compressed, he would have died in less than 24 hours.
Poon Lim – 133 days at sea
After getting ambushed by a German U-Boat in 1942, Lim was the only survivor of the 55 people on board his ship. After the initial sinking and loss of life had passed, he found himself on board a small raft floating hopelessly across the ocean, with no land in sight. After 133 days he floated close enough to the coast of Brazil to be spotted by some fishermen and was rescued.
The crew of the Méduse
After their foolish captain managed to get them stuck on a sand bank in the middle of no where, the crew of the Méduse were forced to cram onto a 66ft long by 23ft wide wooden raft. Since there were 147 people on this so-called life raft it goes without saying things were very cramped, and the extra weight meant that parts of the raft kept dipping below the waves and left only 1 dry spot in the middle.
Over the next few days many of the crew died from fighting and suicide, as supplies were not even close to being enough and people fought to the death over them, or killed themselves because of the situation. Out of the 147 people originally on the life raft, only 10 survived until rescue.
The crew of the Essex – 3 months at sea
This whaling ship travelled thousands of miles to find some good hunting grounds, only to be rammed by a pissed off whale and have their ship sank. The crew boarded 3 small launch ships they used for hunting and began to head towards the nearest land, over 1000 miles away. After 93 days at sea they were spotted by a British whaling ship who picked up the surviving 9 out of the original 21 crew members.
Abby Sunderland – Stranded alone in the middle of the Indian ocean
This is one of the survival stories to learn from, as most are about people who risked to much or did something stupid to get themselves into their situation. Abby Sunderland was only 16 when she tried to break the record for sailing round the world solo, but the extent of how prepared she was is very impressive.
After getting stuck in the middle of the Indian ocean due to bad weather, she only had to wait a few days until rescue as her ship was filled with supplies and signalling gear, including a gps emergency beacon.
Debbie Kiley – 5 days in shark infested waters
Kiley had loved the ocean and sailing all her life, and as soon as she was old enough started to work as a crew member on-board various ships. During one such job of sailing a yacht to another port, her boat ran into bad weather and huge waves caused it to fill with water and sink.
Over the next 5 days she survived in a life raft with the 4 others she was with, and had to watch 2 of the crew get eaten by sharks, and another die a very painful death from mass infection from wounds he received during the sinking. She was eventually seen by a Soviet cargo ship and returned to the US, later writing a book of her account called ““The true story of a Woman’s survival at sea”.
William Bligh – Over 3600 miles in a tiny boat
After being forced into a small launch boat 3,600 miles away from safety with 14 other men, William Bligh somehow not only managed to navigate his way back to safety, but also managed to keep every single one of his crew alive along the way. Well, apart from one guy was was killed by an angry tribesman, but the voyage itself saw them eating 40 grams of bread per day, and covering several thousand miles.