The search party organized by Alvarenga's employer failed to find any trace of the missing men and gave up after two days because visibility was poor. [15] As days turned to weeks, they learned to scavenge their food from whatever sources presented themselves. Alvarenga managed to catch fish, turtles, jellyfish, and seabirds with his bare hands, and the pair occasionally salvaged bits of food and plastic refuse floating in the water. They collected drinking water from rainfall when possible, but more frequently were forced to drink turtle blood or their own urine. Alvarenga frequently dreamed about his favorite foods, as well as his parents. [5] Alvarenga was not a narco or willing to run even the occasional cocaine bale up the coast, despite the promise of riches. At sea off the coast of Mexico, he had seen the savage fate of fishermen who gambled in the business of “Los Kilos” and run afoul of drug lords. Once he had motored up to a fisherman’s half-sunken boat and found the hull riddled with bullets. He tried to haul it home but it sank. There was no sign of the crew. Being eaten alive by sharks was probably the least violent way they could have died. At least sharks didn’t torture.

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

It’s also interesting to learn that people who have a purpose tend to fare better in situations like this, and this is the reason why people like doctors and nurses have quite a high survival rate in concentration camps, they have jobs which give meaning to their existence. Franklin used experts to sprinkle this book with their expertise, the reader will learn a great deal about how humans survive (or don’t survive) in extreme situations. I enjoyed the book. The descriptions of the men’s ordeal are really well written, and the story of the main protagonist is well set out before main part of the book unfolds. It’s a bit of a niche read but pretty unputdownable once you get into it.”A Salvadoran fisherman named, appropriately enough, Salvador Alvarenga, set out on a fishing expedition from Costa Azul, Mexico. A bad storm moved in, boat blew off course, and 438 days later he washed up on Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 6,700 kilometers from the place he had set out from. That’s pretty far away, but during that time Alvarenga's boat was reportedly moving at an average speed slower than that of a crawling baby (that’s the most interesting factoid I took away from this whole thing). Buenos dias,” Salvador Alvarenga said to his friend, who was propped up in the bow of their fishing boat. “What is death like?” Ezequiel Córdoba, his body hardening and turning purple, did not reply. So Alvarenga answered for his dead sea mate. “Good. It is peaceful.” Alvarenga looked out to the horizon, the ocean as endless as it had been for the last two months that they’d been lost at sea. They didn’t have enough time to haul in the entire line—instead he would cut it off. He knew it was thousands of dollars’ worth of line and hooks that would float away, with hundreds of dollars’ worth of catch still hooked, but the storm was turning ugly. Alvarenga” How Alvarenga was able to survive at sea with no motor, GPS, radio, sunscreen, blanket, and only one knife is nothing short of miraculous.

438 Days by Jonathan Franklin | Waterstones 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin | Waterstones

The length of his voyage has been variously calculated as 5,500 to 6,700 miles (8,900 to 10,800km). [4] [10] Some newspapers originally reported Alvarenga's tally of 15-plus lunar cycles as 16 months, [18] but eventually corrected this to 13 months. [3] According to Gee Bing, Marshall Islands' acting secretary of foreign affairs, Alvarenga's vital signs were all "good", with the exception of blood pressure, which was unusually low. Bing also said that Alvarenga had swollen ankles and struggled with walking. [19] On February 6 the doctor treating him reported that his health had "gone downhill" since the day before and that he was on an IV drip to treat his dehydration. On November 17, 2012, Alvarenga set out from the fishing village of Costa Azul, near Pijijiapan, off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico. [1] An experienced sailor and fisherman, he was intent on a 30-hour shift of deep-sea fishing, during which he hoped to catch sharks, marlins, and sailfish. His usual fishing mate was unable to join him, so he arranged instead to bring along the inexperienced 23-year-old Ezequiel Córdoba, with whom he had not previously spoken, and whose surname he did not know. [12] Salvador Alvarenga was a barely literate Salvadoran fisherman who fled to Mexico for safety. Alvaranega was a hard partier who spent money as soon as it came in. Although he kept his cards close to the vest, he was a generous friend and employee who would lend money or his time, such as when other fishermen went missing. Wearing tattered clothes and with his hair and beard matted wildly from 14 months at sea, Alvarenga stepped off the boat to news cameras and reporters. In days, he went from the most solitary existence imaginable to the most-wanted interview on the planet. a b c d e Johnson, Giff (February 4, 2014). "Real-Life Castaway Survived On Dreams Of Tortillas And Family". Business Insider . Retrieved February 4, 2014.

So despite the odds of it happening to me personally, this is my actual worst nightmare, hence why I chose the book, I have some sort of need to be put completely on edge and scare the shit out of myself. Well done me, because this was accomplished. What this guy and his ship mate endured and for so long is beyond me.

José Salvador Alvarenga - Wikipedia

Even now when Alvarenga speaks aloud the number of days he spent on the Pacific Ocean floating in a 25-foot fishing boat without a sail or motor, the number seems too large to comprehend. But he lived through every day of it.This is a stunning story. How does a hard-partying, spendthrift illegal immigrant (into Mexico!) who sells his catch for subsistence level pay and has no ambitions actually have the wherewithal to survive so long drifting at sea both physically and mentally? protagonist,alvarenga,resides in. I can see why it’s of use to the story but I found it quite tedious. I knew I had to push through it though to get to the near fatal fishing trip. Franklin’s deep research provides tremendous insight into the incredible journey: into the true immensity and isolation of the Pacific Ocean, the daily requirements and suffering of being a castaway for more than a year, as well as the physical and even more illuminating, at least to me, the psychological toll that it took on Alvarenga, a man who probably was the one in a million who could have survived this ordeal. But the few fish he caught weren’t enough. Their bodies were starved for water and protein; Alvarenga could feel his throat closing in on itself. Extreme sun blasted the men, and their only refuge was huddling together in their icebox. Like fishermen in villages worldwide, the local crews that launch from Costa Azul face a bleak future: give up fishing or every few years adjust to the realities of overfishing and travel farther out to sea. Alvarenga chose the latter. He didn’t even see it as a risk. He preferred to live on the water. In his first thirty years, life on land had provided as many problems as pleasures—some nearly fatal, as a pair of deep scars on his head and arms so clearly attested.

castaway survived 438 days lost at sea | CNN Real-life castaway survived 438 days lost at sea | CNN

WOW. 5 stars. This book was absolutely riveting. As soon as I saw 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea pop up in my Goodreads feed (thank you, BookHound ♡), I knew that I wanted to read it ASAP and placed a hold on it at my local library. I'm not sure why I find survival tales like this one so intriguing, but I do. Having grown up in Newfoundland, I also feel a deep connection to the ocean and the diversity of creatures that inhabit it. The next morning he stared at Córdoba in the bow of the boat. He asked the corpse, “How do you feel? How was your sleep?” Our reading panel from libraries and The Reading Agency really enjoyed 438 Days – here are some of their comments: So there you have it – a survival story about some guy who drifted an awfully long way in a boat and had to eat a lot of birds to survive.Somehow, I never heard about this man. I can’t believe this happened in my lifetime and I missed the news about it. Although he didn’t know it, Alvarenga had washed ashore on Tile Islet, a small island that is part of the Ebon Atoll, on the southern tip of the 1,156 islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the most remote spots on Earth. A boat leaving Ebon searching for land would either have to churn 4,000 miles north-east to hit Alaska or 2,500 miles south-west to Brisbane, Australia. Had Alvarenga missed Ebon, he would have drifted north of Australia, possibly running aground in Papua New Guinea, but more likely continuing another 3,000 miles towards the eastern coast of the Philippines. Pearlman, Jonathan (February 3, 2014). "Too incredible to be true? Survivor tells of Pacific ordeal". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved February 4, 2014. Days is the miraculous account of the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history—as told to journalist Jonathan Franklin in dozens of exclusive interviews.