After a fishing excursion went awry, a man who was adrift at sea for more than 400 days ‘cheated death’ in a number of amazing ways.
José Salvador Alvarenga, a Mexican, and Ezequiel Córdoba went fishing in 2012 with the intention of spending two days on the Pacific Ocean before returning with their haul.
The mission appeared to be doing well at first since they were catching a lot of fish, but then a storm pounded their small boat.
While Córdoba bailed water out of the boat and Alvarenga attempted to sail to calmer waters, they were carried farther into the world’s largest ocean because they had neither sails or oars and the boat’s sole motor was broken.
They radioed for assistance, but they had little chance of being discovered because they lacked a GPS signal and the capacity to drop an anchor.
At the same time, the waves were pounding the boat harder and threatening to completely capsize it.
The boat’s weight from all the fish they had caught was one of its biggest issues; they had to toss roughly 500 kg of them overboard.
Unfortunately, that was insufficient, and they had to discard other equipment. Additionally, their radio malfunctioned, leaving them stranded without a means of communication.
Ultimately, their only option was to tip over the icebox that had been used to keep the fish and gather under it to shield themselves from the weather. The two guys alternated going out to remove water from the boat.
During Alvarenga’s 438 days at sea, the overturned icebox would serve as his primary source of shelter.
Having to throw it overboard because Alvarenga would lean over the side of the boat with his arms in the water and shut his hands when a fish passed through them, they managed to capture fish without any equipment despite being far from any shore with no one knowing where they were.
After cleaning and gutting the fish, Córdoba would cut off pieces of meat to let the sun dry them out. Occasionally, they would even catch the occasional bird or turtle.
Córdoba had not been as lucky as Alvarenga, who had ‘cheated death’ by surviving 438 days at sea in a small fishing boat with an icebox for protection.
According to The Guardian, Córdoba was suffering and getting sick after surviving for a few weeks on rainwater and raw meat. He wouldn’t even drink from a bottle that was held up to his lips.
Alvarenga continued to speak to his body after his death for a while before lowering it into the ocean.
When the last survivor washed up on a location known as Ebon Atoll, some 6,006 miles from Mexico, it would be a very long time before he would reach dry soil.
After drifting for thousands of kilometers, he probably would have gone for thousands more before coming into contact with any land if he hadn’t struck the tiny patch of land.
Thankfully, there were island residents who might one day be able to get him back to Mexico.
Based on interviews with journalist Jonathan Franklin, Alvarenga’s ordeal was turned into the 2015 book 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea.
