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In tragic situations, individuals have found themselves drifting aimlessly on the ocean, sometimes on tiny rafts no bigger than a few feet. With few provisions, they quickly deplete their food and are forced to resort to consuming raw birds and fish. Since seawater is undrinkable, the blood of these creatures becomes their only source of hydration. Occasionally, stranded sailors are fortunate, and rain provides them with fresh water.
Having rain pour down on you while stranded in a rubber raft in the midst of a violent sea storm is a double-edged sword, as the same rain that offers a chance at survival could flood the raft, sealing your fate. Then there's the relentless Sun, the sharks circling around the raft, and the brutal, salty ocean air causing agonizing sores. Accounts of surviving months at sea are exceedingly rare.
10. Poon Lim - 133 Days
Poon Lim, a Chinese steward aboard the British merchant vessel Ben Lomond, was on board when it was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-172 on the afternoon of November 23, 1942. The ship sank within two minutes, claiming the lives of 53 out of its 54-member crew. Poon Lim was the sole survivor, staying afloat in the water for two hours before discovering a 2.4-meter (8 ft) raft. On the raft were biscuits, chocolates, sugar, flares, flashlights, smoke pots, and 40 liters (11 gal) of water.
Initially surviving on the available food, Lim soon had to catch birds and fish, including sharks. He crafted an improvised fishhook from a wire and a knife from the biscuit tin. He collected rainwater using a cover he fashioned for the raft, though occasionally, he drank the blood of the birds and fish he caught. As a poor swimmer, he tied a rope between his wrist and the raft to prevent falling overboard.
Poon endured 133 harrowing days adrift at sea before being rescued by Brazilian fishermen. He remains the only person known to have survived so long on a raft. For his bravery, he was awarded the British Empire Medal by King George VI, and the Royal Navy included his experience in their survival manual for sailors. Poon later emigrated to the United States, where he was granted citizenship.
9. Wilbert Widdicombe and Robert Tapscott - 70 Days
On October 30, 1940, British sailors Wilbert Roy Widdicombe and Robert George Tapscott arrived on Eleuthera in the Bahamas after spending 70 days adrift at sea. The intense sun had scorched their skin, and their hair had matted into thick clumps. Tapscott had become so weak that he could no longer walk, and Widdicombe had broken his front teeth while attempting to eat his shoes. These two men were the sole survivors of the British merchant ship Anglo Saxon, which was torpedoed by the German warship Widder off the coast of Africa on the night of August 21, 1940.
The Widder had fired on two life rafts carrying survivors, but Widdicombe and Tapscott were among seven men who managed to board a small, inconspicuous boat that did not attract the Widder's attention. Two of the survivors were fatally wounded by machine gun fire, while two others went mad and jumped overboard. One man even slit his own throat with a razor. The meager food supply lasted just 15 days, and Widdicombe and Tapscott survived on seaweed and fish for the remaining 55 days. They also drank distilled water and alcohol from their compass. During their harrowing journey, two ships passed by, but neither noticed them.
8. Jose Salvador Alvarenga - 438 Days
On November 17, 2012, Jose Salvador Alvarenga and Ezequiel Cordoba set out from Costa Azul, Mexico, in a 7-meter (23 ft) boat, expecting a 30-hour fishing trip. However, things went wrong when they encountered waves as high as 5 meters (16 ft) and winds surpassing 100 kilometers per hour (60 mph), which persisted for five days. By the end of the storm, they had lost all their food and equipment, their engine and radio were inoperative, and they found themselves 450 kilometers (280 miles) away from Mexico. Despite a two-week search and rescue mission led by fellow fishermen, no trace of them was found, and both men were presumed dead.
The pair endured great hardship on the open ocean. The dry air drained their bodies of moisture, and Cordoba’s lips became so swollen they were twice their normal size. His skin broke out in sores caused by salt that clogged his pores. They lived off fish and birds, though Cordoba struggled to eat the seabirds because of their foul, rotten-fish odor. On one rare occasion when he did eat one, he unknowingly consumed part of a sea snake inside the bird's stomach, and the venomous meat nearly claimed his life. After that, he refused to eat raw birds and survived on triggerfish and turtles.
By the 23rd day, Cordoba began to hallucinate, desperately craving oranges. He had lost a considerable amount of weight. He pleaded with Alvarenga not to consume his body if he perished but to instead tie him to the front of the boat. At one point, he even contemplated ending his life by jumping into the shark-infested waters that surrounded their boat. On the 118th day, Cordoba passed away, and Alvarenga claimed to have buried him at sea, conversing with the corpse and treating it as though it were still alive for several days.
After 14 months adrift at sea, covering nearly 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), Alvarenga finally reached the Marshall Islands on January 30, 2014. While many in Mexico doubted his story, oceanographers and doctors verified its truth. Despite the confirmation, he was subjected to a lie detector test. Cordoba’s family later filed a lawsuit against Alvarenga for $1 million, accusing him of consuming their son’s body.
7. Captain Jukichi, Hanbe, And Otokichi - 484 Days
On November 4, 1813, a Japanese vessel captained by Jukichi was struck by a storm off Shizuoka, Japan, while returning from a journey to Edo (now Tokyo). The storm destroyed the ship's helm and mast, leaving it helpless and adrift for 484 days. It wasn't until March 24, 1815, that the ship was finally rescued in the waters near California.
Only three of the crew survived the ordeal: Captain Jukichi and two men, Hanbe and Otokichi. Sadly, 12 others perished from scurvy. The survivors subsisted on purified seawater and bags of soybeans they had been transporting. When they arrived in the United States, they sparked curiosity as the first Japanese individuals to land on American soil, at a time when Japan was a closed-off nation that forbade the entry of foreigners.
Hanbe passed away on the journey back to Japan, leaving only Captain Jukichi and Otokichi. Upon returning to Japan, Captain Jukichi gained fame and was even granted the privilege of adopting a surname, a distinction reserved at the time for only the highest-ranking citizens. To this day, Captain Jukichi Oguri, Otokichi, and Hanbe hold the world record for the longest time spent adrift at sea.
6. Vidana, Rendon, And Ordonez - 285 Days
On October 28, 2005, a group of five fishermen set out from San Blas, Mexico, for a fishing expedition. But trouble quickly struck: one engine malfunctioned, and the other ran out of fuel, leaving them stranded. The men relied on a diet of raw fish and birds, including sharks, which they managed to catch with their bare hands. They collected rainwater in a bucket and made a fishhook from the broken engine to catch more food. Sadly, two of the men died during the ordeal, unable to eat raw meat and often turning away when the others consumed it.
The boat continued drifting with the ocean currents until it was found by a fishing vessel near the Marshall Islands on August 8, 2006. However, their return to Mexico wasn’t entirely warm; the three survivors—Jesus Vidana, Lucio Rendon, and Salvador Ordonez—were accused of eating their deceased companions' bodies, as they appeared too healthy after surviving nine months at sea. There were also accusations of cocaine smuggling, as San Blas was known to be a transit point for drug shipments to the United States. The men denied both claims.
5. Maurice And Maralyn Bailey - 117 Days
Maurice Bailey and his wife, Maralyn, were sailing from the United Kingdom to New Zealand when disaster struck on March 4, 1973. A whale collided with their yacht off the coast of Guatemala, causing it to take on water. They quickly inflated a rubber dinghy and salvaged what they could before their yacht sank. Once adrift, the couple ran out of food and survived by eating turtles, birds, and fish.
No one would have suspected the couple’s distress if Maralyn hadn’t been sending postcards from every port they stopped at to her mother. The last card arrived in February 1973 when they docked in the Panama Canal. After that, there were no more postcards, and Maralyn’s mother began to worry. Although the couple passed several ships, none noticed them. Their dinghy was also showing signs of wear after two months at sea. Its seams were splitting, and it required constant inflation to stay afloat.
Then there were the sharks that frequently circled their dinghy, along with two devastating storms. The dinghy capsized three times. Finally, after 117 days at sea, the couple was found by a Korean fishing boat on June 30, 1973. They were sunburned, malnourished, severely dehydrated, and covered in sores. Their physical condition was dire; they couldn’t even move and their stomachs had shrunk so much that they were unable to eat solid food for two days.
4. Nalepka, Glennie, Hofman, And Hellriegel - 119 Days
On June 4, 1989, John Glennie, Rick Hellriegel, Jim Nalepka, and Phil Hofman were aboard the yacht Rose-Noelle when a massive wave capsized it at around 6:00 AM. The four men clung to the underside of the yacht and remained stranded there for roughly four months. Initially, New Zealand authorities organized a search, but later canceled it when they couldn't determine the yacht’s direction. A few months later, the New Zealand Water Safety Council officially declared the men deceased.
The four men were fortunate in their misfortune. According to ocean currents, they should have ended up in Chile, yet they surprisingly washed ashore on Great Barrier Island. New Zealand authorities initially questioned their story, especially since they were dressed in clean clothes and lacked the expected sores from months of exposure to the salty sea air. New Zealand Customs even suspected that the men might have been part of a drug run to South America.
Investigations confirmed that the yacht had indeed been upside down, just as the men had described. However, they hadn’t lived on top of the yacht but rather inside a small corner of the overturned vessel. Their diet consisted of the food supplies they had onboard, supplemented by fish they caught from the ocean. Upon reaching the shore, they found a small abandoned house, where they cleaned themselves up and changed into fresh clothes.
3. Toakai Teitoi - 108 Days
On May 27, 2012, Toakai Teitoi made a journey from Maiana to Tarawa, both located in the Republic of Kiribati, to take an oath as a police officer. After the ceremony, he watched a film about four Kiribati men stranded at sea for six weeks. Little did he know, he was about to face a similar ordeal.
Teitoi opted to take a boat back to Maiana with his brother-in-law, Ielu Falaile. What should have been a two-hour trip turned into a nightmare as the men found themselves lost at sea. After stopping to fish and sleep overnight, they had drifted far into the ocean and ran out of fuel. While they had food, they had no water. This lack of water took its toll on Falaile, who passed away on July 4. The next day, a heavy storm brought intense rain, allowing Teitoi to fill two 19-liter containers with much-needed water.
On the afternoon of September 11, Teitoi was napping when he was startled awake by a loud noise coming from his boat. It turned out to be a shark, which swam away when he went to check. This turn of events proved to be fortuitous, as it gave a nearby fishing boat's crew the opportunity to rescue him. Teitoi was brought aboard the boat, which continued fishing for a few more days, as he wasn’t in immediate danger. Teitoi believes that the shark’s presence led to his rescue.
2. William And Simonne Butler - 66 Days
William and Simonne Butler were on a journey to circumnavigate the globe when their sailing boat collided with a pod of whales about 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) off the coast of Panama on the night of June 15, 1989. William estimated the pod consisted of between 200 and 500 whales. One of the whales struck their boat, causing it to sink rapidly. Within 15 minutes, the boat was submerged, and the couple found themselves on a rubber raft.
All the couple had to survive with were a knife, a water desalinator, a fishhook, a flashlight, two blankets, three flares, 38 liters (10 gallons) of water, and a Sony Walkman. The Walkman provided them with radio stations from Los Angeles, Texas, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama as they drifted in the ocean. However, help was distant. They ran out of food after four weeks and began eating turtles and triggerfish.
Sadly, sharks were constantly circling their raft, hunting for the fish lurking beneath it. At one point, porpoises joined the sharks, and one of them damaged the raft by tearing a hole in its underside. They were finally rescued the day after using their last flare to signal a passing ship. The ship did not stop, but a Costa Rican Coast Guard boat arrived the following day, ending their 66 agonizing days at sea. By then, William and Simonne had each lost 23 kilograms (50 pounds). Simonne’s legs had become as soft as cotton, and William had a severe cut on his right hand and sores covering his back.
1. Jennifer Appel And Tasha Fuiava - 176 Days
On May 3, 2017, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava departed from Honolulu, accompanied by their two dogs, on what was supposed to be an 18-day voyage to Tahiti. However, their journey was extended significantly after they reportedly encountered a severe storm that flooded their engine, leaving them stranded until they were rescued by the US Navy on October 25. After their rescue, the women were met with harsh criticism. Oceanographers questioned the storm story, and shark experts cast doubt on their claims of tiger sharks banging on their boat, as tiger sharks are not known to attack boats.
Adding to the skepticism was the fact that all six communication devices on board ceased to function, and the women failed to activate the Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), which would have notified rescuers of their location. Appel explained that they didn’t activate the EPIRB because they had enough food and didn't believe they were in immediate danger, even though she feared for their lives. She felt confident they would eventually reach land and decided to make the most of the experience. However, the two women later revised their story, claiming that a Taiwanese fishing boat had collided with them, and its crew had attempted to harm them.
Appel's situation worsened when a tabloid released nude photos of her taken ten years earlier. She also found herself unable to obtain insurance for the boat, as it had ventured more than 640 kilometers (400 miles) from shore, beyond the range covered by her insurance. To make matters worse, her family refused to speak with her.
