Adrift for 9 Months

When I was much younger (around 12 or 13 if I recall) I was a real bookworm. Today I’m lucky to get through more then a book a year. Back then I used to look for great new books, and I remember reading this one: “Capsized: True Story of Four Men Adrift for 119 Days”. It was the story of four friends out on a catamaran that capsized at sea and they drifted for 119 days. They caught fish and birds to eat and managed to still be alive when the were all rescued 119 days later. I enjoyed the book thoroughly and then discovered that another one of the men on the boat had also written a book on his experience of the time adrift, so I read that one too. The thing that got me was their stamina. Imagine being adrift for months on end… would you ever get the the point where you just gave in?

Cut to today! My scrawny boy body now that of a man (ha!). In the news we hear of some Mexican fishermen adrift at sea for 7 (or 9 depending on your news source) months. I mean Tom Hanks on a desert island had it made compared to these guys! There was five of them to begin with, but two of the men died after refusing to eat raw fish and birds.

Finally, in 1972 a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into the Andes and survived only by feeding on each other. The story has now been put into multiple books and movies, but these guys took it one step further then the Mexican fishermen, who simply pushed the dead over the side.

So I ask you… what lengths would you go to in order to survive.

Would you eat raw fish and birds?

Would you eat a dead friend if it meant the difference between life and death for you?