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• Condition: New
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a great survival storyI have read several survival-type stories but this is one of the best. Carefully told in moving and sometimes brutal and heartbreaking detail, the author recounts the sometimes harrowing and frustrating experiences of a family stranded in the Pacific Ocean for several weeks after their boat was sunk by an attack of killer whales. His accounts of all the things that one might not immediately think of in this situation make the story particularly memorable - like for example, the struggle to maintain enough drinking water (other reviewers, and of course the author, are correct in noting that drinking seawater is absolutely not an option) and the frustration of seeing a ship yet not being able to get the ship to notice them. I have read this book a few times since first enountering it, and each time it has been hard to put the book down.
That being said, I do have one observation - which has nothing directly to do with the quality of the book, really - it would seem that an ordeal like the author's would be very unlikely or impossible nowadays, since anyone venturing on such a trip would carry some type of worldwide cell or satellite phone, pager, or other such emergency notification device, such that they could send out a distress call immediately on encountering trouble, and thus be able to receive rescue help after a few days at the absolute most. As I recall, one of the things that made the author's situation so dire was that no one knew of their plight. I guess pagers or the various global distress or notification devices weren't of the same availability in the 1970s?
Shackleton-Type HeroicsI didn't have much hope for this book when I picked it up from a giveaway pile. Once I started reading it, I was dumbfounded. Halfway through their round-the-world trip in their 43' schooner, this Swiss-Family-Robinson group was attacked by killer whales off the coast of South America; their boat sank in less than 2 minutes. With virtually no provisions, the master led them through a 37-day ordeal in a hair-raising voyage that easily rivals Shackleton's 1916 16-day voyage in the James Caird. Several reviewers commented that not much emotion is shown in the telling of this book; I submit that I would rather have Dougal Robertson or Shackleton saving my life than someone who is more emotionally "connected!" Another inspiring book that shows the amazing power and adaptability of the human mind when pushed to unimaginable circumstances.
Resue or Survival?A true story of survival at sea. This book shifts your mindset from rescue to survival. Once you begin the book you will not be able to put it down.
VERY VERY GOODthis was a great book- i liked "adrift" better but this was still very enjoyable and an amazing true story- it was maybe too technical for me but not unbearably so- the dad is a bit pompous in his writing and tries to sound like a better writer than he is and the infighting he recounts was a bit unpleasant for me, but it was still very interesting to read their survival techniques and see their eventual rescue- i mentioned to my friend (who had also read the book) that i was disliking the father while reading it but his response was "the man is a hero for goodness sake! he single handedly is responsible for saving this entire family plus their guest!" and you know what? my friend is absolutely right, you may not like the father (or not mind him at all like my friend) but what matters is that he saved his entire "crew" and didn't play favourites with his family- he was brilliant and if my boat ever capsized, i would definitely want him on board with me- this is a good story that all should read-
Gone in sixty secondsIn this fascinating book, Dougal Robertson describes the survival at sea of six people for over a month. Their 43-foot schooner sank in only a minute after being attacked by killer whales.
Um, killer whales? A couple of hundred miles west of the Galapagos? In warm water? That's pretty rare. That was truly awful luck. They were lucky to get their life raft and 9-foot dinghy launched, so that they did not go down with their ship.
Surviving at sea is not easy, but the most critical elements are buoyancy and water. We see plenty about both. The life raft lasted a little more than two weeks, and the dinghy only had a few inches of freeboard when all six people were on board. Any swamping would almost surely be fatal, so they sailed their dinghy stern-first, with a flotation collar at the bow end and a sea anchor behind the bow.
What about water? There wasn't going to be much near the equator, so they chose to sail north. At around 5 degrees north, rain is more plentiful. It took two weeks to accomplish this, and the day after that, it rained enough to give them good chances to reach land (in fact, they did run low on water again, got more rain, and finally were rescued by a Japanese fishing boat when they were less than 300 miles from Costa Rica). By the way, one can drink sea water, but it just makes things worse. The Robertsons were wise to avoid trying it.
And, of course, what about food? They did catch some fish and turtles, and they eventually wound up with adequate provisions.
I was curious to see what stores Robertson advises for life rafts. There's a discussion of food and water, as well as a rain-catcher. And there has to be a means of propulsion. A useful knife. Fishing equipment (a gaff is the most important of these). A spear head. A bailer. A first-aid kit, a repair kit, and some line. A couple of sea anchors.
And, oh yes, some navigational equipment, including a clock and compass, as well as "dividers strong enough to be used as small fish spears." Along with a series of world charts "showing shipping lanes with frequency of use, ocean currents with set and drift, seasonal weather with, most important of all, rainfall expectations."
All these things probably ought to be made to float, and there probably needs to be an instruction manual.
Of course, as Robertson mentions, it would be useful to have a (battery-operated) phone or radio phone. He does not discuss beacons, and while I think these are better than nothing, I'd rather have two-way communications before staking my life on staying put.
Given that the life raft did not last all that long, Robertson also has some suggestions for making rafts that might last longer.
Of course, none of this will do you much good if you go down with your ship, so the most important thing is to make sure that you can get yourselves and the lifeboat off the ship very quickly, and under terrifying and unexpected conditions.
I recommend this book.
Product DescriptionAfter their 43-foot schooner was stove in by a pod of killer whales, the six members of the Robertson family spent 37 days adrift in the Pacific. With no maps, compass, or navigational instruments, and rations for only three days, they used every survival technique they could as they battled 20-foot waves, marauding sharks, thirst, starvation, and exhaustion.
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