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438 Days: An Incredible True Story of Survival at Sea
The incredible true survival story of one man's record-breaking fourteen months lost at sea.
On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles.
Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise.
Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.
On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles.
Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise.
Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.
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Published November 7, 2024
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January 7, 2026
As a sailor myself, I was in a horrendous 36-hour storm on the Atlantic with lightning and thunder, where we were slung about on a boat with no control, and also experienced the days where there was absolutely no wind, like in the Doldrums.
Of course, it is not comparable to a fishing boat with only an icebox as shelter and no fridge with food, but I managed to get into the horrible cold and wet sensation, the feeling of being kicked about, and also the intense fear of the lightning striking our mast.
Alverenga must be the toughest guy I have read about because of what he went through during those horrible months. Next time we are in a storm or in the Doldrums, I won´t complain about it being too tough, wet, and cold, or it being too boring.
It took me 48 hours to finish, and what a read!
Of course, it is not comparable to a fishing boat with only an icebox as shelter and no fridge with food, but I managed to get into the horrible cold and wet sensation, the feeling of being kicked about, and also the intense fear of the lightning striking our mast.
Alverenga must be the toughest guy I have read about because of what he went through during those horrible months. Next time we are in a storm or in the Doldrums, I won´t complain about it being too tough, wet, and cold, or it being too boring.
It took me 48 hours to finish, and what a read!
Displaying 1 of 1 review