Posted on 08/19/2006 2:24:19 PM PDT by Valin
I think the tv series has already been done---it was called "Gilligan's Island" if I recall correctly.
"...survived by eating seagulls, drinking rainwater and reading the Bible..."
New Oprah-Doprah Diet?
Sounds like an upcomming episode from the Discovery Channel's "I Shouldn't Be Alive".
...it rained nearly every day of their ordeal, providing them with fresh water to drink....We took down any bird that landed on our boat and we ate it like that, raw..They caught the fish with hooks attached to the end of electric cables from the boat's motor...
I don't know how often it rains in that part of the Pacific but that I can believe, but do birds willingly land in boats to be grabbed and eaten and why did fishermen have to improvise fishing gear?
Strange.
Absolutely.
A 'fishing' boat ... the size of a pickup truck and with TWO whopping engines.... and lessee... no fishing gear.
this is a miracle. 3 men adrift for 8 months.. 1 bible, and the will to live. truly amazing.
Worse than Spam. I suspect cannibalism, too. The whole story is fishy. Fifteen days without food?
More than likely the boat was a 24 foot fiberglass skiff. The skiff is the boat of choice for the mexican people and is used for everything from bait fishing, lobster trapping, transportation, to even marlin fishing. They come in various sizes. I tend to believe the story as is. Navigation equipment is scarce on Mexican skiffs, and I think that they were probably fishing with a sort of longline, which are long lines of baited hooks suspended by floats, which would account for their lack of equipment. Smuggling anything by skiff from San Blas would be an exercise in futility if you look at the location of San Blas.
I'm guessing with all the blow that was probably aboard that boat they spent a lot of sleepless days nights fishing and catching gulls.
A 'fishing' boat ... the size of a pickup truck
The nine-metre-long, three-metre-wide boat
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Be real now, that boat is a lot bigger than a pickup truck. That size boat would have an enclosed cabin big enough for the crew to sleep out of the weather and avoid excessive sun exposure. Granted it still sounds fishy but "the size of a pickup truck" is not realistic.
Like I said, I have no proof. Twin 200's on a 24 footer makes for a rather fast vessel, not exactly like any long liner I've ever known and I've spent a good deal of time in the NY bight. They could afford these engines but had no compass? I'm not talking GPS or plotters or radar or sonar but not even a hand held compass? Not a lot of room to stow catch in a 24 footer with 3/5 men and fishing equipment on board. Smugglers have been known to meet ships somewhere over the horizon, take on contraband and return to shore for overland transport, so the location (if that is even valid) means nothing to me.
It just doesn't pass my smell test.
The Pacific is a big empty place to be lost in.
I saw a pickup truck today that was the size of a Coast Guard Cutter...
Maybe they nicknamed them Seagull and Duck.
Sport fishermen usually use a 25 to 35 HP motor hung next to the twins for trawling...
Another thing I didn't mention, these OBs have to drink at least 10gals/hr. Where would they carry enough fuel to make fishing trips an economically viable proposition.
Even if the report of 9 meters is correct. That's a 30 footer. Slower than a 24, but not exactly a scow either.
Then we get into the time element, nine months of exposure in the open ocean. If a 24, the best they would have is a Bimini top. How long would that last? The wave action alone would rip out the fasteners in the first month. If a 30' even with a cabin, wave action alone for a couple of months would have stuff breaking all over the place.
This just doesn't ring true to me Joe.
Long liners are not sport guys and there is no report of the boat having a kicker.
PS, it's trolling. Trawl is a net.
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