Just kidding.
Posted on 02/01/2014 8:18:11 AM PST by Kartographer
A Mexican man who claims to have survived 16 months adrift on the Pacific was on Saturday regaining strength on a remote Marshall Islands atoll as a navy ship was sent to pick him up.
The emaciated castaway, who identified himself as Jose Ivan when he washed up on Ebon Atoll on Thursday, told his rescuers he set sail from Mexico for El Salvador in September 2012 and has been floating on the ocean ever since.
"We've been feeding him nutritious island food and he's getting better," Ebon Mayor Ione de Brum told AFP in a phone interview from the southernmost cluster of coral islands in the Marshalls.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
In 2006, three Mexicans made international headlines when they were discovered drifting, also in a small fibreglass boat near the Marshall Islands, nine months after setting out on a shark-fishing expedition.
They survived on a diet of rainwater, raw fish and seabirds, with their hope kept alive by reading the bible.
Castaways from Kiribati, to the south, frequently find land in the Marshall Islands after ordeals of weeks or months at sea in small boats.
I think it’s more amazing they brought a bible on a fishing trip!
“¡Buenos dias, señor! Es San Diego...¿no?”
A person cannot drink salt water and survive for 16 months at sea...so unless he could catch enough rainwater to drink over that period of time or store some between rainfalls, plus catch a lot of fish needed to keep him alive, it’s not possible.
Water is staff of life and one must have some every 3-4 days. If he had the storage for water, and fishing gear it might be possible??....Some skepticism here on the length of his lost at sea experience.
Life of Pi ping
Headline of the Marshall Island newspaper= “Mexican Illegals Invade Islands, ask for EBT cards”.
I’m not buying his story, either.
If he had washed up in Hawaii, they could call him Don Ho-se’.
Thank you! I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.
My BS detector is buzzing and its needle is at the max reading.
There’s not enough info given to make any kind of call if this guys story is possible. A picture of the boat he survived in would be extremely helpful. The article only says that he was in a 24’ fiberglass boat with propelless engines. I know on my 20’ fiberglass center console boat there are several places I could turn into makeshift water tanks to capture and hold fresh rain water and lots of it. asingle or even a piece of a tarp would have helped dramatically to help catch and divert water to any holds and provide sun protection.
As far as food, a slow drifting boat on open water with nothing else around would provide a sense of shelter to lots of different sealife to hide and hangout underneath of the boat.
So I think it’s highly plausible to have survived physically. IMHO I think the bigger issue would have been maintaining my sanity although he did have a bible. Kinda weird thing to have aboard a boat but having one certainly could have sustained his spirit/sanity. 18 months with nothing else to do, I’ll be he knows it pretty well.
Just kidding.
I agree, capturing and storing water on a boat that big would be entirely possible.
The story about the bible was a different survival account.
“...24-foot fibreglass boat with propellerless engines...”
I suppose he could have lost both propellers if the locking ring was not installed, but I would guess the boat had no propellers to start with.
“...told his rescuers he set sail from Mexico for El Salvador...”
Having owned powerboats most of my life, I would NEVER use the term “set sail”. This leads me to suspect it was a “sailboat”. So why was he drifting and not sailing?
This story is so full of holes that if it were a boat, it would sink.
And realized you did that b/c the Marshall Island newspaper probably also reported the 20 other illegals stuffed under the boat's floorboards......and that the drunken boat captain probably crashed into innocent people swimming at the beach.
Just doing the jobs Marshall Islanders won't do.
“Having owned powerboats most of my life, I would NEVER use the term “set sail”. This leads me to suspect it was a “sailboat”. So why was he drifting and not sailing?”
How many 24’ sailboats with twin screw engines have you seen?
My 24 footer barely had room for a 6hp outboard and its 3 gallon gas tank...
“My BS detector is buzzing and its needle is at the max reading.”
Hmmm... Most likely you have it pointed the wrong way.
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No, honestly I wasn’t pointing it in your direction.
Danged good thing they didn't serve him the crappy island food the rest of us eat....
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