7 interesting facts about ocean survival

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Knowledge is power. And a life hacker needs knowledge doubly. In this series of articles, we collect fascinating and sometimes unexpected facts about the world around us. We hope that you will find them not only interesting, but also practically useful.

Man is the crown of creation and the full owner of this planet. But this statement is true only as long as it is on land. Once people enter the ocean, and water is known to cover more than 70% of the earth's surface, they become helpless like children. Few people manage to survive in the open ocean for more than a few days. In this article, you will find unusual stories, interesting facts and practical tips for survival in the ocean.

Alain Bombard and his experiment

The most famous person who has proven from his own experience that you can survive in the ocean is the French physician Alain Bombard. In the 60s of the last century, he expressed the idea that shipwreck victims die primarily from fear and depression, and not from heat, hunger and thirst. To prove this theory, he undertook a solo voyage in a rubber boat across the Atlantic Ocean without any supplies of food or water. The journey was crowned with success. After 65 days, his boat reached the coast of Barbados. Alain Bombard lost 25 kilograms during this time, but was in a satisfactory physical condition.

Lin Peng's record

The absolute record holder for survival in the ocean is Lin Peng, an English sailor of Chinese origin. He served as a steward on a merchant ship that was torpedoed and sank in November 1942. Two hours later, a sailor who jumped overboard found a life raft with a minimum set of things for survival: several cans of cookies, 40 liters of drinking water, some chocolate, sugar, several flares, a pair of smoke bombs and an electric flashlight. Of course, this was only enough for a short time, so that the main part of my stay in the ocean, and it stretched for 133 days, had to drink rainwater and eat raw fish. On April 5, 1943, Pan was discovered by three Brazilian fishermen who brought him to one of the ports.

There is water in the ocean

The biggest threat to shipwreck victims is the lack of fresh water. Dehydration of the body occurs quite quickly and leads to an inevitable ending. However, Alain Bombard proved that salt water can also be drunk in small portions. The main thing is to do this no longer than five days in a row. The second source of liquid can be fish, which is 80% fresh water. And finally, the best but unstable source is precipitation.

Around is full of food

The second enemy of man in the ocean is hunger. However, everything is not as scary as it seems at first glance. Even if you have absolutely no fishing gear, you can still get out of the situation. An excellent source of protein is plankton, which can be easily collected by dragging a shirt or even a sock behind the boat. In addition, curious fish often swim so close to the boat that you can try to reach them with an oar. Lin Peng, for example, made a fishing hook from the wires of a flashlight, and built a fishing line from unbraided rope. This even allowed him to collect some food supplies, which he dried in the sun.

Don't forget about exercise

With limited resources, when every gram of food counts, spending energy on gymnastics seems like a rather silly exercise. But this is not the case. In fact, a much greater danger to health is the forced lack of movement. Physical inactivity is no less detrimental to the psychological state. Both heroes, about whom we talked above, swam every day, tied with a rope just in case.

The most important thing is calmness

This advice may seem like a mockery. Well, what calmness can there be when there are thousands of kilometers of hostile void around? However, Alain Bombard, whose opinion can definitely be trusted, believed that it was in the head that the most important survival tool was located. “Victims of legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know: it was not the sea that killed you, it was not hunger that killed you, it was not thirst that killed you! Swaying on the waves to the plaintive cries of seagulls, you died of fear,”he said at the end of his trip.

Ocean Survivors Movies

Plots about shipwrecks and miraculous rescues in the ocean are among the most popular in cinema. If you are interested in this topic, then we offer you a small selection of feature films and documentaries from different years.

Hope Will Not Fade (2013) is the story of an elderly yachtsman who found himself in a difficult situation.

Life of Pi (2012) - an Indian boy finds himself in a boat with a very unusual company.

“Open Sea: New Victims” (2010) - while walking on the high seas, the yacht flips over, and a company of young people is in the water.

Dead Sea (2009) is the real story of a fishing boat wreck in the Bering Sea.

What stories and films about people who survived shipwrecks can you recommend?