When the wrecked ship disintegrated, he drifted at sea for 438 days. What kept him alive?

You can wander anywhere on land, but don't go out to sea. -Apostoli uz

Since the development of modern civilization, most people live in high-rise buildings and know little about the cruel living environment of nature. If you wake up and find yourself in the vast ocean, how can you survive? Someone must have answered that it is impossible to survive naturally without food and fresh water on the vast sea. However, in 20 12, there was a man who lived at sea for 438 days, and he was Alvarenga.

First, fishing at sea suddenly encountered a shipwreck.

Alvarenga lives in a small fishing village on the Mexican coast. This village is full of fishermen who live by the sea. They make a living by selling seafood such as fish and crabs to the market every day. Alvarenga is an excellent fisherman in the village. He is familiar with the sea and always goes home with a full load.

Human exploration of the ocean has never stopped, but the unfathomable ocean is beyond human reach. There are too many unknowns and risks in the ocean. Even an excellent fisherman like Alvarenga needs to be very careful when facing the ocean, because a little weather change or wind direction change will lead to rough seas when going out to sea. It's a narrow escape in this situation.

2012165438+1October 17, the weather was clear and the sea was calm. After seeing this weather, Alvarenga went out to sea with confidence. On weekdays, Rychal and Valunga will go to sea with their partners. However, at that time, Alvarenga's partner recommended another young man, Cordova, to go to sea with Alvarenga because of something temporary.

Cordoba is a 22-year-old young man. He doesn't have enough sea experience. Although Alvarenga was not very happy, in order to make money, he prepared tools and equipment for going to sea and took Cordoba by boat.

At first, the fishing went very smoothly, and Alvarenga caught a big fish weighing 1000 kg. Alvarenga decided to look around again, maybe he could gain more. Unexpectedly, it suddenly rained a few hours later. Thick dark clouds piled up in the sky, and the wind blew harder and harder, beating the boat violently with the waves.

Alvarenga quickly asked Cordoba to hold the boat steady and protect the tools and equipment. However, the inexperienced Cordoba accidentally let the GPS into the water, and the ship's motor was broken and could not be used. In the end, the whole ship was smashed by the waves. Alvarenga and Cordoba had to lie on the broken hull and began to drift aimlessly.

Second, struggling to survive in the vast sea.

In order to reduce the weight of the hull, Alvarenga had to throw away some unnecessary things, and the damage of GPS made Alvarenga wonder where he would drift next. The shipwreck led to the contradiction between Alvarenga and Cordoba, and their mood was very gloomy. They know that without God's mercy, they can only wait for death at sea.

At first, Alvarenga wanted to attract the attention of passing ships and let them take themselves out of danger. But the sea is so vast that even if there is a boat, they won't notice two small figures on the blue sea. Soon Alvarenga and Cordoba drifted away, and their hearts became more and more desperate.

It is almost impossible to survive in the ocean, because without food and fresh water, they will either starve to death or be dehydrated by the sun. However, Alvarenga is an excellent fisherman. He can catch small fish and shrimp from the ocean with his bare hands. There was no fire fighting equipment on board, so Alvarenga and Cordoba had to eat these fish and shrimp raw.

With regard to fresh water, Alvarenga collects rainwater in broken cans. Sometimes he is lucky enough to catch turtles and drink their blood to keep him alive. In an emergency, Alvarenga asked Cordoba to leave his urine for later use.

Third, desperate wandering met with vitality.

In this way, Alvarenga and Cordoba stayed on the sea for a while, but when they woke up, they could only see the vast sea. This hopeless existence suddenly destroyed Cordoba's heart.

At first, they can suppress loneliness and despair by talking to each other, but after a long time, they slowly stop talking. According to Alvarenga, Cordoba couldn't adapt to eating raw food for a long time, so he often got sick, so he slowly stopped eating raw food and lay on the board every day, ready to die.

It wasn't until one morning that Alvarenga saw that Cordoba didn't open his eyes that he knew he was dead. Cordoba's death was a great blow to Alvarenga. He always put Cordoba's body on the boat, and whenever he couldn't support it, he talked with Cordoba's body. After a long time, Cordoba's body began to rot, so Alvarenga had to throw Cordoba's body into the sea.

In the later days, when Rychal Varanga was lonely, he chatted with stars, fish and shrimps. He often fantasizes about seeing his family again one day. It was this idea that kept him from collapsing and left his life at sea.

When Alvarenga was numb and alive, things suddenly took a turn for the better. One day when he opened his eyes, Alvarenga saw an island with lush green plants in the distance, which gave Alvarenga the will to survive. He rowed the boat to the island crazily, then got up and went ashore excitedly. Unexpectedly, after standing for a long time, he immediately collapsed to the ground and could not stand normally.

Alvarenga was struggling to climb to the top of the island when he suddenly saw a couple coming. It turns out that there is a villa on this island, and this villa is the couple's home. While enjoying the scenery on the island, the couple suddenly saw a naked man lying in front of them, with extremely long hair and beard and living like a savage. The couple immediately called the police.

Fourth, the rescue was questioned to eat the companion.

When the police came to the island, they took Alvarenga to the police station. After asking, Alvarenga found that his place was a remote island in Marshall Islands, seven miles away from his small fishing village.

The policeman was very surprised after hearing Alvarenga's description. After the doctor diagnosed, he found that although Alvarenga had been drifting at sea for a long time, he was in good health, just a little weak, just inactive for a long time, and his feet were a little swollen. This symptom is nothing like a person who has been drifting for 438 days.

The news soon reached Alvarenga's home. Before that, Alvarenga's parents and daughters thought that Alvarenga had been killed in the shipwreck. Later, under the care of doctors, Alvarenga recovered and returned to his dream home.

Originally, being rescued again was a happy ending for a person who suffered greatly, but Alvarenga's description of drifting at sea for more than 400 days made Cordoba's family question it. They suspect that Alvarenga didn't throw Cordoba's body into the sea, but Alvarenga ate Cordoba's body because of lack of life-sustaining food. After all, in the harsh environment like the sea, they don't believe that Alvarenga can find food every time, and his health is much healthier than expected.

The doubts about the Cordoba family were denied by Alvarenga, so the Cordoba family sued Alvarenga, and the local police even used a polygraph on Alvarenga to prove that Alvarenga was not lying.

No matter whether the 438 days at sea is really like what Alvarenga said, I'm afraid Alvarenga will never leave this experience. He has become very afraid of the sea and can't make a living by fishing as before. However, living is hope. After all, it's really hard to keep the desire to live in that hard environment.