The Man and the story of his Resilience

438 days by Jonathan Franklin

          

You are at sea. Maybe, you are someone like me who loves it. The crashing of the waves, the shore somewhere on the horizon, an endless expanse of water all around. But even if you love it the way Salvador Alvarenga did, can you imagine the torment of being lost for 438 days?

Disturbing, isn’t it?

When I spotted this book at the bookstore, the number on the cover stopped me in my tracks.

438 days, That’s 14 months.

The amount of time it takes to conceive a baby, give birth and have him smiling back at you.

The amount of time it takes to get through another year in college and already be a few months into the next, edging closer to your career.

438 days is a incident based on true story of fisherman named Jose Salvador Alvarenga. 

Here are several things I took away from his incredible story I mentioned at the end of this post.

Jose "Salvador Alvarenga" returns alive after 438 days alone at sea It is no wonder that when people come back alive and live a normal life in a very unfavorable situation or in a place where all the solutions have failed.

After Mexican fisherman's boat forgot its way in the deep sea, they had only turtles, seabirds, fish, rainwater and his own urine to eat! 

 Jose Alvarenga was an experienced fisherman. He had spent many years of his life fishing at sea. On November 17, 2012, he took a boat with a novice friend named Cordoba to go fishing in the Pacific Ocean.      

 The duo had taken the necessary materials for the next 2-3days.

In just a few hours, they caught more than 500 pounds [500 kg] of fish. Both were very happy,

But their happiness did not last long. Suddenly a terrible storm began. And it turns to rain heavily. They hurriedly tried to reach the shore. But there was nothing to be clear due to storm and hence they found difficulty to found the road in the storm. Due to Heavy rains  shoreline was unable to clear., and their boat sank in the deep sea. The storm continued for another 5 days.

The storm hit the boat hard. All the electronic equipment on the boat was turned off, the motor was carried away. They tried to contact there own boss on the radio. But their exact location could not be determined and the storm lasted a long time, so the rescue squad returned. Assuming that both fishermen had drowned in the sea, they stopped the search.

The food on the boat ran out in just a few days. They stored rainwater and started drinking it. If it did not rain for many days, they would have to spend their days drinking their own urine or fish blood. (One drop of sea water is 0.001 grams of salt. Your body is not able to tolerate this sodium there is a possibility of kidney failure due to pressure on the kidneys, destruction of the nervous system, poisoning of internal organs, dehydration, so a person cannot drink this water even in extreme crisis)

As, Jose Alvargenga was a skilled fisherman. He caught fish, turtles, and seabirds excellently. Hours after hours, days after days, months after months, were passed  but they could not find the shore.No boat or plane was in sight and even if it did, all the equipment was damaged and could not be contacted.

Now both of them came to knew that  all avenues to go back home were closed. While wandering in this endless sea, one day death was imminent kind of feeling were created.

Jose kept himself busy all day, but Cordoba fell into despair. It was affecting his health. After being stuck in the sea for 4 months and having to eat raw food every day, he got bored and stopped eating. Within a few days he died of starvation and dehydration.

Jos was in too deep shocked to see his colleague die in this way. He left Cordoba's body for 5-6 days as it is on boat. He don't knew that what to do. But now he was thinking of committing suicide. But he made up his mind and threw his colleague's body into the water.
For the next 7-8 months he was wandering in the sea like this.

For the first time in 438 days I.e after 14 months on 29 January 2014, he saw a ray of hope. In front was the shores of Marshall Islands on the far side of Pacific Ocean. He hurried to the shore and knocked on the door of one of the huts. At a time he could barely speak and unable to walk.  The people in the hut did not believe what he was saying at first. But then they contacted the local authorities and arranged for him to be sent home safely. He had reached a distance of 9650 km from the village in Mexico from which he had started his journey.

Thus in the face of adversity, facing natural challenges, Jose Alvarenga set the world record for the longest survival at sea in a stray state and also proved that if one has a strong desire to survive, one can face any challenge and get out of a difficult situation safely. If we are too busy in our comfort zone then it will not possible never.

Alvarenga’s tale is one the most amazing survival stories, and is quite visceral in its details. The ingenuity of the survivor is something to marvel at. All Alvarenga had available, to keep himself alive, were his wits and experience.

The one thing you learn from Alvarenga’s ordeal is his resilience. And for that alone, this book is worth a read.

What I learnt from this story(book), is that

1. Everyone can do things they think they can't:

There is no doubt that Alvarenga actually thought he could not survive in a small boat in the middle of the ocean for over a year if you were to ask him before it happened. Nobody thinks they could do that, and to our knowledge, he is the only person in recorded history who has actually done it.All that to say, all of us, with some determination and courage can do things we don't think we can. That doesn't mean we can do anything we may want or desire to do, but we can do some things we are too intimidated try, and for any number of reasons, aren't doing.

2. It's funny how we can still be mad at God when he answers our prayers:

Alvarenga wasn't a religious man at all (his words) before he was lost at sea, but like anyone would do when you are desperate and trying to survive, he began to pray. No surprise here, but his biggest prayer was that he would somehow find land. After he miraculously found land on day 438, he became angry with God and in some ways was upset that God actually answered his prayer!To be fair, he was physically close to death by that point, and the trauma of what he endured is psychologically devastating, but here is how we can relate: God answers a prayer, sometimes something we have been praying for years, and what happens? Immediately we wish he had answered it in a different way, or quickly forget about it and move on to the next thing we want. We can be so quick to be ungrateful. It's amazing how patient God continues to be toward us!

In pic -Jos Alvarenga 
Joy of drifting man

Quote:  

"A reader lives thousand lives before he dies. The men who never reads live only ones ".

Love.

-Gaurav