Survival At Sea
Could You Survive If Adrift In The Ocean?
By Mike Groves
In what has turned out to be a remarkable story of survival, three young men were reunited with their families 61 days after they were lost at sea and presumed dead. Some reports initially believed the teenagers had been at sea for 52 days and not 61, but closer examination of search and rescue reports confirmed the boys had survived for 61 days adrift on the ocean said Fiji Naval Officer, Commander Francis Kean. It matters not, 52 or 61 days adrift in the ocean failed to beat the boys spirit to survive and ultimately denied the ocean her right to keep them.
The boys went missing from Atafu atoll in the Tokelau Islands after an annual sporting event on 5 October in their small aluminum boat and which would become their main lifeline in the preceding days that lay ahead of them.
Remarkable Story Of Survival At Sea
Could you survive – BELIEF is the key!
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
November 28, 2010
Map highlighting passage taken by the three survivors
The teenagers managed to survive on coconuts and rainwater which they collected on a tarpaulin. They were also fortunate enough to capture a seabird. Other survival stories have shown men able to survive by eating mainly raw fish meat. Raw meat contains about 40 percent water, like most living tissue however water remains the key element to survival, the rule of thumb in survival training is three weeks without food and three days without water!
So what about cruise ship passengers or a crewmembers, could they [you] also survive if unfortunate to find yourself in the water? Well it first depends on which of the worlds oceans you first find yourself in. The vast majority of survival stories have been concentrated around those who were in some respects, fortunate to be lost in the Pacific ocean. Whereas water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in poleward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator, the surface water temperature in the Atlantic will range from below −2 °C (28.4 °F) near polar regions to 7-8 °C (12-15 °F) in the middle latitudes.
Surface water temperatures, which vary with latitude, current systems, and season and reflect the latitudinal distribution of solar energy.
The chances of survival in water as cold as those found at the lower end of the scale in the Atlantic are very poor indeed, anything from 3 to 5 minutes on a good day, with hypothermia setting in very quickly and leading you to the big sleep. Heat is lost more quickly in water than on land and water temperatures of 10 °C (50 °F) often leads to death in one hour, and water temperatures hovering at freezing can lead to death in as little as 15 minutes.
Humans body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of 36.5–37.5 °C (98–100 °F) but if exposed to severe cold the body's internal mechanisms are unable to replenish the heat that is being lost and a drop in core temperature occurs. As the body's temperature falls below 35.0 °C (95.0 °F) characteristic symptoms will start to occur, such as shivering and mental confusion eventually leading to unconsciousness and death.
The chance of survival against the elements increases significantly if in warmer waters and also if like these boys, if you have some means of a flotation aid, in this case their boat. You will also need one other crucial survival tool and it will be the most important in your arsenal - 'Unbreakable belief to live!’
The boys were presumed to have died after unsuccessful searches by the New Zealand air force but were later spotted northeast of Fiji on Wednesday afternoon by crew of a passing tuna boat. Quite whether they saw the search and rescue operation during those early days is unknown but it would have been a pretty low period for them if they had seen them, but watched as the aircraft withdrew from their location. That is not a criticism by the way of the Search & Rescue team.
"We drew up next to them, and we asked if they needed any help and their reply was a very ecstatic 'yes'," the tuna vessel's first mate, Tai Fredricsen, told the BBC.
Mr Fredricsen added that the boys had a small supply of coconuts on their boat, but that had run out after two days. Other than drinking fresh water that they captured during the night in a tarpaulin, they had resorted to drinking salt water approximately two days before they were spotted. “This could have been disastrous for them," he added.
Tanu Filo, the father of one of the boys, described the rescue as a "miracle". A miracle indeed and it’s only by the grace of God that they were located when they were, because consumption of seawater would have led to their undoing - very quickly.
The consumption of small quantities of clean seawater accidentally is not harmful, especially if the seawater is consumed along with a larger quantity of fresh water. However, drinking seawater to maintain hydration is counterproductive; more water must be excreted to eliminate the salt (via urine) than the amount of water that is gained from drinking the seawater itself.
This occurs because the renal system actively regulates human blood’s sodium chloride within a very narrow range around 9 g/L (0.9% by weight). Drinking seawater (which contains about 3.5% ions of dissolved sodium chloride) temporarily increases blood’s concentration of sodium chloride. This in turn signals the kidney to excrete sodium, but seawater’s sodium concentration is above the kidney’s maximum concentrating ability.
Eventually the blood’s sodium concentration will rise to toxic levels, removing water from all cells and interfering with nerve conduction, ultimately producing fatal seizure and heart arrhythmia.
