Four Hundred Days Drifting Across the Pacific Ocean

A lone fisherman sits aboard a small open boat far from land in the Pacific Ocean. (Digital Illustration: GoBeyondLocal)

Four Hundred Days Drifting Across the Pacific Ocean

José Salvador Alvarenga left the Pacific coast of Mexico in a small fishing boat with enough expectation of returning to make the trip seem ordinary.

He was going out to fish. Another fisherman, Ezequiel Córdoba, was aboard with him.

A storm arrived two days into the trip.

The boat lost its engine. The men had little control over where the water would take them, and the coast began to disappear behind them.

The storm damaged the equipment they depended on. Their radio stopped being useful, and the boat had no working engine to bring them back towards Mexico.

Alvarenga tried to keep the small craft afloat while the men dealt with rough water and limited supplies. The fishing trip had become a fight to keep the boat alive.

They caught fish when the sea allowed it. Rain provided drinking water, and the men collected what they could from the boat and its surroundings.

Days passed without land appearing on the horizon.

The two fishermen also caught birds and turtles. Their food came directly from the ocean around them, with raw fish forming part of the diet described by Alvarenga.

The small boat offered little shelter from sun, wind and saltwater. Their supplies could be lost, damaged or exhausted while the Pacific continued moving beneath them.

Córdoba became ill during the time at sea. His condition worsened as the months passed, according to the account given by Alvarenga.

Alvarenga later described the death of his companion while they were still far from land. He eventually released the body into the ocean.

After Córdoba died, Alvarenga was alone aboard the boat.

He continued catching fish and birds. Turtles also became a source of food and liquid. During periods without rain, he said he drank turtle blood to keep himself going.

The boat had become his entire world. There was the open water around him, the small space beneath his feet and whatever food or water the sea could provide.

He watched for ships. Large vessels appeared at distances he could see, yet attracting their attention from a small fishing boat proved difficult.

Time became difficult to measure. Alvarenga later described losing track of the date and relying on daylight and darkness as the most obvious markers of passing time.

The ocean kept the boat moving across a distance far beyond the waters where the fishing trip had begun.

Rain became valuable whenever clouds opened above him. Alvarenga collected fresh water and used what he could find aboard the boat to preserve it.

When the sky stayed dry, he had to rely on other sources. His account included drinking turtle blood and eating raw food caught from the surrounding sea.

Months passed. The Mexican coast was thousands of kilometres away, while the small boat continued across the Pacific under the influence of wind and ocean currents.

Alvarenga had no working engine with which to choose a destination. The movement of the boat depended largely on the sea around him.

By the time the drift reached its final stretch, Alvarenga had spent more than a year aboard the boat.

He had left Mexico in late 2012. His return to land would come in January 2014.

Land appeared at Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Alvarenga brought the boat towards the shore and eventually reached the island after 438 days at sea. He had travelled thousands of kilometres across the Pacific from the coast of Mexico.

People on the atoll found him exhausted and severely weakened. His hair had grown long, his beard had become thick and his body showed the effects of more than a year exposed to the ocean.

He was taken for medical attention after reaching land.

His account attracted immediate scrutiny because the distance and duration were difficult to comprehend. Investigators examined the circumstances around his disappearance, while experts considered whether Pacific currents could have carried a small fishing boat from Mexico towards the Marshall Islands.

Oceanographic assessments supported the possibility of such a drift, giving the account of the 438 days at sea a physical route across the Pacific.

Alvarenga eventually returned to Mexico and travelled to meet the family of Ezequiel Córdoba.

He went to Chiapas carrying a message for the family of the fisherman who had died beside him at sea. Alvarenga told them about Córdoba and delivered the final words he said his companion had wanted his family to hear.