438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

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Jose Salvador Alvarenga and the science of survival". CBC.ca. Associated Press. February 6, 2014 . Retrieved February 6, 2014. Declared “the best survival book in a decade” by Outside Magazine, 438 Days is the true story of the man who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. Our reading panel from libraries and The Reading Agency really enjoyed 438 Days – here are some of their comments: Connelly, Sherryl (November 14, 2015). "Fisherman survives '438 Days' lost at sea, story told by Jonathan Franklin in new book". The Daily News . Retrieved August 11, 2019.

438 Days | Book by Jonathan Franklin | Official Publisher

Alvarenga believed he didn’t need a doctor to diagnose what was wrong. He was suffering from a yearlong tortilla drought.” Costa Azul is a lost corner of Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest state and a region where emigrants tend not to stop as they continue on the long trek north to the United States. Few arrivals see much of an economic salvation in the tattered local economy. But the thirty-year-old Alvarenga wasn’t looking at land—his eyes were focused on the Pacific Ocean and had been since he was eleven years old and had run away from school to live at the beach with friends. Costa Azul would serve not as home but as home base. He would launch seaward for multiday ocean journeys to the richest remaining fishing grounds along Mexico’s plundered coastal ecosystems. Aleman, Marcos (February 4, 2014). "Jose Salvador Alvarenga's family say his survival 'is a miracle' as incredulity remains at epic 10,000-km ocean voyage". National Post . Retrieved February 6, 2014. Surviving 14 months at sea in a fishing boat with another man (Ezequiel Córdoba) who died during the voyage Insulated from the fury of the Pacific Ocean by a miles-long island that creates a natural lagoon, and surrounded by tangled mangrove forests untouched by loggers, thousands of fish inhabit this postcard-perfect lagoon, discovering only too late their fatal error when speared alive on the knife-sharp bill of a blue heron or crushed in the jaws of a crocodile. Like the migrating birds, Alvarenga was attracted to the protected lagoon and its unending supply of easy-to-catch fish. From afar, it gleamed like a refuge. While vicious storms roared offshore, sometimes lasting for weeks, the mangrove jungles absorbed and sheltered this small community. Like the eye of a hurricane, Costa Azul’s beauty had an eerie ability to disguise imminent danger.When he awoke just minutes later, Alvarenga was terrified. “What could I do alone? Without anyone to speak with?” he told me. “Why had he died and not me? I had invited him to fish. I blamed myself for his death.” Jonathan Franklin versteht jenes Abenteuer mit Bravour zu erzählen. Das Buch glänzt geradezu mit einem klar und logisch strukturierten Aufbau. Er weiß, was die Leserschaft interessiert und stillt ihre Neugier, ohne Pietät und Takt gegenüber Alvarenga einzubüßen. Seine Erzählweise ist spannend und informativ. So füllt er dessen Erlebnisse mit hilfreichen Hintergrunddaten über Meeresströmungen, charakteristische klimatische Verhältnisse im Pazifik sowie auch medizinische Einschätzungen zu Alvarengas psychischen und physischen Erfahrungen unter diesen extremen Verhältnissen.

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

What you can afford to eat is dependent upon your fluid availability,” says Professor Michael Tipton. “When you eat protein this creates ammonia in your body, then urea, which is poisonous to your system. To eliminate urea you need liquid to produce urine. So if you eat a lot of protein you raise your fluid requirements . . . these things are intimately related.”If Alvarenga had eaten Ezequiel, he would have to kill him first -- as explained in the next point about mummification. If Alvarenga didn't kill Ezequiel, then Ezequiel wouldn't be worth eating. So, in this case, I think an argument for cannibalism is an argument for murder. As this old world pursues its endless journey round the sun, many are the tales of death and disaster on the high seas. Few indeed are those that tell of near-miraculous survival, fed by human courage, faith, strength and intelligence. This is one such." Roanoke Times

438 Days by Jonathan Franklin | Waterstones

Days by Jonathan Franklin will feature on the Radio 2 Fact not Fiction Book Club on Friday 27 November. Addley, Esther (January 31, 2014). "Castaway tells tale of 16-month Pacific survival to rival Life of Pi". The Guardian . Retrieved February 4, 2014.Alvarenga went through the five stages of grief along his journey and came out the other side intact (albeit changed).

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Pearlman, Jonathan (February 4, 2014). "Castaway from Mexico: First photos of Jose Salvador Alvarenga's boat". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved February 4, 2014. WOW. 5 stars. This book was absolutely riveting. As soon as I saw 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea pop up in my Goodreads feed (thank you, BookHound ♡), I knew that I wanted to read it ASAP and placed a hold on it at my local library. I'm not sure why I find survival tales like this one so intriguing, but I do. Having grown up in Newfoundland, I also feel a deep connection to the ocean and the diversity of creatures that inhabit it. Like fishermen in villages worldwide, the local crews that launch from Costa Azul face a bleak future: give up fishing or every few years adjust to the realities of overfishing and travel farther out to sea. Alvarenga chose the latter. He didn’t even see it as a risk. He preferred to live on the water. In his first thirty years, life on land had provided as many problems as pleasures—some nearly fatal, as a pair of deep scars on his head and arms so clearly attested. We didn’t think about hunger at first,” Alvarenga said. “It was the thirst. We had to drink our own urine after the storm. It wasn’t until a month later that we finally got some rain water.”I hit the ground first. My boat hit the ground second. I felt the waves, I felt the sand, and I felt the shore. I was so happy that I fainted on the sand. I didn’t care if I died at that point. I was so relieved. I knew at that point I didn’t have to eat any more fish if I didn’t want to.” So there you have it – a survival story about some guy who drifted an awfully long way in a boat and had to eat a lot of birds to survive. Alvarenga and Ezequiel get stranded in a boat together after a storm, a boat which ends up drifting all the way across the Pacific ocean. This riveting adventure has us in its grip, spellbound and eager to know more about the mysterious Salvador Alvarenga…His story of resilience, ingenuity, and grit is an unforgettable true-life adventure." He is admittedly a different man. He may be a better man. And Salvador Alvarenga says he is absolutely a grateful man. “I’m happy to be alive. I’m happy to be with my family. I’m proud to be what I am. I am simply glad I’m here.”