The lessons of the man who spent 76 days lost in the Atlantic

CREDIT,STEVECALLAHAN.NET

Photo caption,

Callahan after finally arriving on the island of Marie-Galante in the Guadeloupe archipelago: 'I'm very grateful for the experience...but it was hell!'

The American Steve Callahan spent 76 days adrift in a small rubber boat, lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, having to get food and water every day and still face all kinds of dangers.

His story, a testament to the capacity, creativity and perseverance of human beings, is told in an episode of the Que História! , from BBC News Brasil.In late January 1982, the naval architect and sailor left the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, off the coast of North Africa, traveling alone on the Napoleon Solo, designed and built by himself. Callahan was on his way to the island of Antigua in the Caribbean.

Everything was going well, until the arrival, a few days later, of a strong storm."About an hour later, I heard a loud bang on the side of the boat. A tremendous noise. Suddenly, a lot of water started to come in. A rush of water, like a fire hydrant. I thought the boat was sinking for good, but , luckily, the wind and the movement of the waves were keeping the boat on the surface. The front was all in the water, but the back was out. That gave me the chance to get out of the boat."

"I went up on deck, inflated the life raft, put it in the sea beside the boat, and got in. I figured the boat wouldn't sink all at once. I knew I was in the middle of the ocean and the chances of it surviving on the things that were in the boat were minimal. I pulled the rope that held me to the boat, climbed aboard and dove into the cabin.

"It was completely dark. I kept swimming and feeling around. I found an emergency kit, a piece of foam, a sleeping bag. It wasn't much, but that's what I could find in the middle of the storm, on the boat being shaken and lashed by waves and winds. When I got back to the boat, I was completely exhausted. I even thought I might try to get the water out of the boat when it dawned. But after a strong wave, I suddenly noticed a moment of relative calm, and when I looked, I saw that was drifting away from the boat."

Steve didn't know what had caused the huge hole in the side of the boat—possibly a whale. But that wouldn't make a difference now. He was alone in a rubber life raft and no one knew about it.

"Now what? All the rules of normal life are gone. It's an overwhelming feeling. And you know that many people survive the initial impact, deal with the first threat in a crisis, but die later. There was a part of me completely. terrified and desperate, I thought: 'you're going to die! you're going to die!' But the other part, used to facing situations at sea, said: 'shut up!' And these two voices in my head accompanied me all the time. "

"I started reviewing my life, how stubborn I was, the mistakes I made, the people I let down, I was always bad at personal relationships, bad at making money. I was punishing myself and at the same time thinking about how I'm going to survive in the ocean, in what ironically is like the biggest desert in the world."

solar purifier

CREDIT, REPRODUCTION

Photo caption,

Callahan used a solar purifier like this one, which converts seawater into drinking water: 'It took me a long time to learn how to use it, and produce about half a liter of water a day.'

His orange boat was being carried little by little by winds and currents to the west, that is, towards the American continent. His chances were either to be spotted by a ship or somehow to make it to the Caribbean or South America.

The problem is that these places were more than 3,200 kilometers away, a journey that would take months. And the food and water supplies in the emergency kit would only last a few days. He had crossed the Atlantic before and knew the risks and challenges he would face to stay alive.

“At first, keeping warm was one of the main challenges, especially at night. And mostly because I was wet half the time, and it was windy. You can die of hypothermia in a matter of minutes or hours. Then you get thirsty. up to ten days without water, if you're lucky. I had a lot of trouble getting water because it rained very little. I depended on the solar water purifiers, which were in the emergency kit. Balloon-like structures. You put water in, the sun makes the water evaporates and this steam is collected and turns into the water you drink. I had never met anyone who knew how to make these purifiers work. It took me a long time to learn how to use them, and produce about a pint of water a day ."

"Everything that floats in the sea becomes an island and develops its own ecology. Algae and barnacles began to attach themselves to the boat, and attracted smaller fish, which in turn attracted larger fish. Luckily I had managed to retrieve one from the boat. harpoon gun, practically a toy. It was very difficult to catch fish. It wasn't until the 14th day that I managed to catch one."

"At this point, after two weeks, I was hungry. The raw fish, a sea bream, was delicious. But gradually I became less interested in the meat, and more in the other, more gooey parts. The eyes, for example, were like two little balls of fluid. Hearts, roe, liver...or even the stomach contents. The golden ones ate other fish, which were often half-digested in the stomach, and I said, 'Wow! Pickles !'. I think my body knew these things were essential for my survival. They supplied the minerals and vitamins I couldn't get any other way around on this practically protein-based diet. But even with fish, I wasn't getting it enough nutrients. I've lost a third of my weight, pretty much all in the lower part of my body."

'It's the most beautiful thing you can imagine'

Callahan was able to protect himself from the sun because his lifeboat had a tent. He was able to orient himself after constructing, with a pencil, a rudimentary sextant shape—using the position of the North Star, or Polaris, in the sky as a reference. That way he could more or less know where he was and where he was going, and he knew that the current was carrying the boat towards the Caribbean.

golden of the sea

CREDIT, BY AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY

Photo caption,

The sea bream are also known as mahi-mahi: 'in addition to providing my food, they kept me company'

He exercised, repaired on the boat, and despite chronic hunger and thirst, Callahan managed to enjoy some of the wonders of his new world.

"When you're in the middle of the ocean like that, you're farther away from humanity than an astronaut orbiting the planet. There's no greater feeling than being in a place where the past or the future doesn't mean anything, where you are totally focused on the now. And in a boat you're watching things... it's like the difference between driving a car and walking. You see things."

"It was so beautiful to observe the evolution of the ecosystem around the boat. The fish were beautiful. The sea bream, in addition to providing my food, kept me company. I started to identify each one by its colors, or scars or even by its fur. way they behaved."

"There was a big male that always showed up in the late afternoon and liked to hit the boat, moving it through the water. They were spiritual creatures. Nature is touching. At night, this amazing sky is reflected by the water, and you get the feeling to be floating in the sky."

"And there is, the bioluminescence of the sea. They're like billions of fireflies. Everything glows. A dolphin passes by and you see its outline running along this long trail of lights... It's the most beautiful thing you can imagine. At night, I would look out and see like golden 50s around the boat, they looked like silver trays slowly floating in the ocean. It was impressive. Sure, there were times when I saw a shark's fin or tail. But even those experiences were extremely precious for me."

The weeks went by and he even saw some ships in the distance. But none of them saw it. And on the 43rd day came disaster.

"I had an accident that nearly wiped me out. A golden one broke the harpoon shaft, went around and slammed the end of the harpoon into the tube at the bottom of the side of the boat, opening a hole the size of a mouth. Water began to enter. little by little. By this time my hands were covered with sores from long exposure to seawater. It was already quite difficult to hunt fish and produce fresh water. I spent ten days in this situation patching the hole. Every time I pumped air , the patch opened. I had to find a way to close this leak."

Steve Callahan in 2016

CREDIT, NORTH YARMOUTH ACADEMY

Photo caption,

Callahan became a celebrity, lecturer and consultant for the award-winning film 'As Aventura de Pi'

"But I couldn't think of a solution. After ten days I was desperate. And there was still a shark, quite persistent, that had been circling the boat for days. I almost gave up on everything. But I had to slap myself. 'Wake up!' I stopped thinking about what things are made of and started to think about what they can do. And I suddenly remembered a Boy Scout fork I had tucked away in my bag. With that fork, I finally managed to secure the patch, bending it to inside and joining the parts using the tips of the fork to close the hole."

The island

More days passed, then weeks. Suddenly, types of birds began to appear that could indicate the presence of land nearby. Finally, at dawn on the 76th day in the ocean, he could see, far away, the contours of a small island.

"I saw this island, called Maria Galante, in the Guadalupe archipelago. I was like ten kilometers away, but I could identify the houses on the beach. But I also noticed that there was a coral reef ahead, which could be dangerous . Even more dangerous would be if I tried to get to the other side, where all the force of the sea was crashing against cliffs and reefs. I was very worried that after all this journey, I would end up meeting death on reaching the land."

Map

"And my salvation was the golden ones and the whole ecosystem around my boat. Because the fish attracted a lot of birds. And fishermen saw this agglomeration of birds in the sea, and they thought, 'Oops! There must be a lot of fish there!' . And they came to the sea, they found the fish, but also, this floating island that wandered in the ocean for two and a half months."

"It was a party of emotions. Quite intense. When I got to the beach, it was really like I had been reborn. Banal things like a color I hadn't seen all this time... 'Red! Oh, how beautiful!'. Or human voices! . When I heard someone singing for the first time, it was like being in heaven. It was very special."

Steve Callahan quickly recovered and a few weeks later was back at sea, hitching a ride on boats traveling to Caribbean islands.

Back in the United States, he wrote a book chronicling his experiences, which spent 36 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Callahan became a celebrity and was a consultant on Ang Lee 's award-winning film The Adventures of Pi . He says he thinks about his trip every day.

"I'm very grateful to have had this experience. It showed me so many paths and so many things about me that I would never know. Especially that we can be much stronger and more resilient than you think. I'm very grateful for the experience...but it was a hell!"