Alvarenga reckoned he had enough experience for both of them.Īmong the fishermen of Costa Azul, he had a reputation for being not only a dedicated carouser on land, but also exceptionally hardy and resourceful at sea. That particular day, his normal fishing partner was unavailable, so he took along an inexperienced 22-year-old, Ezequiel Cordoba. He was a party animal, known for his generosity and irrepressible womanising. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise.īased on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.In this photo provided by the Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs Department, Salvador Alvarenga sits after surviving for 13 months on a small boat at sea, eating his own beard and fingernails to surviveĪ 60-hour shift, delivering a good haul of tuna, marlin, mahi-mahi and, above all, shark, could earn a man $250, which, in Alvarenga’s case, would be spent mainly on booze and marijuana. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months.

The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip.

The incredible true survival story of one man's record-breaking fourteen months lost at sea.

Jonathan franklin 438 days