Man Washes up in Marshall Islands 'After 16 Months Adrift'

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

He's going to have to face the wrath of the victims mother.

Grieving mother of other castaway demands answers - CNN.com Video

This gives you a perspective of where he lived, who he worked with etc.

Good Video Salty…
It shows the working boats in detail and what they normally start out with.
(Looks like fiberglass and the commercial Yamaha long boat design)

Also shows Floats/bait lines and a knife.
I imagine if they were shark fishing…they were just after the fins so probably no ice or small gear and perhaps they were just going out to check some lines already out there, so maybe they started with little fish gear.

Noticed that the Owner talked about a cold front which is the precursor to Gap winds:
Wind of the World: Thehuantepecer - Weather UK - weatheronline.co.uk

I have experienced them real close to the beach where wind goes from a lovely 15 knot onshore breeze to a 60 knot offshore storm within an hour.

I also admire the survivor for not talking in detail about his dead crew until he speaks with the family.
They should hear it first from him and decide together the best way of presenting to the public.

Hope the media gives him some slack instead of making it into a circus for the village idiot to attack him.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Good Video Salty…
It shows the working boats in detail and what they normally start out with.
(Looks like fiberglass and the commercial Yamaha long boat design)

Also shows Floats/bait lines and a knife.
I imagine if they were shark fishing…they were just after the fins so probably no ice or small gear and perhaps they were just going out to check some lines already out there, so maybe they started with little fish gear.

Noticed that the Owner talked about a cold front which is the precursor to Gap winds:
Wind of the World: Thehuantepecer - Weather UK - weatheronline.co.uk

I have experienced them real close to the beach where wind goes from a lovely 15 knot onshore breeze to a 60 knot offshore storm within an hour.

I also admire the survivor for not talking in detail about his dead crew until he speaks with the family.
They should hear it first from him and decide together the best way of presenting to the public.

Hope the media gives him some slack instead of making it into a circus for the village idiot to attack him.

800 lb of shark fin..They would have killed hundreds of sharks if that was the case...

[jeepbluetj]

Maybe I missed it, but if he's faking it, why?

What would the possible motive be? - Killed the young guy and holed up somewhere for a year then drifted into the marshalls as an alibi? That seems overly complex. He'd need accomplices, a mothership, etc.. Not exactly something a fisherman has available easily. I guess he could have holed up somewhere, got some barrels of fuel, and then in sight of land ditched the fuel and working engine. Once again, that's waaay complex to do.

Occams razor says (to me) this dude amazingly did survive and drift that far. There's really not much reason to fake it, 'cept for 15 min of fame.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

Maybe I missed it, but if he's faking it, why?

What would the possible motive be? - Killed the young guy and holed up somewhere for a year then drifted into the marshalls as an alibi? That seems overly complex. He'd need accomplices, a mothership, etc.. Not exactly something a fisherman has available easily. I guess he could have holed up somewhere, got some barrels of fuel, and then in sight of land ditched the fuel and working engine. Once again, that's waaay complex to do.

Occams razor says (to me) this dude amazingly did survive and drift that far. There's really not much reason to fake it, 'cept for 15 min of fame.

Too true, but then we wouldn’t have 319 posts of conjecture or spam recipes...

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Too true, but then we wouldn’t have 319 posts of conjecture or spam recipes...

There were Spam recipes and I missed them

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

You're very sceptical the older guy survived 13 months at sea but the young kid must have been murdered because he didn't survive 13 months???
I always thought you were very rational.

I am very rational.

I have never said I think the guy has had 13 months at sea.

How would I know? How does anyone know? All I have done is read some news reports. All of a sudden do we believe everything in the papers?

For all I know the boat may have been shipped to the marshall Islands. How the hell would I know?

How would I know what happened to the young man?

At the same time, how do you or anyone else know?

Its not a retorical question... They way we know is to have professionals investigate. When someone dies there is a coronial inquiry and a police inquiry. Neither have been undertaken.
So untill someone with an investigative brain instead of romantic notions interviews this guy and ties it up with interviews of the fishing company etc no one knows.

Finally, i dont think there is anything wrong with critically analysing facts, what we know, or suppositions. In this matter I am critically analysing stymied of real information.



Mark

[sparau]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I am very rational.

I have never said I think the guy has had 13 months at sea.

How would I know? How does anyone know? All I have done is read some news reports. All of a sudden do we believe everything in the papers?

For all I know the boat may have been shipped to the marshall Islands. How the hell would I know?

How would I know what happened to the young man?

At the same time, how do you or anyone else know?

Its not a retorical question... They way we know is to have professionals investigate. When someone dies there is a coronial inquiry and a police inquiry. Neither have been undertaken.
So untill someone with an investigative brain instead of romantic notions interviews this guy and ties it up with interviews of the fishing company etc no one knows.

Finally, i dont think there is anything wrong with critically analysing facts, what we know, or suppositions. In this matter I am critically analysing stymied of real information.



Mark

It was reported by the fishing co-op that they left late 2012 in an earlier link wasn't it?

I'm a bit gob smacked at all this crap about his co-worker, I'm with Dumnmad, it's not like many of us would survive and as if you would keep a body on the boat !

[robert sailor]

I'm with MarkJ on this one, I think its very possible but I'm a skeptic by nature so until I get reasonable evidence I remain on the fence.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

800 lb of shark fin..They would have killed hundreds of sharks if that was the case...

Might come as a shock to many, but in Latin America, as well as many other places in the world, shark is a very popular dish. It is one of my favorite fish to eat as well.

Some places even have famous shark dishes, like the "Shark'nBake" in Trinidad

[jeanathon]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

I don't think it a hoax anymore, so much as NOT the full story on what happened and how he got into trouble. Its very possible that he could drift 12-14 months to where he is.

Yet, some could make fancy stories up, such as a bad narcotics deal gone down, being transported west, stranded somewhere. Hardly plausible.

The simplest explanation is usually the correct one, ya?

Yeah for simple!
As to the murder charge if it happened there are two possibilities. First is after a month or so at sea he snapped and killed his shipmate. A defense of temporary insanity would be a no brainer here. Second possibility is that he could have killed him that first day and decided to make a run for it causing him to wind up adrift. If that were the case I am sure he has recovered enough to not tell that version of events. Either way there is probably no real use in questioning the guy. Let him write a book about it then read between the lines if you like..

[SaltyMonkey]

A year adrift on the Pacific? A medical Q and A | Nation & World | The Seattle Times

Q: Without fruit and vegetables, wouldn't he have developed scurvy?

A: Actually, unlike humans, birds and turtles make their own vitamin C, so fresh meat from those creatures, especially the livers, would provide sufficient vitamin C to prevent scurvy. British sailors used to get scurvy because they ate preserved meat which had oxidized and lost its vitamin C.

boaty++

[Cotemar]

Jose Salvador Alvarenga will come home! Mother of miracle castaway dismisses claims he doesn't want to return to family in El Salvador

1) Jose Salvador Alvarenga's father, Ricardo, said his wife Maria – Alvarenga's mother – wants their son home with them

2) This comes after an earlier press conference in which it was revealed Alvarenga wanted to return to the town in the Chiapas region of Mexico he disappeared from 14 months ago

3) If he can't return to El Salvador, his mom wants him to live with six of his eight siblings in Maryland, US

4) The news comes as it is revealed that after spending 14 months being thirsty, one of Jose Salvador Alvarenga's biggest health problems today is, ironically, his inability to drink sufficient water.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2553589/Jose-Salvador-Alvarenga-Mother-miracle-castaway-dismisses-claims-doesnt-want-return-family-El-Salvador.html

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I'm with MarkJ on this one, I think its very possible but I'm a skeptic by nature so until I get reasonable evidence I remain on the fence.

That's how I feel about this. I can't come up with any alternate explanation that isn't even more far fetched than him drifting all the way across the Pacific in an open boat so I guess the rational thing to do is to put aside my skepticism and believe. But there are so many things about it, from his non gaunt appearance, to his complete lack of survival equipment, to the unseaworthiness of his boat to his lack of drinking water for over a year when others have barely survived (or not) much shorter periods of time without water. I don't buy the argument that third world fishermen are a special breed of tough characters so different standards apply. Yes, you have to force yourself to eat some pretty icky stuff in order to keep your strength up, but whether you're a third worlder or a Manhattan socialite your body still needs hydration to digest that icky stuff that you force down your throat, and he didn't have any regular source of hydration. Just how much turtle blood and fish spinal fluid can you harvest on a regular basis in all kinds of weather? A strong will to survive is critically important to have any chance, but he's hardly unique there, lots of people in survival situations have that going for them with only mixed results.

Last week I had a birthday and one brother in law wanted to buy me a good book to read. Coincidentally, considering this discussion, his first choice was "Unbroken" and the second choice was "In the Heart of the Sea." Both great reads but I'd already read them both so they gave me a gift certificate instead (so I'm looking for a good book to buy.). In each of those books, there were incredibly strong and capable people in ocean survival situations for less than 1/4 of his 13 months and when they reached shore they were reported to be in much worse shape than this man seems to be in.

The Essex lifeboat survivors are probably the closest parallel. But those old time sailors had to have been much more capable seamen than a guy whose ocean going experience amounted to going offshore in a largish outboard for a day or two at a time. Their lifeboat must have been much more seaworthy than an open boat with a couple 300# dead outboards hanging off the back of a low, flat, transom. They also were not accustomed to any more luxuries in their everyday lives than he was used to. They had a very strong will to live. They had more survival equipment with them than in this case. And yet most of them perished and a only a few barely survived and they almost starved to death in 1/4 of the time this man supposedly survived.

As I said before, I can't come up with any more plausible explanation than that he actually did it. But for me it's very, very hard to really believe this incredible story.

[jeanathon]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Well.. I lived on red lentils and chapati for around 30 days rather than open any of the 19 x 1lb tins of corned beef I had on board.. did have 20 but that one went over the side after the 1st mouthful.. USA corned beef is *****..
Guess that makes me a fussy non-survivor..

Boatman,
Just so you know in the U.S. there are different BRANDS of products. Not everything comes from Tesco. It is possible you picked the wrong brand or maybe you would think another brand was even shiteier who knows. I would send you my favorite brand, but I don't care that much.

[SaltyMonkey]

House, who is not Alvarenga's treating physician, said the castaway had complained to him of kidney pain since his arrival at the hospital.
The 78-year-old doctor, who speaks Spanish, said he suspects that Alvarenga is suffering from scurvy as a result of his poor diet and that edemas are causing the swelling and pain in his legs

Castaway is released from hospital in Marshall Islands - CNN.com