438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

By Jonathan Franklin

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

On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles.

Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. 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. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise.

Based 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Nov 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781509800162

Jonathan Franklin

Jonathan Franklin regularly reports for The Guardian, VICE, and Esquire. He also works with the team at Retro Report producing documentaries broadcast by The New York Times. Based in Santiago, Chile, and Manhattan, Franklin reports on Latin America. Franklin’s previous book 33 Men, the exclusive account of Chilean miners trapped nearly a kilometer underground, became a national bestseller in the US and UK and was translated into nineteen languages. He can be contacted @FranklinBlog and JonathanFranklin.com.

Reviews for 438 Days

[gaill_25 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I got this book as part of a Book Club read, but read only 100 page + pictures, (267 page book) by which time I'd had enough. Very sympathetic for Alvarenga, but can only take so much of pain & suffering, when I already know the outcome and the book was often very slow.This book details the trauma that Alvarenga went through to feed himself, remain semi-healthy and maintain his sanity, during his 6,000 miles of drifting from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. His determination and will to live, his inventive ways to survive, kept him alive.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

438 Days retells the story of the longest duration castaway in known history. Many castaways die within a week or two, rarely some will make it few months. To go for over a year is incredible. It happened in 2013-2014 when a Mexican fisherman drifted across most of the Pacific ocean. There were some doubts raised initially but everything checked out as accurate. Franklin's retelling is quite excellent, though nothing beats a first person account, this is an official version based on exclusive interviews. I've read a few castaway stories from different periods of history, Alvarenga's is different for one big reason: trash. He continually found trash floating on the surface that helped him survive, amazing.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"What could be worse than being alone at sea?...What further suffering could there be than this?"By sally tarbox on 17 June 2017Format: Kindle EditionAn astonishing true-life adventure of a fisherman lost at sea for fourteen months.Salvador Alvarenga, an El Salvador native, worked for a small fishing concern in Mexico. When his normal partner was called away, he engaged a rookie local lad as his mate as they set off in a 'banana boat' - "no cabin or roof, just a long, narrow canoe-shaped boat." Overfishing required them to travel further out - and when a storm blew up and their engine died, they were swept out into the Pacific.The dire conditions are brought to life: storms when the deck was knee-deep in water - and stretches of dry weather when they were on minimum water rations. Grabbing passing rubbish gave them empty containers for storage; in the unrelenting heat they sheltered in the icebox. And they subsisted on fish - snatched fromn the sea, and eaten raw or dried; and turtles ands seabirds.The difference in the men's emotional strength becomes apparent, as young Ezequiel Cordoba starts to give up, unable to stomach the food and thinking of death, Alvarenga continues to fight to survive as the ship drifts in the Doldrums at a mile an hour...Washing up eventually in the Marshall Islands, 9000 miles away, this is an unputdownable narrative.

[readinggrrl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Based on hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his rescuers, this book didn’t grab me right away but I got sucked in once that storm hit. I felt like I was there, the descriptions were vivid and scary. Interspersed with the story are snippets of information from oceanographers, doctors, earth science specialists, and climate specialists and other people who have survived in crazy conditions, which really added to the story by making it educational as well as entertainingSomehow Alvarenga surived for 14 months adrift at sea.  He started out in Mexico and finally washed ashore in the Pacific Islands.  Relying on his wit and his amazing ability to figure things out he learned how to fish with no hooks, store water and even catch birds. By scavenging trash that floated by and improvising he figured out how to survive, but Alvarenga’s greatest feat was staying sane under these crazy conditions. I have read many stories on survival but this tale will stick with me.  Alvarenga's will to survive and his extraordinary ingenuity really got him through in the toughest conditions. It really gives you a new perspective on life and a new appreciation for everything you have.