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Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

theguardian.com

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Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#41

Post by drumdance »

mkl wrote: post #34
GigabyteCoin wrote: post #16

I find it incredible that their drifting sent them in the same general direction that Thor Heyerdahl [0] suspected (and verified in the Kon-Tiki expedition) that one would go without any extra power of their own. The fact that a man who didn't even plan for the trip (or have any provisions) made it out alive even though he was virtually alone for the entire trip (his partner died after 2 months) leads me to believe t…

You have it backwards. Polynesians travelled to South America and back, acquiring sweet potatoes there, possibly some human DNA, and leaving chickens (there is good evidence for each of these, but it's not undeniable). There is a huge amount of evidence of Polynesians travelling long distances by sea, and, as far as I can see, essentially no evidence for South Americans doing this. The fact that it was theoretically…

Last year at the local planetarium I saw a great presentation about how the Polynesians navigated using the stars. It was a tradition that was almost lost, but they found someone in the 70s whose grandfather had taught him how, and now they have a school in Hawaii that teaches it.

http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/index/founder_and_teachers/nainoa_...

Interestingly, part of their motivation in reviving it was that they were offended by Heyerdahl's hypothesis, which in their view basically said "Polynesians were dumb enough to get on a raft and just let it drift." More recently DNA analysis has shown that Polynesians came from Asia, not South America.

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#43

Post by drumdance »

Magi604 wrote: post #7

I am curious as to how he caught these turtles and birds in the open sea while in his no doubt famished shape. "shoved his arms into the water up to his shoulders . . . When a fish swam between his hands, he smashed them shut" Seriously, this needs some mythbusters-style testing.

Based on my scuba diving experiences, at least, giant turtles are pretty slow. They don't have to be fast because I don't think they have any natural predators once they get beyond a certain size (could be wrong about that).

What's fascinating to me is that they start out as tiny little turtles that run like hell from the beach and swim as fast as they can. Most of them get eaten in the first couple days.

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#44

Post by reitanqild »

madaxe_again wrote: post #36
jychang wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting how cultural perspectives differ on this. As a Chinese American, I wouldn't think twice about eating the eyes of a fish. They're tasty!

Yup, a bit like caviar in texture and taste, I find, but sweeter. Sheep eyes, on the other hand, are disturbing as they balefully glare at you from your bowl of soup.

People make sheeps heads soup?

(They're supposed to be salted and dried then cooked for Sunday dinner (skjelte) or even better smoked over open fire, then cooked (smalahove) and eaten at party with friends.)

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#45

Post by hellofunk »

jychang wrote: post #29
bootload wrote: post #6

"They ate fish after fish. Alvarenga stuffed raw meat and dried meat into his mouth, hardly noticing or caring about the difference." Fine detail born out of other survivors of long sea voyages, when eating fish don't skip they "eyes" . "Another unlikely luxury are fish eyes, which are a useful source of liquid and of another vital nutrient. Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, a British couple who survived 117 days on a rubb…

Interesting how cultural perspectives differ on this. As a Chinese American, I wouldn't think twice about eating the eyes of a fish. They're tasty!

Agreed. Fish head curry is very popular in Singapore, and the eyes are in there as part of the sauce. You wouldn't even notice. Tasty stuff.

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#46

Post by njharman »

jychang wrote: post #29
bootload wrote: post #6

"They ate fish after fish. Alvarenga stuffed raw meat and dried meat into his mouth, hardly noticing or caring about the difference." Fine detail born out of other survivors of long sea voyages, when eating fish don't skip they "eyes" . "Another unlikely luxury are fish eyes, which are a useful source of liquid and of another vital nutrient. Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, a British couple who survived 117 days on a rubb…

Interesting how cultural perspectives differ on this. As a Chinese American, I wouldn't think twice about eating the eyes of a fish. They're tasty!

I wonder if in the past in was major source of VitC for certain fishing subcultures. So, people thinking it gross got sick and failed to reproduce or simply taught others "fish eye a day keeps the rotting gums away".

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#47

Post by beeboop »

callesgg wrote: post #42

Interesting read. An idea: Using planet.com's satelite images to find boats at drift seams like a cool use of technology.

If you recall when that airliner went missing tons of people starting scanning satellite images for debris. The resolution is simply not high enough to detect tiny little things like debri or life rafts.

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#48

Post by bebop »

drumdance wrote: post #41
mkl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have it backwards. Polynesians travelled to South America and back, acquiring sweet potatoes there, possibly some human DNA, and leaving chickens (there is good evidence for each of these, but it's not undeniable). There is a huge amount of evidence of Polynesians travelling long distances by sea, and, as far as I can see, essentially no evidence for South Americans doing this. The fact that it was theoretically…

Last year at the local planetarium I saw a great presentation about how the Polynesians navigated using the stars. It was a tradition that was almost lost, but they found someone in the 70s whose grandfather had taught him how, and now they have a school in Hawaii that teaches it. http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/index/founder_and_teachers/nainoa_... Interestingly, part of their motivation in reviving it was that they were…

FYI his name was Mau Piailug: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Piailug

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#49

Post by canjobear »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #32
mojuba wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some sort of automatic scanners on all cargo and cruise ships.

A most interesting idea. I've read several of these "survival at sea" stories and one thing they all have in common is the fact that they end up passing many container ships before they are rescued. Certainly some kind of automated scanning would save lives.

The problem might not be technological. It's possible that the container ships see these people and choose not to save them. The owners and crew of the ship have a monetary incentive not to save people: according to [1] they have to pay a penalty for arriving at a port with people not listed on the crew manifest.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/stowaway-crime-scoff...

Re: Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months

#50

Post by wahnfrieden »

lordnacho wrote: post #22
Turing_Machine wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dangling things attract fish. If he was wiggling his fingers, fish might well come to investigate. Tickling trout is a well-established (though generally highly illegal) freshwater fishing method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trout_tickling

Why would that be illegal? You'd think it's the taking that's illegal, not the method?

I think because it's a way of concealing poaching (no artifacts besides your bare hands) so it's extra harshly punished, but it's just my guess.
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