Maurice Bailey

Staying Alive by Maurice and Marilyn Bailey (pp 184). This is, hands down, the most readable survival book I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a few!). Aside from this couple’s near miraculous survival of 118 days (acknowledged as the real length of their drifting, rather than the 117 used in other printings), it is richly illustrated throughout, unlike 99% of other memoirs that have one or two collections of photos clustered mid-book. Most of the photos are of their gear, taken after their rescue, and illustrations of scenarios they encountered and wildlife. Marilyn clearly was the most hardy of the two, and likely kept them going when their situation was bleakest. Their yacht sank 300 miles from the Galapagos after an encounter with a whale, and they drifted with the currents and wind, having no effective means of locomotion. After exhausting their rescue supplies, about 30 days worth of food, they survived by collecting rain water and capturing fish and birds. They were eventually rescued by a Korean fishing vessel (the 7th ship they spotted) and were dropped off in Hawaii because of their frailty. This truly is an amazing story and the book is worth hunting up in used bookstores.… (meer)