Survival at Sea
The Baileys In 1971, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey After their provisions had run out, made the decision to emigrate to New their situation became even worse Zealand. In those days leaving the as currents took them away from UK for a new life in Australia or New established maritime routes. Despite Zealand was not that unusual, but the their best efforts to row against the way in which the Baileys intended to currents, they found themselves drifting reach their destination certainly was. towards a less hospitable region of the They chose to make their journey an Pacific Ocean, where conditions forced adventure by travelling over 14,000 them to bail out water continuously. nautical miles in a yacht by themselves They also had to catch turtles and birds The course taken after the Bailey’s boat sank. that landed on the lifecraft for their even though they had little sailing Source: www.paradise.docastaway.com experience. blood and meat in order to survive. In addition, they used safety pins to Two years after making their catch fish. They hated killing these sea momentous decision, Maurice and creatures, but circumstances dictated Maralyn bought a 31-foot (9.4 m) that they had to. yacht and named her Auralyn. During those two years the couple read up on Their next problem appeared when survival at sea strategies and bought all their lifecraft, which was not designed the necessary equipment and supplies for long-term use, began to exhibit for their voyage. signs of deterioration, including a systematic loss of pressure. This meant By the time they left Southampton for that pumping air into their inflatable as Spain on the first leg of their journey, well as bailing out water were non-stop they felt confident they could rise to activities, especially on stormy days. As the challenge they had set themselves. The Bailey’s, their liferaft and their a result, rest periods became fewer and Their confidence was justified when rescuers lasted for less time. This predicament they managed to cope with the Source: www.paradise.docastaway.com hit Maurice particularly hard, and expected storms they encountered he began to lose hope. Fortunately, after departing the Canary Islands. After Maralyn remained positive and her reassurance helped Maurice reaching the Caribbean Sea, they forged on to the Panama Canal come round to her way of thinking. and spent a couple of days resting in Panama City. Refreshed, they headed for the Galapagos Islands. Again their journey Whenever they saw a ship, which was not very often, they tried to continued to be uneventful until a sperm whale appeared out get noticed by whatever means possible. On one occasion, they of nowhere and struck their small yacht. The collision resulted burnt clothes in a turtle shell but the wind dispersed the smoke in severe damage to the yacht in the form of a large hole in the so their efforts were in vain. Then, on the 117th day after the whale strike, they caught sight of a vessel and started signaling. hull just below the water line. Immediately, Maralyn started using At first, there was no indication they had been spotted, so they the water pump while Maurice attempted to plug the hole with sat down in despair. However, their mood soon changed when cushions and clothes. the vessel, a South Korean fishing boat, changed course towards Soon after the strike, the couple realized that they would have them. This happened on the 30th June 1973, the day when their to abandon Auralyn. They released the lifeboat and inflated the ordeal ended. dinghy before grabbing as much food, water and equipment as As they boarded the rescue vessel, they were overwhelmed and they could. Maralyn, a non-swimmer, had to wade through the sobbed uncontrollably. They had lost around 40 lb. (18.1 kg) rising water to reach the cupboards. Eventually, when they could each, could not walk properly, had ulcers and anemia as well as salvage no more, they got onto the lifecraft and watched their sunburn. Apart from that they were in reasonable shape. After boat disappear below the waves. their basic health check aboard the tuna fishing vessel, they were Although the yacht sank relatively quickly, they managed to fed and taken to Honolulu for treatment. transfer supplies and equipment to the lifecraft. Among the Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, recovered quite quickly, and as soon items they managed to save were cans of food, mainly beans, as they felt well enough they took a trip to South Korea, where water for twenty days, maps, a sextant and compass, safety pins, they thanked their rescuers in person. When they returned to two buckets to collect rainwater, scissors, binoculars, six flares, the UK, they were no longer in the media spotlight. They lived a box of matches and a bag of clothes. They hoped that what quite a solitary existence, and reflected on their interaction with they had saved would be enough to see them through until they the sea creatures that accompanied them. Their intense dislike reached the Galapagos Islands. of having to kill some of them led them to become vegetarians. Unfortunately for the Baileys, the Galapagos Islands turned out They revealed that they regarded these animals as their friends not to be their destination as their lifeboat had drifted north to the Spanish explorer, Alvaro Cezero, who was the only person away from them. During their first few weeks adrift, they lived to have any real contact with the couple. Maralyn died in 2002 off the food and water they had saved. They also spotted several at the age of 61. After that, Maurice lived as a recluse until his merchant vessels, but as they were so low in the water, they were death in 2018 aged 85. not spotted by these ships. They did try to gain the attention of Sources: www.youtube.com, www.nzherald.com.nz, www.paradise.docastaway.com those seamen on board by lighting the flares they had retrieved from the emergency kit but none of them worked.