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AcquisitionsOn 4 March 1973 the yacht "Auralyn" was holed by a whale and sank 150 miles from the Galapagos Islands. There was just time to launch an inflatable dinghy and a canopy-covered liferaft and to grab some clothes, 10 gallons of water, some food, the logbook and diaries, a camera, and a few utensils. Life was tedious, always insecure and sometimes terrifying as they drifted 1500 miles, at first in great heat when the canopy probably saved their lives, and then in stormy seas which demanded fatiguing baling. They caught fish and turtles - eaten raw! - and collected rainwater. They sighted seven ships which all failed to see their tiny craft. They devised word games, planned "Auralyn II", talked endlessly of food and maintained their morale despite disappointments, emaciation, painful skin ulcers, diarrhoea and periods of great exhaustion and depression. Maralyn withstood the ordeal physically better than her husband but a picture of her hand shows lines of arrested growth of her nails - a feature of most severe malnutrition. They were picked up by a Korean fishing vessel on 20 June, treated with great kindness and taken to Honolulu. The book is a moving tribute to courage, endurance and resilience. - OLW
Page added 21 September1998
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