Fisherman Survives Life As A Real ‘Cast Away’ for 14 Months

When Jose Salvador Alvarenga appeared ashore on a tiny remote island in the Pacific Ocean one day, he looked like a man who had a story to share.

This wild-looking and ragged man, who definitely looked like he had been at sea for a very long time, shared a story no one was expecting. Since he was some 6,700 miles from home, the truth that was to unfold about Alvarenga’s epic journey was what people were desperate to know since his disappearance 438 days prior.

His story began on November 17, 2012, when Alvarenga was preparing for a fishing trip. He planned to leave the village of Costa Azul in Chiapas, Mexico and would be returning after his trip. This wasn’t the first time he set off, and usually his friend Ray Perez would go with him. This time round, however, Ray was unable to make it so Alvarenga decided to look elsewhere for someone to accompany him and take Perez’s place.

He decided to ask local soccer player, 22-year-old Ezequiel Cordoba, to accompany him. However, these two soon-to-be fishing buddies had never even spoken before, let alone worked together. For his efforts, Alvarenga offered him $50 and Cordoba agreed for the promised amount. The newly formed fishing partners left Costa Azul that day, aboard the 25-fishing boat owned by Alvarenga, on an intended 30-hour mission to fish for sharks, sailfish and marlins in the deep ocean.

The trip may have been well thought out in terms of fishing for livestock, with plenty of equipment such as gasoline, fishing lines and a cell phone. However, Alvarenga’s boat was not completely cut out for what was to come. With a boat low and open, the duo were probably hoping for calm weather conditions; and, without any raised structure or working electricity on the boat, the pair were not intending to stay there longer than the planned 30 hours.

José Salvador Alvarenga and Ezequiel Cordoba set off on the boat for their fishing trip and believed nothing could go wrong. They had their eye on the prize, which was to find enough livestock and to come home after just one day out on the water. However, their story has proven that it is not just about the length of time and the livestock that you have to consider, but everything else in between. In fact, the pair had not gone out completely prepared.

However, the GPS was not waterproof and the two-way radio was only half-charged. So, the fishermen could only rely on what they had, and for everything to go the way they hoped. Luckily, it all started off well. They had caught more than 1,000 pounds of fish, including sought-after tuna, sharks and mahi-mahi. However, while the day may have started off well, the conditions later that day took a turn for the worst, and the pair were hit by a vicious storm.

The storm hindered their intended course, and the pair were blown in the wrong direction. Massive waves battered the tiny boat, and with its low and open design, it was unknown if it could survive such conditions. An inexperienced Cordoba began to panic, but fortunately, Alvarenga had more knowledge of what to do and took charge. When there was finally a lull in the storm, Alvarenga sighted land, which the pair hoped to settle on and find shelter.

While spotting land may have been a fortunate sighting, one they thought would be their saving grace, it wasn’t long till disaster struck once again. After momentarily surviving through the storm, the motor of the boat was struggling and could no longer handle the conditions. It began to sputter and then eventually died. In their moment of panic once again, Alvarenga grabbed their radio -which was only half charged when they set out into the ocean – and sent an SOS to his boss, Willy.

José Salvador Alvarenga was reassured that help was on the way, but as his trip was so far proving, he was not having much luck. The GPS had failed him, he did not bring an anchor which could have helped, and his fellow fisherman was not even experienced out at sea. Cordoba was just 22-years-old, and chances were slim that he had ever been lost out at sea. It was up to Alvarenga to keep things calm and continue to keep the faith that help was on its way.

Willy had ordered the fisherman to lay anchor when he discovered that their GPS was no longer working. However, Alvarenga, who had not planned for this to happen on their fishing venture, had neglected to include one on the trip. With Willy still in contact, he tried to reassure the men that help was on the way and they had nothing to worry about. It was at this time that a report was given of a missing boat to the Chiapas authorities.

The authorities launched a search and rescue mission to find the fisherman and his crew mate, Cordoba. The search mission went on for 48 hours before it came to a halt. Official Jamie Marroquin claimed that poor visibility meant that they had to cancel flights after just two days. Days began to pass with no sign of the men or their boat, but days turned into months and the chances of finding the men alive grew increasingly unlikely.

After months of no sign from Alvarenga and Cordoba, life in Costa Azur and the fishing community there returned to normal. In fact, it had unsurprisingly been assumed that there would that neither of the men would return ever, especially with no contact being made since they last spoke to Willy. However, 14 months later, the people in Costa Azul received some news that they never would have expected…

14 months after the pair set sail from Mexico, a couple on a remote island in the Marshall Islands were left startled when they spotted someone ashore. The couple were not used to people just turning up unannounced, like a local neighbor. After all, they were on an island in the middle of the ocean. How many people could just suddenly turn up? But here they were, witnessing a rugged-looking man turning up at their home in the middle of nowhere.

This man had stumbled upon one of 22 small islands that make up the Pacific Ocean’s Ebon Atoll. That island was Tile Islet, where Emi Libokmeto and her husband Russel Laikdrik live. On January 30, 2014, while the couple were doing their usual daily tasks of stripping the husks from coconuts and drying them outside their island home, they noticed their unexpected guest. Their usual daily routine was broken when they noticed this mysterious stranger coming their way.

“As I’m looking across, I see this white man there. He is yelling. He looks weak and hungry. My first thought was, this person swam here, he must have fallen off a ship,” recalls Libokmeto to Jonathan Franklin in his 2015 book, 438 Days. After letting this man into their home, Laikdrik decided to sail to a nearby town for help, and figure out who this strange man was. Could he really be the man that had set sail at sea 14 months ago and was assumed dead?

Emi Libokmeto and her husband Russel Laikdrik were surprised by their sighting that one morning and the last person they could have expected this man to be was José Salvador Alvarenga. After all, a man who was lost at sea and made no contact in 14 months can only be presumed to be dead, and not turn up on your remote island all that time later. However, they were determined to find out who exactly this bearded man could be.

After setting out to seek help, a nurse and a policeman arrived, bringing the man back to the main port of Ebon. It was here that this mysterious man recited the details of who he was and exactly where he had come from. More importantly, he revealed exact details of how he arrived on the island of Tile Islet. It was from piecing his stories together that people started to guess who this man was.

Willy was desperate to be notified of Alvarenga and Cordoba’s coordinates to figure out their exact location. But just when things were going bad, they became even worse. The GPS was no longer working when the fisherman were trying to identify their position, and they could not report to Willy where they were. It was then down to Plan B to help the fishermen in their time of need, but once again, they weren’t so lucky.

Journalists and researchers had their theories that this man could actually be Alvarenga. Wondering if he had sailed 6,700 miles across the Pacific Ocean, they questioned if this possibility could be a reality. But there was something missing? The man believed to be Alvarenga arrived on the island alone, having set sail on his fishing trip with his companion, Cordoba. So, questions began to arise if this was the man who was missing-at-sea and believed to be dead, Alvarenga, and what happened to Cordoba?

If this was to be the man journalists and researchers believed, had he really survived an astonishing 438 days at sea? Where in the world was Cordoba? People needed answers, and the media was on to this story hoping to get all the answers from the only man who could give it to them. Alvarenga was reluctant to speak to the media at first, but by putting together the stories he had given, investigators and reporters were able to solve the mystery themselves.

The story went like this. After their initial contact with Willy, and then realizing that would be their last, the pair were aware they were fully on their own from then on. After losing contact with his boss in Costa Azul, Alvarenga knew it was for him and Cordoba to figure this out for themselves. But with unfortunate weather conditions, the tiny boat continued to get battered, and the small vessel was not strong enough to weather the storm.

To make the vessel more stable, the pair had no choice but to throw their valuable catch overboard. To survive themselves, the two men would huddle at night inside a large, upside down icebox for warmth. Since they could no longer keep their catch on board, Alvarenga spent the days catching fish with his bare hands, and resorted to drinking their own urine to survive. After suffering from severe dehydration, it was a blessing for the pair when it began to rain after two weeks.

The rain gave them the much needed drinking water they needed to help their dehydration, but their weeks at sea turned into months, and neither were sure at how much longer they could go on for. With no sign of a rescue team coming anytime soon, the pair continued to survive by scavenging garbage bags from the ocean. Over time, Alvarenga’s got much better at being able to capture turtles and birds, giving the pair more to feed off and live on.

For anyone in this position, it is hard to have a positive mindset when there was no clear help in sight. The pair had been setting sail on their own for months, and their lack of food and drinkable water became a massive problem. Once again, Cordoba was just a 22-year-old local soccer player who would have needed more than just livestock in the sea to live off. Soon, the dreaded moment Alvarenga had hoped never would, eventually happened one fateful day.

Despite their capturing of food, things weren’t looking food for Cordoba, whose mental and physical state began to decline. After four months, Cordoba had passed away and Alvarenga actually continued to speak to his crew mate’s corpse for a further six days! Although he was scared to continue his ordeal at sea alone, the fisherman then decided to bury his friend in the ocean, and continued another 10 months with only his imagination for company.

His loneliness, and thoughts of never being rescued, led to the consideration of killing himself. But as a religious man, his faith kept him going and he allowed his imagination to run wild, away from the ocean surroundings he found himself in. He spent his time disappearing into a fantasy world, taking himself away from the situation he was currently in. He imagined himself exploring the world, taking long walks, enjoying good food, and meeting with a variety of lovers.

While his imagination running wild allowed him to focus less on his current situation, Alvarenga never thought that in his ten months alone he would eventually find land. Luck had not been on his side, and all his thoughts of good food, lovers, and long walks were just an unreachable reality. It was after months of lack of food, an unfortunate death, and Alvarenga entirely on his own that the luck he was so patiently waiting for was suddenly going to be on his side.

After 10 months alone, he sighted land ahead and headed in that direction. Stunned by his sighting, he slashed away the buoys that were keeping his boat stable that whole time, and guided his boat towards Tide Islet. This was the moment he stumbled upon the island where Emi and Russel live, and this was also the moment that the man who had been at sea for an astonishing 14 months and survived, made his way into the history books.

When Alvarenga arrived at the couple’s home, they found him naked, shouting in Spanish, and clutching a knife. Of course, they would have had their concerns, but they realized this was not just any man approaching their home. Having sighted the island, Alvarenga abandoned his boat and swam to shore. This was the first time in 438 days that Alvarenga was on land, and the first time, in that time, that he walked. Unsurprisingly, he struggled to walk, and this was also because he had swollen ankles.

Once guided by officials to the port of Ebon, camera crews descended to capture shots of the heavily bearded castaway. Of course, such a momentous and historic occasion meant the photo went viral, but the people who were most excited to see Alvarenga were his family in El Salvador. His whole ordeal and astounding return called for a family reunion. In fact, it also saw a mend in his family relationship, after a rift saw them estranged from each other for 8 years.

Alvarenga had not been in contact with his parents for years and they thought their son was dead long before he even went missing. On discovering he was, in fact, alive, the parents were believed to be overjoyed at the news. His father said he had prayed for his son while he was missing, and his mother continued to dream about him during this time. Meanwhile, Alvarenga has a daughter who said the “first thing I’ll do is hug him and kiss him” when he returned home.

The reports of a man surviving after 438 days at sea left everyone amazed. However, the extraordinary news of Alvarenga’s unexpected return didn’t have the same excited response from everybody. In fact, Cordoba’s family took a bizarre approach to the news of their loss. After the release of Franklin’s, 438 Days, Cordoba’s relatives decided to sue Alvarenga, after suggesting he survived his time at sea by cannibalizing on Cordoba’s corpse. Such allegations and claims were vehemently denied by the fisherman, however.

Though some newspapers claimed that José Salvador Alvarenga had survived out at sea for 16 months, they soon corrected it to 13. The length of his entire voyage has been calculated as 5,500 to 6,700 miles long, which is the approximate distance of Mexico and the Marshall Islands. This makes Alvarenga the first person in recorded history to have survived in a small boat lost at sea for more than a year. Following his return to El Salvador, Alvarenga was diagnosed with anemia and had developed a fear of water.