Ocean Survival Stories

Declared “the best survival book in a decade” by Outside Magazine, 438 Days is the true story of the man who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. On November 17, 2012, two men left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing trip in...

I thought I was a normal kid once. Do normal kids have to beg door to door for food? Not sure. It wasn't always that bad, I guess - and then it was. Really f--king bad. I tried to protect my younger brother from the fallout. Lied to him about how bad things were. But it wasn't enough. And when the accident happened, he blamed me, like everyone else. I'm guilty of many things. He's right about that, at least. So damn guilty I'm sure everyone knows and will call me out on it. Except they don't. Nobody does, except my brother. Not even Kayla, sexy and sweet and coolest girl ever.

The shark attacked while she was snorkeling, tearing through Micki Glenn’s breast and shredding her right arm. Her husband, a surgeon, saved her life on the spot, but when she was safely home she couldn’t just go on with her life. She had entered an even more profound survival journey: the aftermath. The survival experience changes everything because it invalidates all your previous adaptations, and the old rules don’t apply. In some cases survivors suffer more in the aftermath than they did during the actual crisis. In all cases, they have to work hard to reinvent themselves.

Everyone believes Adam to be something he’s not. Sometimes that’s because he’s told them a story. Sometimes he’s told himself one. But when Adam joins an Alaskan fishing crew that’s promising quick money, the dangerous work and harsh lifestyle strip away all fabrications and force a dark-hearted exploration of who he really is. On the unforgiving Bering Sea, Adam finds the adventure and authenticity of a fisherman’s life revelatory. The labor required to seize bounty from the ocean invigorates him, and the often crude comradery accompanies a welcome, hard-earned wisdom.

The harrowing adventure-at-sea memoir recounting the heroic search-and-rescue mission for lost Montauk fisherman John Aldridge, which Daniel James Brown calls "A terrific read." I am floating in the middle of the night, and nobody in the world even knows I am missing. Nobody is looking for me...

At 83 years old, Valerie Taylor has lived a big, bold, adventurous life. Born in Australia, Valerie spent a great deal of her childhood in New Zealand. A talented artist, she dropped out of school when she contracted polio and was saved by Sister Elizabeth Kenny's treatment plan; it was two years before she could walk unaided. When Valerie was 15, she found work as an animator and moved back to Australia with her family. All the while she thrived on being close to the ocean, and was a keen spearfisher.

Ocean Child is a magical tale of one girl's adventure at sea. She runs away from a troubled home, dresses as a boy, and stows away on a ship. She is finally fulfilling her dream of sailing the ocean, but she has no idea what lies in store for her! She is discovered by the ship's captain and crew, who are actually good, decent men, and the ship sets sail. Finding that she has stowed away on a "Questing Ship", she then has an encounter with dolphins that changes her life.