SURVIVAL

Uncover the gripping story of true survival and sheer determination of a family, adrift on the Pacific Ocean, for 38 days.

Sunk by Killer Whales

BANG BANG BANG, within minutes, the Lucette had sunk and the family had abandoned ship int an inflatable rubber life raft and a nine foot fibreglass dingy- The Ednamair.

1st July 1972
Adrift in the Pacific Ocean 🌊
Day 16

The raft was getting harder and harder to live in. The bailing out and blowing to inflate the chambers was now a full time job. And now we had rain, we had to bail the dingy out too. Which was now secured well to avoid it drifting off again.

The castaways were covered in boils and sores. It hurt to move as their limbs were wrinkled and lumpy. The decision to postpone the evacuation of the raft to all board the dingy was put on hold as they needed the shelter of the canopy whilst the weather was colder and wet. But the bottom of the raft was constantly wet and flooding and couldn’t be bailed out quicker than it refilled. The efforts of blowing and bailing were taking their toll on the family.

But one word remained with them. They said it everyday.
What’s the password? Survival.

#survival #adrift #robertsonfamily #survivethesavagesea #lostatsea

Clips taken from ‘Missing Presumed dead’ and the Podcast ‘Adrift’

30th June 1972
Adrift in the Pacific Ocean 🌊
Day 15

What started the day as a miracle from God when the castaways woke up to the sky full of pouring rain, filling up their supply cans and anything they had that would hold water, soon took a disastrous turn as the dingy, Ednamair, had become untethered to the raft an was floating away.

There was no hesitation. Dougal dived into the shark infested water to retrieve the lifeline that was keeping this family alive.

#survival #survivethesavagesea #adrift #shipwreck #therobertsonfamily

29th June 1972
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊
Day 14

Sandy had found the leaking hole, but it was unlikely Dougal could plug this one he tried anyway but the raft needed bailing now from both sides. Constantly. It was the beginning of the end of the raft and they would have to work out the best strategy to getting everyone in the Ednamair.

They caught another turtle today and all joined in sharing a cup of turtle blood to drink. Normally you would turn your nose up at such a thing, but they were starving and dehydrated and drinking that felt like drinking the elixir of life.

They all talked about the dishes they would like to eat that weren’t turtle meat.
🍑🍎🍓🍍🍒🍋🍉🍇🥝🍐🥭
Dougal- fresh fruit salad with ice cream
Lyn- a tin of apricots
Robin- strawberries and cream with a large glass of milk
Douglas- fresh fruit salad with ice cream
Neil- Chocolate chip ice cream
Sandy- Fresh fruit, ice cream and gallons of milk.

With that they all settled for the night and later that evening Douglas talked to Dougal about his melon dish he had dreamed up.

When you are so starved of food, it’s all you can think of.

#castaway #adrift #survival #survivethesavagesea #robertsonfamily

Credit to @blanchardhousestories for the recording used in this clip.

28th June 1972
Day 13
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊

Still drifting along towards the Doldrums. Some clouds in the sky look like they may contain rain, but no such luck.

They each get a half a fish each for breakfast today as a bounty of 2 flying fish have landed in the dingy again. And one landed in the raft.

The days consisted of bailing, blowing and looking for leaks. Fishing for food , drying out their ‘bed sheets’ and giving the twins their leg exercises.

Dougal spots Lyn deliberately not taking her water ration. She’s trying to save it for the twins. But Dougal reminds her that they need her as much as the water and that there would be none for anyone if she didn’t take hers.

#survival #adrift #robertsonfamily #shipwreck #lostatsea

27th June 1972
Day 12
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean

The life raft now needs bailing out and blowing up all the time meaning more efforts from everyone to keep it afloat.

They get a small sprinkle of rain which raises hopes , however sadly crashed them again as quickly as it raised them and it was only a sprinkle.

Living conditions are getting worse. They still need water.
And their companions in the water are still following. Dougal gripped hold of what he thought was a large fish in the night, only to discover a 5ft Mako shark, which was soon let go as the damage this shark could do with its teeth to the raft would finish it off.

Talk in the raft was more of how long we would take to get to land rather than if we would be rescued. The password amongst the castaways, installed by Dougal, was SURVIVAL and that is what they planned to do. SURVIVE

#survival #adrift #shark #robertsonfamily #liferaft

A few clips take from the 1992 movie, Survive the Savage sea.
Voice over taken from the podcast, Adrift by @blanchardhousestories

26th June 1972
Day 11
Adrift the Pacific Ocean 🌊

Another day waking up after a difficult night of tossing and turning, drying out and getting wet again. They were all covered in salt water boils now which made them all a bit more uncomfortable but they were all alive. Surviving.

Breakfast was welcomed with two flying fish that had landed into the dinghy. With the last lemon and the remaining scraps of onion.

Dougal decided today to make a fishing spear. After not having much success with the line fishing. He took the spare paddle and began carving a spear point to the end.

The castaways began preparing for rain as their position was bringing them closer to the Doldrums. They also took a moment to reflect on life before Lucette. Robin told of his travels in Ireland, Dougal recalled his scouting days over the Scottish Highlands and the twins wanted to go back to their old life in the country in Britain, where they had lived on a farm in Meerbrook Staffordshire.

#adrift #castaway #shipwreck #survival #fyp

25th June 1972
Day 10
Adrift in the Pacific Ocean 🌊

The noon position told them they were about 90 miles from the Doldrums, a belt around the earth about 5 degrees north and south of equator. Because of the intense solar heating near the equator, moist air is forced up into the atmosphere, and as it rises, it cools causing rain showers and storms.

They would be able to replenish the water stock here.

The raft was leaking still, and it was another effort to try and fix another leak. The prospect of them all squeezing into the 3 man dingy, Ednamair, felt scary as they were well aware of the company they kept below the water surface.

As they picked up some speed with the sail up, Dougal emptied the offal and scraps from the turtles. They watched a feeding frenzy below followed shortly by some White Tip Sharks 🦈 who were looking for the source of the scraps.

#doldrums #lostatsea #shark #adrift #survival

24th June 1972
Day 9
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊

The raft is now getting quite tedious with its leaks. It requires bailing out at least every ten minutes, but the castaways found a way of cooling off in the heat with a slosh of cold sea water. It wasn’t safe to swim in the water due to the sharks that were swimming nearby and alongside.
They lunched on dried turtle meat, and dorado with a piece of onion. They only had one onion 🧅 left now.
They all concocted a type of egg nog using turtle eggs, water, glucose, and a sprinkle of dried yeast. 🥤 it was a new flavour for us to enjoy.
Food was a forever thought amongst them all. Eating it. Growing it. Preparing it. All down to the finest detail.

Picture is taken from the 1992 film ‘survive the savage sea’

#adrift #survivethesavagesea #robertsonfamily #survival #liferaft

The ‘Straat Cooke’
This is the cargo ship that didn’t see us. We lit three flares that day in desperation that she would alter course and rescue us. Unfortunately she didn’t. So that then gave us a new objective. It wasn’t about Rescue anymore. It was about survival. #cargoship #survival #lostatsea #adrift #robertsonfamily

23rd June 1972
Day 8 Adrift the Pacific Ocean 🌊

Steak and Eggs for Breakfast 🥩 🍳
Turtle steak and turtle eggs that’s. They had caught and killed the first turtle. It provided them with blood to drink and red meat plus highly nutritious eggs. At this point, they knew that if they could hunt and eat like this, they may stand as a chance of survival. That with a shower of rain anyway.

It was the certainly a mood boost to them all after the sadness they all felt after the ship didn’t see them yesterday.

#survival #robertsonfamily #survivethesavagesea #shipwreck #adrift

22nd June 1972
Day 7 Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊

“A ship! A ship”
The first ship the castaways have seen since the attack that left them stranded. Dougal fired the flares but the excitement soon turned to disappointment because the Straat Cooke didn’t stop. It carried on and didn’t see them.

Dougal then had a revelation that it wasn’t about RESCUE anymore. It was about SURVIVAL.

#survival #adrift #robertsonfamily #shipwreck #fyp

21st June 1972
Day 6 Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊

A feast of a breakfast today. The most they’ve had since becoming castaways. A dorado had landed itself into the Ednamair and Lyn was rudely awaken at 4am with a wet slap to the face by a flying fish. 🐟

We open another tin of the drinking water. Our resources are diminishing quickly. We need some rain.

Pictured above is an example of the water tins and the fortified bread and biscuits.

#adrift #shipwrecked #pacificocean🌊 #lostatsea #survival

20th June 1972
Day 5 Adrift Pacific Ocean 🌊

The castaways found a moment to relax as they managed to mend the leaks in the raft. One under the towing strap about three inches under the water, and another alongside the flotation chamber which had been worn by one of the drogue trip ropes.

We also heard a blowing sound, with slight panicked faces, Douglas shouted Whale 🐋- But to their relief it was a Sei Whale who swam alongside them for around 30minutes.

Another water leak also developed in the forward compartment of the raft during the night.

#survival #castaway #pacificocean #shipwrecked #fyp

19th June 1972
Day 4
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊

Dougal decides to try and catch a Dorado fish. They have felt them bumping under the raft. One of these big fish could give them a hearty meal. Something more than some crumbs of fortified bread and a segment of orange. They have also noticed the presence of some much bigger fish - Sharks 🦈

The raft is needing more air blown in more frequently as the leak worsens.

#adrift #castaways #shipwrecked #therobertsonfamily #survival

18th June 1972
Day 3
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean

Today Dougal finds their first contribution from the sea towards their survival. A flying fish. They gut and descale it and enjoy it for breakfast with a squeeze of lemon juice, a piece of onion and a mouthful of water.

Neil and Robin were suffering from sea sickness and the raft required blowing up every hour to keep it rigid.

They had 12 tins of water left and over 300 miles to go. They needed to catch rainwater. 🌧️

#adrift #lostatsea #survival #castaways

17th June 1972
Adrift on the Pacific Ocean
Day 2

The castaways decided to write letters on some cut pieces of sail and canopy. They wanted to write to sister Anne and friends and family in England and America to let them know what’s happened to them.
These were our farewell letters, just in case …

The raft was already losing air and they managed to bail out the water that had flooded the Ednamair , revealing to them a sharp knife which would prove to be the most valuable possession.

The plan was to turn Ednamair into a tugboat so they could journey north in search of rescue.

Pictures take from ‘Survive the Savage Sea’ by Dougal Robertson

#seasurvival #adrift #shipwreck #robertsonfamily #survival

16th June 1972
Day 1 - Adrift on the Pacific Ocean 🌊
Over 200 miles downwind and downstream from the Galapagos Islands

Neil and Sandy are sobbing over the loss of the Lucette, and Neil’s teddies, Douglas and Robin are peering through the canopy looking do debris that we could use/salvage. Lyn recites the Lord’s Prayer to try and bring comfort to us and Dougal surveys what survival kit they have.

Dougal knows there isn’t enough to keep them alive for that long, but Lyn insists to him that if they must get their boys back to land.

#survivethesavagesea #adrift #survival #shipwreck #fyp

Saved from the dingy, a sewn note to let everyone know what happened in case we didn’t get rescue.

Luckily Lyn had managed to salvage her sewing kit, alongside a few other bits we gathered from the floating debris of the now sunken, Lucette.

#seasurvival #therobertsonfamily #adrift #fyp

This illustration taken from Dougals book, ‘Survive the Savage Sea’, shows the damage from one fatal blow to Lucette’s hull from just one Killer whale. Lucette was struck by three Orcas during the attack.

#adrift #whaleattack #survival #fyp

‘Sledgehammer blows of incredible force struck the hull beneath my feet, hurtling me against the bunks the noise of the impact almost deafening my ears to the roar of onrushing water. I heard Lyn call out, and almost at the same time heard the cry of ‘whales’ from the cockpit’ - Dougal Robertson.

15th June 1972, 10am, the Lucette was hit by a pod of Killer whales, in the Pacific Ocean. These fatal blows to the hull forced the Robertson family to abandon ship and make for the raft.
#survival #robertsonfamily #fyp #adrift #foryou
@blanchardhousestories

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts.

So where did the idea come from…. Sailing around the world as a family with little to no idea on sailing, apart from Dougal’s past experience? He was a Mast Mariner like Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. If he can do it, so can we.

With @sir_rkj making headlines in the news, surely it made perfect sense to just sell up and buy a boat.

@ladbible
#robertsonfamily #survivethesavagesea #seasurvival #fyp

This illustration shows how the Robertson family dried out the meat from the fish and turtles they caught whilst on the dingy.
They don’t waste any of what they caught, sucking on fish eyeballs for the nutrients, and the oil from the turtles was used to rub on the sores on their skin, and used to perform enemas to tackle the dehydration from lack of drinking water.

#survival #seasurvival #dingy #adrift #robertsonfamily

Here in this photo, the family, now rescued and safe, demonstrate to us how they sat or lay in the Ednamair to allow them all to be able to be inside and afloat the small dinghy.
Typically, Neil and Sandy lay in the front of the bow, with Dougal. Douglas and Robin would lay vertically on each side of the dingy head by the stern, with Lyn in the centre thwart horizontal.

As you can imagine there was very little room.

#survival #seasurvival #adrift #therobertsonfamily #survivethesavagesea

55 years ago today, we left Falmouth on the Lucette to start our journey across the world 🗺️ ⛵️⚓️

Young and inexperienced, we certainly had a journey ahead of us, whilst we learnt how to sail on the way!

This photo was taken just before we set sail. From left to right, Douglas,Sandy, Anne, Dougal, Neil and Lyn.

#survival #sailing #fyp #robertsonfamily #shipwrecked

‘We made a deal that we wouldn’t eat each other’

Here’s a snippet from another interview Douglas did called Extraordinary lives by @ladbible
You can watch the full episode on YouTube.

#survival #robertsonfamily #podcast #ladbible #extraordinary #fyp #survivethesavagesea #shipwreck #seasurvival

Episode 6 is available now ! 🔊

The castaways are forced to abandon the raft and take their chances in the tiny dingy…

#survival #podcast #adrift #robertsonfamily #survivethesavagesea
@blanchardhousestories

This illustration shows the Ednamair towing the raft.

taken from ‘Survive the Savage Sea’ by Dougal Robertson.

#survival #boat #therobertsonfamily #adrift

Survive the Savage Sea 🌊 by Dougal Robertson. This is the first story in our survival series. It recounts the Robertson family's 38-day struggle after their yacht 'Lucette' was attacked and sunk by orcas.

This powerful tale of survival, courage and determination has also been taught in schools as part of the literature curriculum.

#survivethesavagesea #survival #adrift #boat #yacht #fyp

Here’s a picture of the ‘Lucette’ on the slipway in Miami followed by a picture of us all enjoying a milkshake

#yacht #miami #therobertsonfamily #fyp #boatlife

Sandy recently went on a trip over to Japan and visited the Captain Suzuki of the ship, Toka Maru, the ship that spotted them in the pacific ocean and took rescue of the Robertson Family and Robin.

Captain Suzuki was awarded a letter of appreciation from the ambassador and the Queen of England, for the rescue- as seen in the newspaper article.

Another photo shows the young man Hidemi , that spotted the flares and raised the alarm.
We developed a great friendship with him, and our rescuers.
We are eternally grateful for these people ❤️

#survivalstory #adrift #fyp #survivethesavagesea #rescue

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Survive the Savage Sea

The extraordinary story of the Robertson family continues—just as captivating today as ever. The S.Y. Lucette, a 43-foot staysail schooner and our home for more than half the journey around the world, was shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. A mother, father, three children, and an unsuspecting hitchhiker suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the sea, relying solely on their resourcefulness and determination to survive.

The Ednamair

National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Nestled in the museum at Falmouth, The Ednamair is on display in the survival zone.

Podcast

Blanchard House have just released an Apple Original podcast called 'Adrift'. An immersive 8 part series with first hand accounts from the family and Robin, offering insights to the harrowing survival story that has captured people for decades.

Available to listen to on Apple Podcasts.

LISTEN NOW

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