Sometimes life changes unexpectedly in the
blink of an eye. A previously unknown allergic reaction, a
lighting strike, a slip and fall. Freak accidents that forever alter existences. The Robertson family once experienced an extreme
version of this. They were over a year into an amazing sailing
trip around the world when an unusual calamity suddenly changed their lives forever, forcing
them into a life or death struggle for survival upon the high seas. The plan to sail around the world began as
a whim. In the fall of 1968, the Robertson family-parents
Dougal and Lyn, 16 year old daughter Anne, 17 year old Douglas and 9 year old twins Neil
and Sandy--were living a hand to mouth hardscrabble existence running a dairy farm in Staffordshire,
UK. One night Dougal was telling the twins bedtime
stories of his stint in the British Merchant Navy, when Neil asked if the family could
sail around the world. Dougal leapt at the idea. The farm was on the verge of bankruptcy; his
kids would get to experience travel and life in other countries in a unique way, so why
not? The Robertsons sold Meadow Farm and purchased
the Lucette, a 50 year old, 19 ton, 43 foot (13 meter) schooner. On January 21,1971, the Robertsons set out
on aboard the Lucette, departing from Falmouth, England. Other than Dougal, none of the family had
sailing experience. Immediately the Robertsons had a trial by
fire experience--6 days into their trip, while sailing through the Bay of Biscay off the
coast of France, they were caught in a fierce storm with 40 foot waves (12 meter) and 60
mph (97 kph) winds. Thankfully, the family survived the storm,
learning to sail as they went along. They spent the next 17 months sailing in the
Caribbean, stopping in ports of calls such as Antigua and Barbados. Eventually, Anne met a young man, fell in
love and decided to stay in the Bahamas. The rest of the family sailed on, visiting
the Panama Canal. Along the way, the Robertsons took on a 22
year old Welsh hitchhiker--Robin Williams as a deckhand, he was going to sail with them
all the way to New Zealand. Robin rapidly became an informal part of the
family. June 15th, 1972, began as pleasant, typical
morning onboard the Lucette. The Robertsons were sailing about 200 miles
(322 km) west of the Galapagos Islands. They were 2 days into a 40-day trip.to the
Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. BOOM! Just before 10 am something slammed into the
hull of the Lucette with the force of a torpedo. The boat shuddered, lifting into the air. In rapid succession, two more hits battered
the boat. There was a thunderous cracking sound as the
hull split. 3 Orcas had rammed the boat. The unusual frenzied attack was over as quickly
as had started, the killer whales vanishing back into the depths of the ocean. But the blows had dealt the Lucette fatal
structural problems; she was sinking and fast. Pandemonium ensued as the family scrambled
to launch an inflatable emergency raft and a small dinghy. There was no time to radio for help--Lyn was
still in her nightgown when they abandoned ship. Though Lyn and Douglas had close calls, thankfully
everyone safely made it aboard the emergency raft. Within about a minute the Lucette was gone. The Robertsons were left dazed and disbelieving
of the sudden turn life had taken. Floating around them in the water was flotsam
from the Lucette, drifting nearby tethered to the raft was their 10 foot (3 m) dinghy
which they had christened the Ednamair. The Ednamair was half filled with water and
riding low in the ocean. The inflatable raft they were sitting on wasn’t
much better, during deployment it had somehow accidentally been punctured. Dougal took charge and the family began rescuing
whatever they could from the water-- mainly Lynn’s sewing basket which turned out to
have needles, both knitting and thread, some razors, a ball of strong yarn, a ball point
pen, etc. The family also inventoried their supplies. In the emergency kit for the raft they had
vitamin fortified bread and glucose, enough for 10 men for 2 days, 18 pints of water,
8 flares, a signal mirror, a bailer, a first aid kit, 3 paddles and assorted fishing gear. In their mad dash to abandon ship, they had
grabbed: a bag of a dozen onions, a tin of biscuits, ten oranges, 6 lemons and a bag
of candy. They also had some large sails and some sailing
gear. Things were looking grim for the family. They were caught in a strong current; it was
nearly impossible to row the 200 miles (322 km) back to the Galapagos Islands. They were over 1,000 miles (1609 km) northeast
of the coast of South America and over 2,000 miles (3208 km) west of their original destination
the Marquesas Islands. They weren’t adrift near any shipping lanes
so their chances of been sighted and rescued were slim. Even with extreme rationing, their water wouldn’t
last long. Worse yet, no one knew that their boat had
sank and that they were lost at sea. Rather than sailing towards land, Dougal and
Douglas came up with the idea of sailing north 400 miles (644 km) to an area of the ocean
where the northern and southern trade winds collide called the Doldrums. The Doldrums are known for their calm water
and mild surface winds; it also frequently rained there. The Robertstons would have fresh water. After the Doldrums, they would assess where
to go next, but would probably try to sail towards America. This route would take them through the shipping
lanes that go to Australia and New Zealand from America, increasing their chances of
rescue. The next several days were difficult. The Robertsons bailed out the Ednamair. They reorganized their supplies to maximize
space, storing them in the smaller dingy which they firmly tethered to the raft. Dougal assigned a watch schedule and sleeping
positions for everyone. He tried as best he could to sketch out on
a scrap of paper the direction they should sail in. The family battled sea sickness, the dip and
sway of the tiny raft was much different than sailing in a boat. Lyn often recited the Lord’s Prayer and
sang hymns. She devised a set of stretching exercises
for everyone to do to help create a routine and maintain their muscles. Just in case, they cut part of a sail and
wrote goodbye letters ahead of time while they were still lucid. Lyn and the twins wrote letters for Anne,
while Robin wrote one for his mother. The letters were put into waterproof wrapping
and tucked into a pocket of the raft. The castaways carefully rationed the food
and after some missteps, figured out how to catch fish to supplement their meager supplies. They drank spinal cord fluid and sucked on
fish eyes to slake their thirst. They also dried strips of fish for later. Unfortunately, catching and cleaning fish
attracted 9 foot (2.7 m) sharks to circle the raft. Day by day, the leak on the raft kept growing
though they kept trying to patch it. Their mouths grew sore from taking turns blowing
up the raft to replace lost air. They were wet and cold all the time, as there
was always water in the bottom of the raft. Only the thwart seat stayed dry and they would
take hour long turns sitting on it. Lyn would often give up her turn for her younger
sons. Their sunburned skin became encrusted with
salt and broke out in painful boils. On day 7 the Robertsons spotted a ship in
the distance. They used up all 3 of their rocket flares,
trying to signal the boat. They became extremely disheartened the ship
didn’t see them and sailed on. Eventually they reached the Doldrums. Dougal fashioned a spear and managed to catch
a sea turtle. In addition to eating the turtle, they drank
its blood. It had rained briefly once or twice since
they were shipwrecked. Not enough to collect a supply of drinking
water, but the bottom of the Ednamair had collected a few inches of brackish water mixed
with bits of offal and turtle blood. The liquid wasn’t safe to drink, but worried
about the lack of bowel movements Lyn, who had training as a nurse, administered enemas
to her family using rubber tubes striped from the rungs of the raft ladder. When taken rectally, the liquid was less poisonous,
it wouldn’t travel through the digestive system. Robin declined the treament. Over the next several days Lyn would periodically
administer more enemas, eventually switching to turtle oil rather than water. Finally, 16 days after the shipwreck, it rained...and
then it rained some more, all night in fact. After the initial joyous relief of getting
fresh water, there was a new problem, too much water. The Robertsons took turns, bailing out the
raft and the Ednamair. Finally on the 17th day, they finally had
to abandon the raft, patching and bailing couldn’t keep it afloat any longer. The castaways moved to the Ednamair, having
carefully thought out which items from the raft they could take with them into the cramped
space. The Roberstons put up a sail and steered northeast,
taking turns rowing when there was no wind. The rain caused mold to grow on the strips
of dried fish and turtle meat they had carefully been preserving; they gorged on what they
could and discarded the rest. The rain continued on and off over the next
few days. More than once, they thought they spotted
something in the distance and a few times even used a precious flare or torch to try
to attract attention. Since the wreck of the Lucette, there had
been many arguments and tense standoffs between the castaways. Dougal especially had an explosive temper. On day 23, the Robertsons got caught in a
storm that lasted most of the afternoon and late into the night. There was thunder and lightning with torrential
rain. Even worse, the Ednamair was in severe danger
of being swamped by waves. Everyone was exhausted from bailing, at one
point Robin had to rub feeling back into Dougal’s dead tired, ice cold arms. After hours of battling the storm, Douglas
thought that his dad was ready to give up. But then his Mom looked at his Dad and held
his eyes. Then his dad said “Bail for your lives and
bail twice as quick as you're doing now.' Reinvigorated, they did. They also sang songs to help stay awake and
stay warm. Somehow, they made it until dawn when the
storm began to quiet. Every day was a new lesson in misery. By now the castaways’ clothes were rotting
off their bodies. It hurt to sit in a single position for very
long--there was little padding on their bones. Also, their tender boil infested skin, would
break open, sting from the salt and weep puss. Their hands and arms were criss crossed with
cuts and scratches from catching sea turtles which had razor-sharp claws. The Robertson’s lowest point came when they
lost their water reserves. They had a couple of tanks of water which
were tied together and hung off the side of the boat. While trying to catch an angry sea turtle,
the creature the slashed the rope with its claws, and the water tanks floated away before
the Robertsons could rescue them. They were left trying to save rainwater in
a plastic bag and small cups. On July 23, 1972, their 38th day adrift, at
twilight the Robertsons spotted a Japanese fishing trawler, the Toku Maru II. Dougal lit a flare, waved it like a mad man
and tossed it high into the air when it burned his hand. He was frantically trying to light another
flare when the ship turned towards the raft, they had been spotted. The Robertons were extremely dehydrated, their
mouths so dry and their tongues so swollen with thirst, they could hardly talk. The fishermen didn’t speak much English
anyway and the castaways no Japanese. However, the two groups were able to communicate
through hand signals. The Robertsons convinced the fishermen to
save their stinky, battered dinghy when they would have abandoned the Ednamair at sea. The Toku Maru II took the castaways to Panama,
where the British embassy put them up in a hotel and gave them medical care. Slowly, they made full recoveries. 10 days after being rescued, Robin flew home
to England. The Robertson family returned to their home
country at a more leisurely pace, sailing home via ship, although this time a large
one, the MV Port Auckland. Dougal and Lyn’s marriage disintegrated,
haunted by the arguments they had while shipwrecked. Lyn went back to farming, Dougal returned
to sailing and wrote a book about his family’s survival experience. Many years later, Douglas also wrote a book,
weaving in and expanding on portions of his father’s book. Now we’ve got an ordeal for you to take
on yourself - choosing between these two videos! We know you’re going to want to watch both
but you can only pick one so make a decision quickly and pick one now!
