i pulled out the survival manual. its pages were still wet. iturned them carefully. the manual was written by a britishroyal navy commander. it contained a wealth of practicalinformation on surviving at sea after a shipwreck. it includedsurvival tips such as:
? always read instructions carefully.
? do not drink urine. or sea water. or bird blood.
? do not eat jellyfish. or fish that are armed with spikes. orthat have parrot-like beaks. or that puff up like balloons.
? pressing the eyes of fish will paralyze them.
? the body can be a hero in battle. if a castaway is injured,beware of well-meaning but ill-founded medical treatment.
ignorance is the worst doctor, while rest and sleep are the bestnurses.
? put up your feet at least five minutes every hour.
? unnecessary exertion should be avoided. but an idle mindtends to sink, so the mind should be kept occupied withwhatever light distraction may suggest itself. playing card games,twenty questions and i spy with my little eye are excellentforms of simple recreation. community singing is anothersure-fire way to lift the spirits. yarn spinning is also highlyrecommended.
? green water is shallower than blue water.
? beware of far-off clouds that look like mountains. look forgreen. ultimately, a foot is the only good judge of land.
? do not go swimming. it wastes energy. besides, a survivalcraft may drift faster than you can swim. not to mention thedanger of sea life. if you are hot, wet your clothes instead.
? do not urinate in your clothes. the momentary warmth isnot worth the nappy rash.
? shelter yourself. exposure can kill faster than thirst orhunger.
? so long as no excessive water is lost through perspiration,the body can survive up to fourteen days without water. if youfeel thirsty, suck a button.
? turtles are an easy catch and make for excellent meals.
their blood is a good, nutritious, salt-free drink; their flesh istasty and filling; their fat has many uses; and the castaway willfind turtle eggs a real treat. mind the beak and the claws.
? don't let your morale flag. be daunted, but not defeated.
remember: the spirit, above all else, counts. if you have thewill to live, you will. good luck!
there were also a few highly cryptic lines distilling the artand science of navigation. i learned that the horizon, as seenfrom a height of five feet on a calm day, was two and a halfmiles away.
the injunction not to drink urine was quite unnecessary. noone called "pissing" in his childhood would be caught dead witha cup of pee at his lips, even alone in a lifeboat in the middleof the pacific. and the gastronomic suggestions only confirmedto my mind that the english didn't know the meaning of theword food. otherwise, the manual was a fascinating pamphleton how to avoid being pickled in brine. only one importanttopic was not addressed: the establishing of alpha-omegarelationships with major lifeboat pests.
i had to devise a training program for richard parker. ihad to make him understand that i was the top tiger and thathis territory was limited to the floor of the boat, the sternbench and the side benches as far as the middle cross bench.
i had to fix in his mind that the top of the tarpaulin and thebow of the boat, bordered by the neutral territory of themiddle bench, was my territory and utterly forbidden to him.
i had to start fishing very soon. it would not take long forrichard parker to finish the animal carcasses. at the zoo theadult lions and tigers ate on average ten pounds of meat aday.
there were many other things i had to do. i had to find ameans of sheltering myself. if richard parker stayed under thetarpaulin all the time, it was for a good reason. to becontinuously outside, exposed to sun, wind, rain and sea, wasexhausting, and not only to the body but also to the mind.
hadn't i just read that exposure could inflict a quick death? ihad to devise some sort of canopy.
i had to tie the raft to the lifeboat with a second rope, incase the first should break or become loose.
i had to improve the raft. at present it was seaworthy, buthardly habitable. i would have to make it fit for living in until icould move to my permanent quarters on the lifeboat. forexample, i had to find a way to stay dry on it. my skin waswrinkled and swollen all over from being constantly wet. thathad to change. and i had to find a way to store things onthe raft.
i had to stop hoping so much that a ship would rescue me.
i should not count on outside help. survival had to start withme. in my experience, a castaway's worst mistake is to hopetoo much and do too little. survival starts by paying attentionto what is close at hand and immediate. to look out with idlehope is tantamount to dreaming one's life away.
there was much i had to do.
i looked out at the empty horizon. there was so muchwater. and i was all alone. all alone.
i burst into hot tears. i buried my face in my crossed armsand sobbed. my situation was patently hopeless.
