Adrift: Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea [Paperback]

Steven Callahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 1996

After his small sailboat sank in the Atlantic, Steve Callahan spent 76 days in a five-foot inflatable raft, drifting 1800 miles before his rescue.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA Sailing Napoleon Solo in a single-handed Mini-Transat race from Spain to Antigua, Callahan was west of the Canary Islands when he realized that his sailboat was sinking. He managed to grab the life raft, a knife, his emergency duffel bag, a piece of mains'l, and a sleeping bag. These items became his home and sole possessions for 76 days. Loneliness, hunger, thirst, pain, and weakness dogged Callahan, yet his ingenuity and knowledge of the sea enabled him to survive. The illustrations and diagrams of life aboard Rubber Ducky III enable readers to visualize the hardshipsthe cramped living space of the raft, the hundreds of salt water sores that covered his body, the foreboding appearance of an approaching storm, or the primitive method used to collect fresh water. Harassed by sharks and dorados; at the mercy of storms; sore, cold, and miserable, Callahan shows fortitude and perseverance. An excellent book for all YAs, whether sailors or landlubbers. Pam Spencer, Mount Vernon High School Library, Fairfax, Va.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Callahan, a marine architect, lost his boat in a storm off the Canary Islands while engaged in a singlehanded race across the Atlantic in 1981. Luckily, he carried far more than the basic emergency equipment required, e.g., a six-person raft. Before sinking he was able to recover his emergency equipment bag and his life raft. Callahan admits to having read the survival accounts of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey ( Staying Alive , 1974) and Dougal Robertson ( Survive the Savage Sea , 1973) and even had the latter's manual Sea Survival (1975) with him in the raft. What makes his story different was his lack of a companion. Through his own ingenuity he learned how to spear fish, fix his solar still, and even repair his holed raft. This is a real human drama that delves deeply into a man's survival instincts. It should be read by anyone venturing offshore in a small boat. John Kenny, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345410157
• ISBN-13: 978-0345410153
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Solo Travel

More About the Author

Steven Callahan is probably best known for completing an Atlantic crossing after losing his boat mid-ocean in 1982. For 76 days, he learned to live like an aquatic cave in a life raft and drifted 1,800 nautical miles, a voyage he chronicled in Adrift (Houghton Mifflin), which became a NY Times best seller and has been translated into 15 languages. He also authored Capsized (HarperCollins) for survivor Jim Nalepka who spent four months with four other men on an overturned, half-flooded boat, most of their time crammed into the space of a double bed with eighteen inches of headroom. Callahan has contributed writings, illustrations, and photos to more than a dozen other books, many about seamanship and/or survival, such as Michael Greenwald's Survivor, as well as authoring hundreds of articles for the marine press worldwide. He's served as contributing editor to Sailor and Sail magazines, and senior editor at Cruising World for which he continues to do special projects such as testing new boats and lifesaving equipment.

From the time he was a kid, Callahan was addicted to the water and boats, and by age 10 was whacking together barges using old roofing boards. He taught himself the basics of boat design and celestial navigation, and helped build a 40 footer prior to graduating high school. As an adult, he has spent more than 40 years in the marine and communications trades, first building boats, then designing and teaching design, as well as living aboard, racing, doing boat deliveries, writing, illustrating, and doing photography. His educational background in philosophy and the arts as well as boat design, and sailing more than 80,000 offshore miles, most shorthanded and on unusual craft, have inspired his primary literary and artistic goal to broaden the audience for maritime subjects by taking non-sailors into the unique and magnificent offshore world where universal human issues often are magnified. He is intrigued by not only the technical elements of boats and the sea but also by the human questions that arise when sailing in the world's greatest wilderness.

Callahan continues to write about and speak publicly on survival, voyaging, and seamanship, and has been frequently interviewed for television and other media programs. He resides with his wife in Maine where they enjoy living close to nature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One mans epic battle with his sanity and a very lonely sea., November 20, 2000

By 

Ben Ettelman (Gorham, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adrift: Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea (Paperback)

Steven Callahan's story of sheer determination is one of the best survival tales since Swiss Family Robinson. I believe the book's most powerful asset lays within the nararation though, having the story told by the actual survivor gives the reader an extremely good feeling of what it was like on that small raft. The nararation also opens the mind of the author so the reader can experience first hand Callahan's struggle with sanity. The story starts in Callahan's boat as he attempts to sail around the whole world, alone. When disaster strikes Callahan's ever present knowledge of the sea is shown. Having grown up on a sailboat, one of my favorite features of the book is its vast variety of factual information pertaining to nautical exploration. Although the pictures were shown in rather awkward places at times (pages ahead of where they were to be talked about), they were extremely helpful and interesting as well. Overall I would say that Adrift by Steven Callahan is a great read. If you like stories of adventure, this is a dose and a half of pure survivalism, at its best. I feel that Callahan's story is so surreal that I could say that I might have serious reservations about actually going out on the open sea again, but not about picking up another book of this caliber.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adrift, March 30, 2000

By 

chris (allentown pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adrift: Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea (Paperback)

This book was an excellent, true story, adventure. This is an autobiography written by Steven Callahan. There was plenty of action with just the right amount of true facts. It was the type of story everyone wants to say,"ya i did that!" but, no one really wants to do it. It was well written with a lot of factual input that the narrator had either read or heard about on tis way around the atlantic in his sailbout beforehe went "Adrift." I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good adventure especially sailors. There were two things I did not like about the book. One, that he was adrift for seventy-six days, which it states on the cover of the book. When hope of rescue comes about and its not the 76th day, you know that there is still awhile before he is rescued. Another downfall were the pictures. I liked them a lot and thought they were vary helpful to decipher the things he was doing. The problem with them was that they where placed haphazardly throughout the book. You will see a picture and then a couple of pages later it will talk about the event in the picture, giving the story away. I definitely will give this book 5 stars.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for action/survival fans, July 28, 2000

By 

Davlo "A guy who reads" (West Kingston, RI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adrift: Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea (Paperback)

I read this book for the first time about ten years ago and I have never forgotten it. It was one of the most compelling, absorbing books I've ever read, if not the most. How he survives is truly amazing, and this story belongs in the collection of anyone with an interest in true stories of survival. It made me wonder how I would handle such a situation, and would I be tough enough to make it. I'm sure anyone who reads this will ask themselves the very same questions.