Survive The Savage Sea

THE BOOK, Survive the Savage Sea, is the true story of a family who survived at sea in a life raft for 38 days. Right after their boat sank, they sat in their life raft, completely dazed. The boat had sank quickly and they'd barely gotten off it in time.

Dougal Robertson, the father and captain of the boat, started thinking thoughts that made him despair. This is a natural response to a terrible event. Why, he thought, had he been so reckless as to endanger his family's life like this? How could he have risked their lives with his selfish desire to educate them in such an unorthodox way? He started feeling demoralized as he thought about the loss of his boat, the danger his family was in, and the foolish mistakes he had made.

They were in the middle of the Pacific on a raft, without a radio, without a homing beacon, and far away from the shipping lanes. The wind and currents were moving in the opposite direction as the nearest land. They had very little food or water. The situation was grim, and as Dougal thought about it and felt anguish for putting his family in this situation, his face started showing his hopelessness.

But then he realized his depression would ruin any chance they had of surviving. He was the leader. They were looking to him. His own despair would demoralize them all. And a defeated person doesn't do what he needs to survive. Dougal knew he needed to rise out of his depression. Driven by the necessity of so great a responsibility, he spontaneously invented the way out.

He had never read a book on cognitive therapy in his life. He didn't know there was such a thing. But he started debating with his own demoralizing thoughts. Without paper and pen, he was forced to argue his thoughts in his head.

His first thought was, I shouldn't have brought them out in the ocean. "But," he argued with himself, "Douglas had grown to manhood in our 18 months at sea. The formerly shy and introspective twins had become interested in the world, had expanded their understanding of other people and had awakened their desire to learn more."

But I took them out on such an old boat. "It was of much heavier construction than newer boats, and sunk slower than a modern boat would have, allowing us time to get off the boat and safely into the life raft."

But I have now risked their lives. "What happened was as unforeseeable as an earthquake or an airplane crash."

Dougal's crash-course in anti-defeatism worked. He revived. His demoralization vanished and was replaced by stout determination. They started taking actions that helped them survive. And they all made it to shore alive.

Learn more about how to undemoralize yourself. Learn why you should.

Read the fascinating book, Survive the Savage Sea (Sailing Classics).