Survival
The passengers and crew took off from the disaster site in lifeboats, but not without difficulty. All on board, thirty-eight men, eventually evacuated to the shore of Iliamna Bay, however the extremely high surf and frequent ice cakes caused the men to look pessimistically on their docking probabilities. The men would then face the relentless cold, snow, and lack of adequate nutrition for twenty-nine days, before being rescued by the S.S Victoria. They lived off the few provisions that had been saved from the accident, including sails, tarpaulins, passenger baggage and mattresses. They had no artificial source of light, and water had to be acquired by melting snow. The typical meal included raw bacon and frozen bread. Throughout the subsequent days men travelled back to the shipwreck to scavenge for any materials that may prove useful. Consequently several convenience items were haphazardly constructed, including makeshift stoves. As temperatures plummeted to −40 °F (−40 °C), fuel for warmth was generated by driftwood found in the snowy banks of the shore.
Read more about this topic: Farallon Steamship Disaster
Famous quotes containing the word survival:
“Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“...I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and to share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigating pain. It is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk through the rain.”
—Audre Lorde (1934–1992)
“It is almost as if you were frantically constructing another world while the world that you live in dissolves beneath your feet, and that your survival depends on completing this construction at least one second before the old habitation collapses.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)