Adrift (book)

"Adrift" (subtitle: Seventy-six days lost at sea) is a book by Steven Callahan about his survival in a life raft in the Atlantic Ocean, which lasted 76 days, a staggering record; he is the only man in history known to have survived more than a month alone at sea in an inflatable raft.

In 1982, Callahan set sail in a sloop, participating in a race from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. After six days the sloop sank and for the next two and a half months he had to live off fish he caught and water he distilled and had to fight off sharks. When he damaged one of the rubber rings of the raft, he had to improvise a repair with a cork, a spoon, and some rubber bands. His experience was used to redesign life rafts.