BC Cook
FROM the vast reaches of the Pacific comes another tale of a fisherman who was lost at sea but lived to tell his incredible tale. Richard Pollina of the New York Post covered the story of Maximo Castro. Let’s follow his account:
“A Peruvian fisherman has been found alive after spending a grueling 95 days living off insects, birds and sea turtles when his food supply ran out while he was lost at sea. Maximo Napa Castro set sail on a fishing trip from his southern Peruvian coastal town of Marcona on Dec. 7 with enough food to last him two weeks.
“However, 10 days into his trip, the 61-year-old fisherman strayed off course due to bad weather, sending his boat drifting aimlessly into the vast Pacific Ocean. When Napa Castro did not return home, his family reported him missing and Peru’s maritime patrols began scanning the waters for the missing fisherman for weeks without luck.
“He hadn’t been found until months later when an Ecuadorian fishing patrol found his boat drifting 680 miles from the country’s coastline. Napa Castro was found by the crew heavily dehydrated and in critical condition on March 11. The fisherman survived on rainwater he collected on the boat and tried to ration out what he had left of his food before he went 15 days without eating and resorted to extreme measures to stay alive, he told Reuters.
“I ate roaches, birds, the last thing I ate was turtles,” he told the outlet. “I did not want to die.”
Napa Castro said that thinking about his family helped motivate him to survive while alone at sea with little to no resources.
“I said I didn’t want to die for my mother,” he said. He said he thought about his “mother every day” while waiting to be rescued and the “granddaughter” who was just introduced into his family months before he went missing at sea. “I had a granddaughter who is a few months old, I held on to her,” he said. “I’m thankful to God for giving me a second chance.”
“As he was fighting to survive, his mother, Elena Castro, told local media that she had started to lose hope that she’d ever see her son again. “I told the Lord, whether he’s alive or dead, just bring him back to me, even if it’s just to see him,” his mother told TV Peru. Elena Castro said her daughters helped keep her optimistic while her son was missing, and it helped her overcome the idea that her son was gone. “But my daughters never lost faith. They kept telling me: Mom, he’ll come back, he’ll come back,” she added.
Like so many before him, another fisherman was lost at sea but redeemed through perseverance, problem-solving, and a few things breaking his way. Life at sea can be dangerous, but I’ll bet Maximo will return to fishing soon, such is the lure of the sea.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for thirty years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
