30+ Stories About Modern People Who Were Lost at Sea

Stories of shipwrecks and stranded sailors seem to be elements of the far past. But even though most people don’t realize it, many individuals are still lost at sea, even today. These stories are some of the most unbelievable, most crazy tales of people being lost at sea, be they civilians or sailors. You’d be surprised how often people get lost out there in the big blue. Unfortunately, they don’t always come back.

Three Men, One Island

A US Navy surveillance craft was flying around a deserted island named Fanadik when it spotted the word “help” written out in palm leaves on the beach. Three men had set sail four miles away from Pulap in the Federated States of Micronesia, but their ship capsized.

They spent an entire night swimming towards Fanadik, then spent three days stranded there until their help sign managed to get them noticed and rescued.

Aldi Novel Adilang

On July 14, 2018, the fishing hut belonging to Aldi Novel Adilang was sent adrift off the Indonesian coast after strong winds snapped the rope that tethered the hut to the seabed. Adilang was from the island Sulawesi, and after 49 days adrift, he ended up all the way near Guam, thousands of miles away.

He survived by catching fish with pieces of wood he broke off his hut. He tried to flag down many ships while adrift, but was only rescued when he sent an emergency radio signal to the MV Arpeggio, a Panamanian vessel. They took him to their destination, Japan, at which point Adliang was able to fly home.

Terry Jo Duperrault

This story is truly tragic: Terry Jo was only eleven years old when she and her family were on a vacation in 1961. They were off the coast of Florida in a chartered boat when she woke up to find out that the captain of the vessel had murdered her whole family.

Naturally, Terry Jo was in the crosshairs as well, but she was able to escape from the vessel in a dinghy. She survived hypothermia out at sea and was rescued three days afterward.

Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava

These two Honolulu residents were heading for Tahiti when their boat’s engine died. Despite attempts to sail the rest of the distance, they were soon completely lost at sea. Thankfully, their preparations for a long trip left them with plenty of provisions for survival.

After five months at sea, they were found by a Taiwanese fishing vessel. Some parts of the story are a little odd, however: the women never activated their emergency beacon, and they claimed to have been caught in a storm at one point, though no such storm was ever recorded.