Declared “the best survival book in a decade” by Outside Magazine , 438 Days is the true story of the man who survived fourteen months in a small boat drifting seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean. On November 17, 2012, two men left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing trip in the open Pacific. That night, a violent storm ambushed them as they were fishing eighty miles offshore. As gale force winds and ten-foot waves pummeled their small, open boat from all sides and nearly capsized them, captain Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate cut away a two-mile-long fishing line and began a desperate dash through crashing waves as they sought the safety of port. Fourteen months later, on January 30, 2014, Alvarenga, now a hairy, wild-bearded and half-mad castaway, washed ashore on a nearly deserted island on the far side of the Pacific. He could barely speak and was unable to walk. He claimed to have drifted from Mexico, a journey of some seven thousand miles. A “gripping saga,” ( Daily Mail ), 438 Days is the first-ever account of one of the most amazing survival stories in modern times. Based on dozens of hours of exclusive interviews with Alvarenga, his colleagues, search-and-rescue officials, the remote islanders who found him, and the medical team that saved his life, 438 Days is not only “an intense, immensely absorbing read” ( Booklist ) but an unforgettable study of the resilience, will, ingenuity and determination required for one man to survive more than a year lost and adrift at sea. “The best survival book in a decade." ― Outside “A spectacular triumph of grit over adversity, 438 Days is an intense, immensely absorbing read.” ― Booklist "A fascinating, action-packed account of long-term survival on the open seas." ― Kirkus "A fascinating, action-packed account of long-term survival on the open seas. Very inspiring!" ― ABC News (Best Book of 2015) "[A] harrowing tale." ― New York Daily News "Jonathan Franklin is an American journalist, but it is with a novelist’s eye for detail, rather than a reporter’s matter-of-factness, that he gives this gripping saga the chronicle it deserves...it unfolds like a rollicking adventure story...remarkable...reminded me of both Yann Martel’s Life Of Pi and William Golding’s Pincher Martin , yet tells a tale that is nothing if not astoundingly, engrossingly singular." ― Daily Mail (UK) “This riveting adventure has us in its grip, spellbound and eager to know more about the mysterious Salvador Alvarenga…His story of resilience, ingenuity, and grit is an unforgettable true-life adventure." ― BookPage "As this old world pursues its endless journey round the sun, many are the tales of death and disaster on the high seas. Few indeed are those that tell of near-miraculous survival, fed by human courage, faith, strength and intelligence. This is one such." ― Roanoke Times Jonathan Franklin regularly reports for The Guardian , VICE , and Esquire . He also works with the team at Retro Report producing documentaries broadcast by The New York Times . Based in Santiago, Chile, and Manhattan, Franklin reports on Latin America. Franklin’s previous book 33 Men , the exclusive account of Chilean miners trapped nearly a kilometer underground, became a national bestseller in the US and UK and was translated into nineteen languages. He can be contacted @FranklinBlog and JonathanFranklin.com. 438 Days CHAPTER 1 The Sharkers His name was Salvador and he arrived with bloody feet, said he was looking for work—anything to start—but to those who saw the newcomer arrive, he looked like a man on the run. Salvador Alvarenga had walked on rocks for six full days along the Mexican coastline to reach the beach village of Costa Azul. He carried only a small backpack and his clothes were worn. From the moment he entered Costa Azul in the fall of 2008, he felt a deep sense of relief. The mangrove swamps, nearby cornfields, crashing ocean and protected lagoon reminded him of his home in El Salvador, but here no one wanted to kill him. Only a few hundred people lived in the beachside community, though it was densely populated by flocks of migrating birds, many making the 2,000-mile annual journey south from California. Thousands of sea turtles embarked from coastal hatcheries to breed and migrate—some making the 12,000-mile swim across the Pacific Ocean to China. The town was half ecotourism paradise, half lawless Wild West—ideal cover for a man trying to escape his past and embark on a new life. Quick with a smile and a helping hand, the round-faced, light-skinned Alvarenga arrived without a visa or working papers, so he pretended to be Mexican. He vigorously defended the lie if anyone questioned his story. Once, when Mexican policemen stopped him and suggested he was a foreigner, Alvarenga broke out with a stanza from the Mexican national anthem. War, war without truce against who would attempt To blemish the honor of the fat