Mexican castaway drifts across the Pacific in 13 months?

[Malthus]

I don't know, but people were claiming it had to be a hoax because he looks 'fat', ...

According to Anjenette Kattil of the Marshall Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alvarenga said that four weeks into their drift, he lost the young man because he refused to eat raw birds. There are no details yet on what Alvarenga did with the young man's body.

'Ah yes, my companion ... such a tragic loss ... [burp] "

[Caliga]

I'm not sure I would hold it against him if he ate the dude.  People do crazy shit when they're starving to death.  Hell, just the other day the gas station was out of weenies and I almost chewed my own foot off.

[alfred russel]

I'm not sure I would hold it against him if he ate the dude.  People do crazy shit when they're starving to death.  Hell, just the other day the gas station was out of weenies and I almost chewed my own foot off.

Yeah, but on the open ocean in tropical climates it really isn't all that feasible long term. That body is going to get nasty quickly. Actually, if he starved to death, it was probably really nasty before he died.

[Malthus]

I'm not sure I would hold it against him if he ate the dude.  People do crazy shit when they're starving to death.  Hell, just the other day the gas station was out of weenies and I almost chewed my own foot off.

Yeah, but on the open ocean in tropical climates it really isn't all that feasible long term. That body is going to get nasty quickly. Actually, if he starved to death, it was probably really nasty before he died.

Maybe he didn't wait for the kid to die of natural causes ... 

[alfred russel]

Maybe he didn't wait for the kid to die of natural causes ... 

If this guy really was at sea for 13 months, he had to be able to successfully get non human food. Killing a guy in order to eat his uncooked body seems a bit extreme if you weren't at the end of the line.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Groups of dehydrated sailors in lifeboats used to draw straws to see who was gonna get their blood drunk. 


All of these poor Mexicans are providing a lot of support for theories of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact.

[PRC]

Maybe he didn't wait for the kid to die of natural causes ... 

If this guy really was at sea for 13 months, he had to be able to successfully get non human food. Killing a guy in order to eat his uncooked body seems a bit extreme if you weren't at the end of the line.

Maybe he used pieces of the uncooked body at the end of a line... as bait.

[Caliga]

Groups of dehydrated sailors in lifeboats used to draw straws to see who was gonna get their blood drunk. 


All of these poor Mexicans are providing a lot of support for theories a pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact.

The ancient Polynesians were extremely talented sailors and navigators.  I assume they made the journey to South America and/or southern North America at least once (though almost certainly accidentally).  Doesn't mean the trip had any real impact on pre-Columbian culture though.

[Caliga]

Also, a Japanese fishing boat in the mid-19th century was disabled at sea and ended up in Oregon with like 1 or 2 survivors.  IIRC the boat was of a traditional design so it seems likely the Japanese could have made the trip also.

[Ideologue]

Those were truly the years of rice and salt.

[CountDeMoney]

Saw the piece on this guy on the news tonight.  Said he survived on fish, birds and turtles.  Shaded himself from the sun with a box, which he used to collect rain water.

Personally, I think he looks too damned good for 13 months at sea.  Looking at his boat, there's no way that poor excuse of a freshwater low line bass boat could've weathered 13 months in the fucking Pacific through two typhoon seasons.

[jimmy olsen]

Also, a Japanese fishing boat in the mid-19th century was disabled at sea and ended up in Oregon with like 1 or 2 survivors.  IIRC the boat was of a traditional design so it seems likely the Japanese could have made the trip also.

Yeah, unless the survivors are carrying a deadly disease those kinds of contacts are meaningless because they can't be replicated in a reliable fashion.

[Grinning_Colossus]

The Polynesians were extremely good at navigating the Pacific and finding tiny islands in it. If some Mesoamericans washed up and told them about a giant landmass to their east they would have gone looking for it, so sporadic exchange involving chickens and sweet potatoes seems more plausible.

[Admiral Yi]

Maybe Polynesians were really shitty at finding tiny islands and we only know about the ones that managed to do so.

[Siege]

I don't doubt there was some trans-oceanic travel back then, its just that there wasn't the technology to for these travels to maintain a constant flow of trade and ideas capable of influencing the cultures involved. Also, no written word to record the data.

I really hope one day we can read Minoan Linear A, and the earlier hieroglyphs.