How is it possible that ADRIFT by Steven Callahan has been in print for 35 years and I had not read it until now, August 2020? As a self proclaimed Sea Story addict, I'm bound to wonder why I'd picked it up, looked at the cover, read the description and flipped through the pages but decided to put it back on the shelf at least a hundred times.
I've seen it in the book stores, online, at the library and on so many Great Sea Story lists over the many years. I've picked it up and read the back cover, the inside cover flap, glanced through the pictures, the drawings, but decided not to read it. Maybe I figured the story was too evident. He did live to tell about it. After being 'adrift for 76 days' they found him or he ran around somewhere, and lived to write a book about it. He obviously got thirsty ... but found or made water, and didn't die of thirst. It's obvious he was hungry ... but he caught fish, and didn't die from starvation. I don't know, maybe 76 days didn't seem like that long to be adrift at sea.
Many of the covers I've seen on Adrift copies over the years show Mr. Callahan on his knees in his tiny rubber raft holding his pencil sextant. I'm looking at the picture now and wondering what about that cover picture compelled me to put the book back on the shelf and walk away, to leave it there for another day's reading selection? Perhaps it was the subconscious thought that anyone who could find themselves with three pencils and rubber bands adrift on the ocean wasn't worth reading about. I mean, how could anyone end up lost at sea on a tiny raft with three pencils and rubber bands on hand? Who packs their boat's survival kit with pencils and rubber bands, but not a actual sextant? If he had 3 pencils he had to have paper, right? Why have 3 pencils and no paper? Who says to themselves, it's time to select the items for my survival-at-sea kit, let's make sure I have plenty of pencils and paper? That seems absurd.
Another thing (that always chaffed at my imagination) about the picture of Mr. Callahan holding his pencil sextant on his rubber raft out in the middle of the ocean is this: Who took the picture? The text on the back cover clearly states that he survived alone at sea for 76 days. Did he have a camera and a tripod along with him? He's got pencils and rubber bands, why not a camera and tripod too? Perhaps, I wondered, when a boat came along to rescue him, but before he let them pull his emaciated, starving body from his filthy, slightly deflated raft he insisted that they take a picture of him holding his pencil sextant. I imaged him saying, "Hey thanks for rescuing me, but let's get a picture for the cover of the book I'm going to write. I mean I'm starving to death and have open sores all over my body, but let's get that book cover pic, ok?" That also seems absurd. It's obvious, he didn't have a camera or tripod with him. Anybody who has spent so much as an afternoon on a boat on the ocean knows a tripod wouldn't stand by itself long enough to snap a picture. Perhaps he had bungee cords to hold the tripod? Stop. I figured that his editor and publisher posed him for the picture some months or years later after he had written the book. I imagined when they were batting around ideas for the cover, someone said, "How about we stage the cover with you holding your pencil sextant in your raft, and make it look like you are lost at sea and plotting your position?" Yes, all that chaffed at my imagination for 35 years, and it still does.
But who am I to criticize the cover of this book? Obviously I'm an idiot for not wanting to read the book with that cover picture. Thousand or probably millions of other people chose to read it with that cover. It's been in print and selling well since 1986! I'd like to point out that the copy I bought has a picture of the raging ocean, and a blurb below the title and author's name says: "One of the '100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time.'" - National Geographic Adventure. So in the end it was not the picture of Mr. Callahan holding his pencil sextant that got me.
Now I shall move on from my meandering thoughts on why for 35 years I saw this excellent sea story on bookstore shelves but I neglected to read it until now.
It's a great story, one that any fan of Sea Stories or survival literature should read. Mr. Callahan is a wonderful writer. He's a solid naval architect, which becomes clear as he describes the many contraptions he devises and repairs while drifting alone for 76 days across the Atlantic Ocean. He's more than a great writer and a creative naval architect, though. He's a bit of a spiritualist, I'd say. The way he describes his relationship with the small school of fish who congregate below and follow his raft along on his journey is a central theme, along with the hardships of survival under absolutely grueling conditions. As with all great Sea Stories, the book incudes a map with milestones pointed out along the way. Another plus are the drawings and step-by-step instructions that cover the operation and constant repair of his fresh water still, spear gun and rubber life raft, as well as depictions of various fish and birds the author attempted to kill and feed on along the way.
If you enjoy a good Sea Story, try SIXTY-FOUR DAYS and THE PIRATE by Malcolm Torres, free on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble Nook
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