Shipwrecked Trio Saved After Spelling Out 'Help' on Beach
18 replies, posted
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/bHwqivH.jpg[/img_thumb]
[quote]Three mariners were rescued from an uninhabited Pacific island after a U.S Navy aircraft spotted the word "help" spelled using palm fronds on a sandy beach.
What was supposed to be a short trip between two Micronesian islands quickly turned into a "Gilligan's Island"-style ordeal — [B]but their "3-hour tour" turned into 3 days.[/B]
Lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the men appeared to take inspiration from the Tom Hanks film "Castaway" before being found.
"They had the word 'help' spelled out and were waving their lifejackets," U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Michael McCandless told NBC News.[/quote]
More on the story here: [url]http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/shipwrecked-trio-saved-after-spelling-out-help-beach-n552801[/url]
You don't hear about this sort of thing much anymore. They're lucky it was only for three days. The map of where the island is in the source looks like it's pretty much in the middle of fuck-all.
[media]https://twitter.com/USNavy/status/718844888406761473[/media]
The system works.
The P-8 is exactly the aircraft you want to fly over when you're marooned.
[QUOTE=OvB;50100253]You don't hear about this sort of thing much anymore.[/QUOTE]
That's either a very good thing or a very bad thing.
Thank god it worked for them. I always assumed this wouldn't work unless you got real lucky or you caught their attention with something shiny.
Personally I would've tried for a smoke signal too out of fear of getting missed.
Imagine being shipwrecked and not knowing when you're gonna get found. Imagine the relief after being rescued after only 3 days
[QUOTE=Kylel999;50111322]Thank god it worked for them. I always assumed this wouldn't work unless you got real lucky or you caught their attention with something shiny.
Personally I would've tried for a smoke signal too out of fear of getting missed.
Imagine being shipwrecked and not knowing when you're gonna get found. Imagine the relief after being rescued after only 3 days[/QUOTE]
You would need three smoke signals.
The international sign of distress using smoke is three fires (well spaced apart to identify the smoke coming from separate fires) in a triangular shape.
Just a little fact that hopefully no one needs but probably should be aware of :eng101:
[editline]11th April 2016[/editline]
Of course, you would have to know how to make a fire, possibly from scratch. I'm sure lots of people "know" how to make fire, but if they've never actually done it (reading how in a book =/= experience of knowing how to do it) then odds are they're going to be in for a really rough time.
What if you just burned fuckin EVERYTHING. Like, the whole island, you'd be bound to catch some attention then
[QUOTE=Valon Kyre;50111724]What if you just burned fuckin EVERYTHING. Like, the whole island, you'd be bound to catch some attention then[/QUOTE]
Either you catch some attention, or you remove any chance of survival
[QUOTE=Valon Kyre;50111724]What if you just burned fuckin EVERYTHING. Like, the whole island, you'd be bound to catch some attention then[/QUOTE]
Unlikely to be even possible. Living plants are difficult to burn in most cases as they're filled with moisture. Dried logs and long-dead plants are the easiest to catch fire, but to have enough of that to spread throughout the island will be hard to find. If one knew what they were doing (I mean having experience in dealing with fire, like a firefighter) and knew how to feed the fire and spread it perfect, it could be possible, but to sustain it would be difficult, especially in a tropical region prone to rain and storms.
times like these im glad to have retained my knowledge from almost a decade in the scouts
i may not be a very skilled individual in many ways, but when people need a fire made its a good feeling to come through clutch
Do you think like a Spanish person has ever gotten trapped on an island and people have just flown past and been like, "Ayuda? What does that mean? I'll go look it up when I get home."
They must have one hell of a story to tell. Itd be quite the experience being shipwrecked on an island
[QUOTE=Valon Kyre;50111724]What if you just burned fuckin EVERYTHING. Like, the whole island, you'd be bound to catch some attention then[/QUOTE]
alright simmer down there elizabeth swan
[img]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/pirates/images/1/15/Jack_Rumrunners_Isle_COTBP.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100920013015[/img]
[QUOTE=Riutet;50112455]Do you think like a Spanish person has ever gotten trapped on an island and people have just flown past and been like, "Ayuda? What does that mean? I'll go look it up when I get home."[/QUOTE]
Alternatively:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/ZmEhrDW.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=Valon Kyre;50111724]What if you just burned fuckin EVERYTHING. Like, the whole island, you'd be bound to catch some attention then[/QUOTE]
I can confirm this. When I was a young lad I was marooned on an island with my class in a tragic turn of events. It was an all boys academy and as young boys will be boys things turned savage and hostile all too quickly. I was singled out for being a freak and soon one of the lads had the whole group out to get me!
I thought I was at the end of my rope, they organized a hunt that scoured the entire island. I was hiding in the thickest of underbrush until they realized my plan and decided to literally smoke me out. The whole island must have been ablaze! It pushed me and I blindly fought my way through vines and thorns to escape both the encroaching fire and the murderous hunting party. By some miracle I ended up on the beach and between heaving gasps I looked up to the bow of a navy vessel passing by that caught sight of the entire island on fire and made beachfall. The captain came to shore, and man is it amazing what a single adult can to do straighten out a pack of unruly savage children.
Experience of a lifetime, honestly.
[QUOTE=clutch2;50116031]I can confirm this. When I was a young lad I was marooned on an island with my class in a tragic turn of events. It was an all boys academy and as young boys will be boys things turned savage and hostile all too quickly. I was singled out for being a freak and soon one of the lads had the whole group out to get me!
I thought I was at the end of my rope, they organized a hunt that scoured the entire island. I was hiding in the thickest of underbrush until they realized my plan and decided to literally smoke me out. The whole island must have been ablaze! It pushed me and I blindly fought my way through vines and thorns to escape both the encroaching fire and the murderous hunting party. By some miracle I ended up on the beach and between heaving gasps I looked up to the bow of a navy vessel passing by that caught sight of the entire island on fire and made beachfall. The captain came to shore, and man is it amazing what a single adult can to do straighten out a pack of unruly savage children.
Experience of a lifetime, honestly.[/QUOTE]
If Lord Of The Flies has taught me anything, children should not be left alone for extended periods of time.
If that ever happened to me, I'd just spend the whole time thinking 'what would Ray Mears do':
[video=youtube;Xwp_mJFRQS0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwp_mJFRQS0[/video]
If you've ever watched Naked and Afraid, you'll know surviving on a tropical island is way worse than it sounds. I remember one episode where it stormed heavily for 3 days straight on this poor couple
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