Insane Survival Stories: the Robertson Family
By Kat Dickens
The Robertson Family was lost at sea for 38 days after having their boat was attacked by killer whales.
Patriarch Dougal Robertson, a British dairy farmer, had wanted to take his family on a boat trip for "university of life," as his son called it. On January 27, 1971, Dougal, his wife, and their four children set out on a wooden schooner called the Lucette. Douglas, the oldest son, told the BBC his father had made few preparations for the trip, though he had been in the British merchant navy. And for 17 months at sea, everything went according to plan, they sailed from port to port, seeing the world. However, on June 15, 1972, the Roberson family encountered a pod of killer whales off the coast of the Galapagos Islands.
The whales attacked the boat and greatly damaged it. And because of this, the boat started taking on water. This left the Robertson Family adrift on their lifeboat and a small dinghy. They only had 6 days of food left. So they hunted turtles and survived on rainwater. While they were adrift they hoped to ride the pacific currents, which would take them to the Americans.
After 16 days adrift at sea, their raft was no longer usable, so the family along with their one inexperienced crew member were forced to all to get on the dinghy. It was a ten-foot boat that was filed way past it limit, but they managed to stay afloat until they were discovered by Japanese fishermen on July 23, 1972.
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