The madman on the rubber boat proved that the human will is stronger than the sea. Alain Bombard - man of salt water

While still studying medical faculty Alain Bombard became interested in the problems of survival in extreme conditions. After studying the stories of people who survived shipwrecks, Bombar became convinced that very, very many survived, stepping over the medical and physiological norms determined by scientists. People incredibly survived with little water and food, in the cold and under the scorching sun, in a storm and calm, on rafts and in boats, on the fifth, tenth and even fiftieth day after the disaster.

The Bombard went on a voyage to own experience prove that:

A person will not drown using an inflatable raft,

A person will not die of hunger and will not get sick with scurvy if he eats plankton and raw fish,

A person will not die of thirst if he drinks juice squeezed from fish and within 5-6 days - sea water.

And he really wanted to break the tradition, according to which the search for the shipwrecked lasted a week or, in rare cases, ten days.

Overboard at will

At first, swimming was not conceived as a solitary one. The bomber was looking for a companion for a long time, he even advertised in newspapers. But the letters came from suicidal people (please take me with you on the voyage, because I have already tried to kill myself three times), crazy people (I am a very good travel companion, and I will give you permission to eat me when you are hungry) or not very smart intruders (I propose to test your theory on my family, first I ask you to accept my mother-in-law into the crew, I have already received her consent). The main sponsor of the expedition also asked to be on board, weighing 152 kg and seeing this as an indisputable advantage over the thin Bombard. In the end, an unemployed yachtsman, Panamanian Jack Palmer, was found. Bombard did not reproach him later, but after a two-week trial voyage from Monaco to Mallorca, during which the researchers ate only two sea bass, a few spoonfuls of plankton and drank several liters of sea water, Jack Palmer refused further experiments. He refused not only from the most difficult torment, but also from world fame.

Bombar left Las Palmas alone. He proudly named his boat the Heretic. It was a tightly inflated rubber punt, 4 m 65 cm long and 1 m 90 cm wide, with a wooden stern and a light wooden deck on the bottom. The Heretic moved with the help of a quadrangular sail measuring approximately 1.5 x 2 m. Retractable keels, oars, a mast, hoists and other equipment were extremely simple and inconvenient.

But the Heretic immediately began to move in the right direction, because Bombar chose the path beaten by Columbus. Everyone went this way to America sailing ships: trade winds and currents inevitably carried to the shores of America. But each navigator spent time on crossing the Atlantic, depending on the seaworthiness of the vessel and - good luck. After all, the trade winds blow irregularly, as Bombar himself was able to verify when he was stuck for almost half a month 600 miles from Barbados.

In the very first nights, still not far from the Canarian coast, Bombard was caught in a storm. With all the desire, it was impossible to actively resist the waves on a rubber boat, it was only possible to scoop up water. He did not guess to take a scoop with him, so he used a hat, quickly became exhausted, lost consciousness and woke up in the water. The boat was completely filled with water, only rubber floats remained on the surface. Before the boat was afloat, he bailed out water for two hours: each time new water ruined all his work.

As soon as the storm subsided, a new misfortune happened - the sail burst. The bomber replaced it with a spare one, but half an hour later a squall blew off the new sail and carried it along with all the fasteners. Bombar had to sew up the old one, and so go under it for the remaining 60 days.

He did not take any fishing rods or nets with him in principle, he decided to make them from improvised means, as befits a shipwrecked man. He tied a knife to the end of the oar and bent the tip to form a harpoon. When he harpooned the first dorado dorado, he got the first fish hooks, which he made from fish bones.

Despite warnings from biologists, Bombar found that in open ocean a lot of fish, and it is not shy, and all its species, unlike coastal ones, are edible raw. Bombar also caught birds, which he also ate raw, gnawing white bones and discarding only the skin and subcutaneous fat. He also ate plankton, considering it a sure remedy for scurvy. About a week he drank sea water, and the rest of the time - juice squeezed out of fish.

Annoying sharks, he beat with an oar. One of the sharks attacked more decisively than the others and was not afraid of blows. The bomber assumed that she had already tasted human flesh and killed her by slitting her belly with a knife. And the boat could also be destroyed by swordfish jumping out of the water nearby and sailboats. At night, an unknown animal ripped off, gnawed off, with its huge jaws, an awning made of rubberized fabric. But the most dangerous of all sharks were shells nesting in glued seams, they quickly grew up and could tear the rubber.

AT quiet time Bombard bathed, but bathing did not help get rid of the numerous abscesses on his body. From water and constantly wet clothes, the body itched, the skin swelled and fell off in ribbons, and for some reason the nails quickly and deeply grew into the fingers and caused severe pain.

Having survived a lot, Bombar finally approached the shores of Barbados. He was an experienced traveler and was in no hurry to disembark. This is how he describes this moment in his book: A friend in distress! When you finally see the earth, it will seem to you that all your misfortunes are over. But take your time! Impatience can ruin everything. Remember that ninety percent of accidents happen at the moment of landing on the ground. The bomber was in no hurry, gave signals, walked along the coast. At the end of the voyage, he became an accidental witness to the tragedy, the ocean showed him that he had let him go, but could have killed him. Before his eyes, a fishing boat, along with five fishermen, was sunk by a giant breaking wave.

Bombard went around the island and landed on west bank, which faces a calmer than the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and which now hosts resort hotels, and at that time there were only deserted beaches. Bombard spent three hours to overcome the barrier reef, and on the beach he was already met by two hundred thieving blacks. When they began to remove everything valuable from the boat and take it away, Bombar realized that he was finally not alone, but among people, on solid ground. He realized that he had snatched his life from the ocean. And although he went overboard of his own free will, he proved that any shipwrecked person could survive two months without food and fresh water.

Sea water or fish juice?

And immediately after swimming, and twenty years later, Alain Bombard advised: You can drink sea water for six days in a row, then only fresh water for three days, then sea water for six days, then fresh water for three days, and so on as much as you like. And in the end you will be saved. Life is waiting for you!

The main opponent - the doctor Hannes Lindemann - twice tested Bombard's achievements on his own experience. In 1955, he sailed for 65 days along the same route in a wooden pirogue. And a year later, in a kayak, he traveled from Las Palmas to the island of Saint Martin in 72 days. He also survived. Moreover, his tests were more difficult than those of Bombard. For example, a storm turned his kayak upside down and Lindemann nearly died.

But after two voyages, Lindemann came to the final conclusion: Since the existence of mankind, everyone knows that you can’t drink sea water. But then a message appeared stating the opposite, provided that the body is not dehydrated. The press picked up the sensation, and the message found a warm response from amateurs. I will say this: of course, you can drink sea water, because you can take poison in appropriate doses. But recommending that shipwrecked people drink sea water is a crime to say the least.

In the early 1960s, doctors different countries conducted research on volunteers, and also interviewed shipwreck survivors. And it was found that out of 977 shipwrecked and drinking sea water, almost 40% died. But out of 3994 who did not drink a drop of sea water, only 133 died. Many then considered the figures convincing. In 1966, the World Health Organization officially warned against the use of sea water. Doctors theme was finally closed.

AT total Alain Bombard drank sea water for two weeks (with a break for recovery in Las Palmas). The rest of the time he drank the juice squeezed from the fish he caught. Since then, many researchers have tried to determine whether it is possible to drink, if not sea water, then at least fish juice. Here's what I found out Russian researcher Viktor Volovich: The body of a fish is 80% water. But to extract it, you need a special device, something like a portable press. However, even with its help, not much water can be squeezed out. For example, only 50 g of juice can be obtained from 1 kg of sea bass, 300 g of dolphin meat gives 300 g, 400 g of a cloudy fish-smelling liquid can be drawn from tuna and cod meat. Perhaps this drink, which does not taste very pleasant, would help solve the problem, if not for one serious but - high content it contains substances that are not indifferent to humans. So, one liter of fish juice contains 80-150 g of fat, 10-12 g of nitrogen, 50-80 g of proteins and a significant amount of sodium, potassium and phosphorus salts.

After many years of research, it turned out that fish juice can only serve to quench thirst to a very small extent: the body uses almost all the liquid drunk to remove the substances contained in the juice.

The composition of salts in sea water is constant everywhere, only the salinity of the water changes. The most salty water in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aqaba, its salinity is 41.5 g per liter. In second place is the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Turkey with a salinity of 39.5 g per liter. In the Atlantic Ocean, in the tropics and subtropics, salinity is also very high - 37.5 g per liter. In the Black Sea, salinity is half as much - 17-19 g per liter, and in Gulf of Finland and at all 3-4 grams per liter.

With food, a person receives 15-25 g of salt per day. Excess salts are excreted through the kidneys. To remove 37 g of salts from a liter of sea water, 1.5 liters of water are needed, i.e. to the drunk liter, the body must add another half liter from its own reserves. In addition, the kidneys can remove a maximum of 200 g of salts from the body even with sufficient fluid. Sooner or later (after 1-4 days), the kidneys cease to cope with the load, the concentration of salts in the body rises. Salts affect the internal organs (kidneys, intestines, stomach) and disrupt the functioning nervous system. Death from salt poisoning is a typical occurrence for pigs fed with kitchen and restaurant waste. Man is more resistant to the action of salts than animals. Before dying from defeat internal organs, a mental disorder occurs, a person goes crazy and can commit suicide.

Currently, instructions and memos for those in distress (such memos are provided with rescue equipment) use of sea water is strictly prohibited.

Poon Lim, a sailor on an American transport sunk by the Japanese during World War II, spent 133 days on a longboat in pacific ocean with very little water and no food at all. He ate fish, crabs and shrimp, which became entangled in tangles of algae. For 55 days, he stretched the available supply of water, and the remaining days he drank only sea water.

In 1945, a young naval doctor, Pyotr Yeresko, sailed in a boat for 37 days in the Black Sea, having no supply of fresh water, and drinking only sea water.

William Willis, a lone navigator who, following the example of Thor Heyerdahl in 1959, sailed on the Seven sisters balsa raft, according to him, drank at least two cups of sea water a day and did not experience the slightest harm from it.

Poplavsky, Fedotov, Kryuchkovsky and Ziganshin, soldiers from a barge blown into the ocean, drank only rainwater and rusty water from the engine cooling system and not a drop of sea water. They didn't know anything about Bombard or the research of the 60s. They survived, although for 49 days they had only three buckets of potatoes, a loaf of bread, a can of fat, four leather belts and a lame accordion, and no fish were caught in the stormy icy sea.

Finest hour and final results

Sailing on the Heretic and publishing the book Overboard of their own free will finest hour Bombara. Developing success, he argued the need for mandatory equipment of all ships with life rafts. But at the London Conference on the Safety of Navigation in 1960, the decision on inflatable life-saving appliances was made without the participation and even without mentioning the name of Bombar. But for some time, inflatable rafts were called nothing more than bombers. What happened?

In the autumn of 1958 in France, in the surf on the shallows at the mouth of the river Ethel, Alain Bombard with a group of six volunteers decided to demonstrate to local fishermen the effectiveness of an inflatable raft. He set himself the task of crossing the breaking waves back and forth. At first, everything went as planned. The raft withstood five huge shafts, overcame half of the surf strip, but the sixth shaft turned it over. All seven were in the water. But since everyone was wearing life jackets, no one drowned. In the meantime, observers on the shore called for a rescue boat. Rescuers, and there were also seven of them, caught Bombard and volunteers and dragged them onto the boat. The rescued boat seemed so reliable that they took off their life jackets, and the rescuers did not have them from the very beginning. And then the engines stalled. Then it turned out that the rope from the raft was wound around the screws. A terrible thing happened: the oncoming waves turned the boat upside down. All 14 people were under him, in an air bell. Alain Bombard, who was the best swimmer of all, surfaced for help. But it was impossible to help in such a situation, nine people died. Bombar and his followers argued that it was just an accident. Taking into account the tragedy, life rafts began to supply pockets to increase stability, which, filled with water, act as ballast, which is why it is quite difficult to turn over a modern life raft. The rafts were improved, but Bombard's reputation was hopelessly damaged.

Now Bombar is remembered only because of his first voyage and the book. Then he more than once undertook voyages with the most different purposes. He was the first to prove that you can not dump in the sea radioactive waste. But 40 years ago it was not as obvious as it is now. He studied seasickness and the bactericidal properties of sea water, fought pollution mediterranean sea. But the main result of Bombar's life is ten thousand people who wrote to him: If not for your example, we would have died.

Alain Bombard went to solo swimming, which lasted 65 days, from October 19 to December 23, 1952. His background is this. In the spring of 1951, Alain Bombard, a young intern (A.B. was born on October 27, 1924), who had just begun his professional activity in the hospital of the French port of Boulogne, was shocked by the number of dead sailors from the shipwrecked near the shore of the trawler Notre Dame de Peyrag.

The trawler at night, in the fog, ran into the stones of the coastal pier and crashed. 43 sailors were killed. In the morning, a few hours later, their bodies were pulled ashore and, most surprisingly, they were all wearing life jackets! It was this event that prompted the young doctor to take up the problem of saving the lives of people in distress at sea.

Bombard wondered why so many people become victims of shipwrecks? After all, many thousands of people die at sea every year. And as a rule, 90% of them die in the first three days. Why is this happening? After all, in order to die of hunger and thirst, it would take much longer. Bombard concluded, which he later wrote in his book Overboard of His Own Will: “Victims of the legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know: it was not the sea that killed you, it was not hunger that killed you, it was not thirst that killed you! Swinging on the waves to the plaintive cries of seagulls, you died of fear!

Alain Bombard became interested in the problems of survival in extreme conditions during his studies. Having studied many stories of people who survived after shipwrecks, Bombar was convinced that many of them survived, stepping over the medical and physiological norms determined by scientists. Some remained alive on rafts and boats, in the cold and under the scorching sun, in the stormy ocean, with a tiny supply of water and food on the fifth, tenth and even fiftieth day after the disaster. Like a doctor who knows the reserves well human body, Alain Bombard was sure that many people, forced to part with the comfort of the ship as a result of the tragedy and escape by any means at hand, died long before they were left physical forces. Despair killed them. And such a death overtook not only random people in the sea - passengers, but also those accustomed to the sea professional sailors.

Therefore, Alain Bombard decided to go on a long sea navigation, putting himself in the conditions of a "man overboard", in order to prove the following from his own experience: 1. A person will not drown if he uses an inflatable life raft as a life-saving device. 2. A person will not die of hunger and will not get sick with scurvy if he eats plankton and raw fish. 3. A person will not die of thirst if he drinks the juice squeezed from fish, and within 5-6 days - sea water. In addition, he really wanted to break the tradition that the search for shipwrecked victims stopped after a week or, in extreme cases, after 10 days. Regarding the first two points, I can say that it was after the voyage of Alain Bombara that on all ships, especially small and fishing ones, along with lifeboats and boats, inflatable life rafts of various capacities began to be widely used - PSN-6, PSN-8, PSN-10 , (PSN - inflatable life raft, figure - capacity of a person.) In relation to raw fish - indigenous people extreme north- Chukchi, Nenets, Eskimos, in order not to get sick with scurvy, always ate and eat not only raw fish, but also the meat of marine animals, thus making up for the lack of vitamin C, which, as you know, is found in various vegetables and fruits.

It was not so easy to carry out the planned experiment. The bomber had been preparing for swimming for about a year, both theoretically and psychologically. To begin with, he studied a lot of materials about shipwrecks, their causes, life-saving equipment. different types ships and their equipment. Then he began to conduct experiments on himself, eating what could be available to the shipwrecked. For six months, from October 1951, Bombard spent in the laboratories of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, exploring chemical composition sea water, types of plankton, the structure of a variety of fish that can be found in the ocean. These studies have shown that from 50 to 80% of the weight of the fish is water, while fresh, and the flesh marine fish contains less various salts than the meat of land mammals. It is the juice squeezed out of the body of fish that can satisfy the need for fresh water. Salty sea water, as shown by his experiments, can be drunk in small quantities to prevent dehydration, for five days. Plankton, on the other hand, consisting of the smallest microorganisms and algae, is known to be the only food for the largest marine mammals - whales, which proves its high nutritional value.

It was a tightly inflated rubber sausage, curved in the shape of an elongated horseshoe, the ends of which were connected by a wooden stern. On the flat rubber bottom lay light wooden sleighs. The side floats consisted of 4 compartments, which were inflated and deflated independently of one another. The boat moved with the help of a quadrangular sail with an area of \u200b\u200babout three square meters. Bombard called this "vessel" symbolically - "Heretic"! There was no additional equipment in it - only the badly needed compass, sextant, navigation books, first aid kit and photographic equipment.

In the early morning of May 25, 1952, a speedboat towed the Heretic as far from the port of Fontvieille as possible so that the boat would be caught by the current and not washed ashore. And when the ships escorting the boat left, and Bombard and Palmer were left face to face among the alien elements, fear fell. Alain writes: “He suddenly fell upon us, as if the disappearance of the last ship over the horizon cleared the way for him ... Then we had to experience more than once fear, real fear, and not this momentary anxiety caused by departure. Real fear is the panic of the soul and body, distraught in the fight with the elements, when it seems that the whole universe is inexorably ganging up on you. And overcoming fear is no less difficult task than fighting hunger and thirst. Bombar and Palmer spent two weeks in the Mediterranean. During this time, they did not touch the emergency emergency supply, making do with what the sea gave them. Of course, it was very difficult. But Bombar realized that his first experience was a success, and you can prepare for a long voyage. However, Jack Palmer, by the way, is an experienced yachtsman who had previously made a solo voyage through Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht, but abundantly equipped with everything necessary, refused to tempt fate any further. Two weeks was enough for him, he was frightened by the thought again long time eat raw fish, swallow nasty, albeit useful, plankton, drink juice squeezed from fish, diluting it sea water.

Bombard, on the other hand, firmly decided to continue the planned experiment. First, he had to overcome the path from the Mediterranean to Casablanca, along the coast of Africa, then from Casablanca to canary islands. And only then sail across the ocean in the way that all sailing ships went to America for many centuries, including the caravels of Columbus. This route passes away from modern sea routes, so it is difficult to count on a meeting with any vessel. But this was precisely what suited Bombard, so to speak, for the "purity" of the experience. Many tried to dissuade the doctor from continuing the voyage after he safely covered the route from Casablanca to the Canary Islands in 11 days on the Heretic. Moreover, in early September, Bombard's wife Ginette gave birth to a daughter in Paris. But, having flown for a few days from Las Palmas to Paris and seeing his relatives, the doctor continued the final preparations for departure. October 19, 1952, on Sunday, a French yacht brought the "Heretic" from the port of Puerto de la Luz (this is the port of the capital of the Canary Islands, Las Palmas) to the ocean expanse. A passing northeast trade wind carried the boat farther and farther from the Earth. How many incredible difficulties Bombara had to experience!

One of the first nights Bombar got into a severe storm. The boat was completely filled with water, only mighty rubber floats were visible on the surface. It was necessary to bail out the water, but it turned out that there was no scoop, and the water had to be bailed out with a hat for two hours. In his diary, he wrote: “Until now, I myself cannot understand how I managed, chilling with horror, to hold out in this way for two hours. Shipwrecked, always be stubborn than the sea, and you will win! After this storm, Bombar believed that his "Heretic" could not roll over, it was like a hydroplane or a platform, as it were, sliding about water surface. A few days later, the navigator suffered another misfortune - the sail burst from a gust of wind. The bomber replaced it with a new, spare one, but after half an hour another flurry tore it off and carried it into the ocean, like a lung kite. I had to urgently repair the old one, and go under it for the remaining 60 days.

Neither fishing rods, nor nets, except for plankton, Bombar did not take on principle, as it should be for a shipwrecked person. He built a harpoon by tying a knife with a curved tip to the end of the oar. With this harpoon, he got the first fish - Dorada Dorado. And already from her bones he made the first fish hooks. Although biologists scared the doctor before sailing that he would not be able to catch anything far from the coast, it turned out that there were a lot of fish in the open ocean. She was not shy, literally accompanied the boat during the entire voyage. There were especially many flying fish, which at night stumbled upon the sail and fell into the boat, and each morning Bombar found from five to fifteen pieces. In addition to fish, Bombar also ate plankton, which he says tastes a bit like krill paste but looks unsightly. Occasionally, birds were caught on the hook, which he also ate raw, throwing out only the skin and fat. During the voyage, for about a week, the doctor drank sea water, and the rest of the time - juice squeezed out of fish. fresh water it was possible to collect in a small amount in the form of condensate on an awning after cool nights. And only in November, after a heavy tropical downpour, it was possible to immediately collect about 15 liters of fresh water.

From the constant stay in a humid environment, from salt water and unusual food, acne began to appear on the Bombard's body, causing severe pain. The slightest wounds and scratches began to fester, they did not heal for a long time. The nails of the hands completely grew into the meat, pustules also formed under them, which the doctor himself opened without anesthesia. To top it off, the skin on my legs began to shred, and the nails on four fingers fell out. But the blood pressure remained normal all the time. The bomber kept observations of his condition throughout the voyage and wrote them down in his diary. When there was a tropical downpour for several days in a row, and water was everywhere - above and below, everything in the boat was saturated with it, he wrote: “The state of mind is cheerful, but due to constant dampness, physical fatigue". However, the scorching sun and the calm that set in early December were even more painful. It was then that Bombar wrote a will, as he lost confidence that he would get to Earth alive. During the voyage, he lost 25 kilograms, and the level of hemoglobin in the blood dropped to critical. And yet he swam! December 23, 1952 "Heretic" approached the coast of the island of Barbados. He had to spend about three hours to go around the island with east side, where there was the strongest surf because of the reefs, and land on the calmer western coast.

On the shore, a crowd of local fishermen and children were waiting for him, who immediately rushed not only to examine, but also to take all things out of the boat. The bomber feared most of all that they would not steal his emergency supply of food, which he had to leave untouched for examination at the very first police station. The nearest site, as it turned out, was at least three kilometers, so Bombar had to find three witnesses who testified to the integrity of the packaging of this stock, and then distribute it local residents which they were very happy about. Bombar writes that he was later reproached for not immediately sealing up his ship's logbook, his notes, in order to prove their authenticity. Apparently, he says, these people do not understand “how it feels to be a person who has stepped ashore after 65 days spent in all alone and almost motionless.

Thus ended this amazing feat in the name of saving the lives of those who are overboard against their will. Sailing on the "Heretic" and publishing the book "Overboard at will" were Bombard's finest hour. It was thanks to him that in 1960 the London Conference on the Safety of Navigation decided to equip ships with life rafts. Subsequently, he more than once undertook voyages for a variety of purposes, studied seasickness and the bactericidal properties of water, and fought against pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. But the main result of Bombara's life (A.B. died on July 19, 2005) is ten thousand people who wrote to him: "If not for your example, we would have died!"

Alain Bombard went on a solo voyage, which lasted 65 days, from October 19 to December 23, 1952. His background is this. In the spring of 1951, Alain Bombard, a young intern doctor (A.B. was born on October 27, 1924), who had just begun his professional career in the hospital of the French port of Boulogne, was shocked by the number of dead sailors from the shipwrecked near the shore of the trawler Notre Dame de -Peyrag. The trawler at night, in the fog, ran into the stones of the coastal pier and crashed. 43 sailors were killed. In the morning, a few hours later, their bodies were pulled ashore and, most surprisingly, they were all wearing life jackets! It was this event that prompted the young doctor to take up the problem of saving the lives of people in distress at sea.

French physician Alain Bombard. Photo: wikimedia.org

Alain Bombard became interested in the problems of survival in extreme conditions during his studies. Having studied many stories of people who survived after shipwrecks, Bombar was convinced that many of them survived, stepping over the medical and physiological norms determined by scientists. Some remained alive on rafts and boats, in the cold and under the scorching sun, in the stormy ocean, with a tiny supply of water and food on the fifth, tenth and even fiftieth day after the disaster. As a doctor who knows the reserves of the human body well, Alain Bombard was sure that many people who were forced to part with the comfort of the ship as a result of the tragedy and escape using any available means died long before their physical strength left them. Despair killed them. And such a death overtook not only random people in the sea - passengers, but also professional sailors accustomed to the sea.

Therefore, Alain Bombard decided to go on a long sea voyage, putting himself in the conditions of a "man overboard", in order to prove the following from his own experience: 1. A person will not drown if he uses an inflatable life raft as a life-saving device. 2. A person will not die of hunger and will not get sick with scurvy if he eats plankton and raw fish. 3. A person will not die of thirst if he drinks the juice squeezed from fish, and within 5-6 days - sea water. In addition, he really wanted to break the tradition that the search for shipwrecked victims stopped after a week or, in extreme cases, after 10 days. Regarding the first two points, I can say that it was after the voyage of Alain Bombara that on all ships, especially small and fishing ones, along with lifeboats and boats, inflatable life rafts of various capacities began to be widely used - PSN-6, PSN-8, PSN-10 , (PSN - inflatable life raft, the figure is the capacity of a person.) Regarding raw fish - the indigenous inhabitants of the Far North - the Chukchi, Nenets, Eskimos, in order not to get sick with scurvy, always ate and eat not only raw fish, but also the meat of marine animals, making up for the lack of vitamin "C", which, as you know, is found in various vegetables and fruits.

It was not so easy to carry out the planned experiment. The bomber had been preparing for swimming for about a year, both theoretically and psychologically. To begin with, he studied a lot of materials about shipwrecks, their causes, life-saving equipment of different types of ships and their equipment. Then he began to conduct experiments on himself, eating what could be available to the shipwrecked. For six months, since October 1951, Bombard spent in the laboratories of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, studying the chemical composition of sea water, types of plankton, and the structure of various fish that can be found in the ocean. These studies have shown that from 50 to 80% of the weight of the fish is water, while fresh, and the flesh of marine fish contains less various salts than the meat of land mammals. It is the juice squeezed out of the body of fish that can satisfy the need for fresh water. Salty sea water, as shown by his experiments, can be drunk in small quantities to prevent dehydration, for five days. Plankton, on the other hand, consisting of the smallest microorganisms and algae, is known to be the only food for the largest marine mammals - whales, which proves its high nutritional value.

There were many friends who ardently supported the idea of Bombard and provided all kinds of assistance, but there were also skeptics, ill-wishers, or even simply hostile people. Not everyone understood the humanity of the idea, they even called it heresy, and the author himself - a heretic. Shipbuilders were indignant that the doctor was going to cross the ocean in an inflatable boat, which, as they believed, could not be controlled. The sailors were surprised that an unprofessional sailor, a person completely unaware of the theory of navigation, wants to make a voyage. Doctors were horrified when they learned that Alain was going to live on seafood and drink sea water. At first, swimming was conceived not as a single, but as part of three people. But as always happens, practice is very different from theory, the embodiment of the idea from the original idea. When Bombar received a rubber boat, designed for swimming, about the size of a passenger car, it became clear that there was simply no room for a long voyage of three. The boat was 4.65 meters long and 1.9 meters wide. It was a tightly inflated rubber sausage, curved in the shape of an elongated horseshoe, the ends of which were connected by a wooden stern. Light wooden sleighs lay on a flat rubber bottom. The side floats consisted of 4 compartments, which were inflated and deflated independently of one another. The boat moved with the help of a quadrangular sail with an area of about three square meters. Bombard called this "vessel" symbolically - "Heretic"! There was no additional equipment in it - only the badly needed compass, sextant, navigation books, first aid kit and photographic equipment.

Dr. Bombar aboard his Heretic. 1952 Photo: Getty Images

In the early morning of May 25, 1952, a speedboat towed the Heretic as far from the port of Fontvieille as possible so that the boat would be caught by the current and not washed ashore. And when the ships escorting the boat left, and Bombard and Palmer were left face to face among the alien elements, fear fell. Alain writes: “He suddenly fell upon us, as if the disappearance of the last ship over the horizon cleared the way for him ... Then we had to experience more than once fear, real fear, and not this momentary anxiety caused by departure. Real fear is the panic of the soul and body, distraught in the fight with the elements, when it seems that the whole universe is inexorably ganging up on you. And overcoming fear is no less difficult task than fighting hunger and thirst. Bombar and Palmer spent two weeks in the Mediterranean. During this time, they did not touch the emergency emergency supply, making do with what the sea gave them. Of course, it was very difficult. But Bombar realized that his first experience was a success, and you can prepare for a long voyage. However, Jack Palmer, by the way, an experienced yachtsman, who had previously made a solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht, but abundantly equipped with everything necessary, refused to tempt fate any further. Two weeks was enough for him, he was frightened by the thought of eating raw fish again for a long time, swallowing nasty, albeit useful plankton, drinking juice squeezed from fish, diluting it with sea water.

Bombard, on the other hand, firmly decided to continue the planned experiment. First, he had to overcome the path from the Mediterranean to Casablanca, along the coast of Africa, then from Casablanca to the Canary Islands. And only then sail across the ocean in the way that all sailing ships went to America for many centuries, including the caravels of Columbus. This route passes away from modern sea routes, so it is difficult to count on a meeting with any vessel. But this was precisely what suited Bombard, so to speak, for the "purity" of the experience. Many tried to dissuade the doctor from continuing the voyage after he safely covered the route from Casablanca to the Canary Islands in 11 days on the Heretic. Moreover, in early September, Bombard's wife Ginette gave birth to a daughter in Paris. But, having flown for a few days from Las Palmas to Paris and seeing his relatives, the doctor continued the final preparations for departure. October 19, 1952, on Sunday, a French yacht brought the Heretic from the port of Puerto de la Luz (this is the port of the capital of the Canary Islands, Las Palmas) to the ocean expanse. A passing northeast trade wind carried the boat farther and farther from the Earth. How many incredible difficulties Bombara had to experience!

One of the first nights Bombar got into a severe storm. The boat was completely filled with water, only mighty rubber floats were visible on the surface. It was necessary to bail out water, but it turned out that there was no scoop, and the water had to be bailed out with a hat for two hours. In his diary, he wrote: “Until now, I myself cannot understand how I managed, chilling with horror, to hold out in this way for two hours. Shipwrecked, always be stubborn than the sea, and you will win! After this storm, Bombard believed that his "Heretic" could not roll over, it was like a hydroplane or a platform, as it were, gliding over the water surface. A few days later, the navigator suffered another misfortune - the sail burst from a gust of wind. The bomber replaced it with a new, spare one, but half an hour later another flurry tore it off and carried it into the ocean, like a light kite. I had to urgently repair the old one, and go under it for the remaining 60 days.

Neither fishing rods, nor nets, except for plankton, Bombar did not take on principle, as it should be for a shipwrecked person. He built a harpoon by tying a knife with a curved tip to the end of the oar. With this harpoon, he got the first fish - Dorada Dorado. And already from her bones he made the first fish hooks. Although biologists scared the doctor before sailing that he would not be able to catch anything far from the coast, it turned out that there were a lot of fish in the open ocean. She was not shy, literally accompanied the boat during the entire voyage. There were especially many flying fish, which at night stumbled upon the sail and fell into the boat, and each morning Bombar found from five to fifteen pieces. In addition to fish, Bombar also ate plankton, which he says tastes a bit like krill paste but looks unsightly. Occasionally, birds were caught on the hook, which he also ate raw, throwing out only the skin and fat. During the voyage, for about a week, the doctor drank sea water, and the rest of the time - juice squeezed out of fish. Fresh water managed to be collected in a small amount in the form of condensate on the tent after cool nights. And only in November, after a heavy tropical downpour, it was possible to immediately collect about 15 liters of fresh water.

From constant stay in a humid environment, from salt water and unusual food, pimples began to appear on Bombard's body, causing severe pain. The slightest wounds and scratches began to fester, they did not heal for a long time. The nails of the hands completely grew into the meat, pustules also formed under them, which the doctor himself opened without anesthesia. To top it off, the skin on my legs began to shred, and the nails on four fingers fell out. But the blood pressure remained normal all the time. The bomber kept observations of his condition throughout the voyage and wrote them down in his diary. When a tropical downpour fell for several days in a row, and water was everywhere - above and below, everything in the boat was saturated with it, he wrote: “The state of mind is cheerful, but physical fatigue appeared due to constant dampness.” However, the scorching sun and the calm that set in early December were even more painful. It was then that Bombar wrote a will, as he lost confidence that he would get to Earth alive. During the voyage, he lost 25 kilograms, and the level of hemoglobin in the blood dropped to critical. And yet he swam! December 23, 1952 "Heretic" approached the coast of the island of Barbados. He had to spend about three hours to go around the island on the east side, where there was the strongest surf due to the reefs, and land on the calmer western coast.

On the shore, a crowd of local fishermen and children were waiting for him, who immediately rushed not only to examine, but also to take all things out of the boat. The bomber feared most of all that they would not steal his emergency supply of food, which he had to leave untouched for examination at the very first police station. The nearest site, as it turned out, was at least three kilometers away, so Bombard had to find three witnesses who testified to the integrity of the packaging of this stock, and then distribute it to the local residents, which they were very happy about. Bombar writes that he was later reproached for not immediately sealing up his ship's logbook, his notes, in order to prove their authenticity. Apparently, he says, these people have no idea "how it feels to walk ashore after 65 days spent in complete solitude and almost without movement."

Thus ended this amazing feat in the name of saving the lives of those who are overboard against their will. Sailing on the Heretic and publication of the book "Overboard of one's own free will" were Bombard's finest hour. It was thanks to him that in 1960 the London Conference on the Safety of Navigation decided to equip ships with life rafts. Subsequently, he more than once undertook voyages for a variety of purposes, studied seasickness and the bactericidal properties of water, and fought against pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. But the main result of Bombara's life (A.B. died on July 19, 2005) is ten thousand people who wrote to him: "If not for your example, we would have died!"

sources

http://www.peoples.ru/science/biology/bombard/

http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-10706/

http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-10707/

http://www.kp.ru/daily/26419.3/3291677/

Here's another one unusual story: and in general The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

This man is not easily attributed to the outstanding "sea wolves", since he went out to sea only twice, both times on a boat without a rudder and without sails. However, his feat was one of the most outstanding achievements humanity in confrontation with the ocean.

Being a practicing doctor in a seaside hospital, Alain Baumbar was literally shocked by the fact that every year tens and even hundreds of thousands of people die at sea! And at the same time, a significant part of them died not from drowning, cold or hunger, but from fear, they died only because they believed in the inevitability of their death.

They were killed by despair, lack of will, apparent aimlessness to fight for their lives and the lives of their comrades in misfortune. "Victims of the legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know: it was not the sea that killed you, it was not hunger that killed you, it was not thirst that killed you! Swinging on the waves to the plaintive cries of seagulls, you died of fear," Bombar said firmly, deciding to prove it from his own experience strength of courage and self-confidence.

Every year, up to fifty thousand people die in boats and life belts, and at the same time, 90% of them die in the first three days! It is quite understandable that during shipwrecks, for whatever reason they occur, people get lost, they forget that the human body is able to live without water for ten days, and without food even up to thirty.

As a doctor who knows the reserves of the human body well, Alain Bombard was sure that many people who, for one reason or another, were forced to leave the comfort of the ship and escape on boats, rafts or other improvised means, died long before their abandoned physical strength: they were killed by despair. And such a death overtook not only random people in the sea - passengers, but also professional sailors accustomed to the sea. This habit was for them connected with the deck of the ship, reliable, although swaying. They are accustomed to looking at the sea from the height of the ship's hull. A ship is not just a means of transportation on water, it is also psychological factor, enclosing human psyche from fear of an alien element. On a ship, a person has confidence, the conviction that he is insured against possible accidents that all these accidents are foreseen by experienced ship designers and builders, that a sufficient amount of all kinds of food and water is prepared in the holds of the ship for the entire period of the voyage and even more ...

Not without reason, back in time sailing fleet they said that only whalers and hunters see the real sea fur seals, as they attack whales and seals in the open ocean from small whaleboats and sometimes wander for a long time in the fog, carried by sudden storm winds from their ship. These people rarely died: after all, they were prepared in advance to sail the sea on a boat for some time. They knew about it and were ready to overcome the elements on their fragile and yet reliable whaleboats.

Even having lost a ship in the open ocean for one reason or another, they traveled enormous distances and still came to land. True, not always either: if some died, it was only after many days of stubborn struggle, during which they did everything they could, exhausting the last forces of their body. All these people were mentally prepared for the need to spend some time on the boat. These were normal conditions their work.

Wanting to make unprepared people believe in themselves, in the ability to overcome both the forces of the elements and their apparent weakness, Alain Bombard is not a St. John's wort or a sailor, but an ordinary doctor set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in an ordinary inflatable boat.

He was sure that there is a lot of food in the sea and you just need to be able to get this food in the form of planktonic animals and plants or fish. He knew that all life-saving equipment on ships - boats, boats, rafts - have a set of lines, sometimes nets, they have certain tools for fishing for marine life, and finally, they can be made from improvised means. With their help, you can get food, since almost everything that our body needs is contained in marine animals. Even fresh water.

However, sea water, consumed in small quantities, can help a person save the body from dehydration. Recall that the Polynesians, who were sometimes blown away by hurricanes far from the earth, knew how to fight for their lives and, perhaps most importantly, accustomed their bodies to the consumption of sea water. Sometimes for weeks and months the boats of the Polynesians rushed across the stormy ocean, and yet the islanders survived by catching fish, turtles, birds, using the juices of these animals. In all this, they did not see anything special, since they were mentally prepared for such troubles. But the same islanders dutifully died on the shore with a full abundance of food, when it became known to them that someone had "bewitched" them. They believed in the power of witchcraft and therefore died. Out of fear!..

To the equipment of his rubber boat, Bombar added only a plankton net and a speargun.

The bomber chose an unusual route for himself - far from the sea routes of merchant ships. True, his "Heretic", as this boat was called, was supposed to go in the warm zone of the ocean, but this is a deserted zone. To the north and south are the routes of commercial ships.

Previously, as a preparation for this journey, he and his friend spent two weeks in the Mediterranean. For fourteen days they made do with what the sea gave them. The first experience of a long journey dependent on the sea was a success. Of course, and it was difficult, very difficult!

However, his comrade, by the way, is an experienced sailor who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht all alone, but provided with everything necessary in abundance, in last moment got scared and just disappeared. Two weeks was long enough for him to refuse to tempt fate any further. He assured that he believed in Bombard's idea, but he was scared away by the thought of the impending need to eat raw fish again, swallow the healing, but so disgusting plankton and drink the juice squeezed from the body of the fish, diluting it with sea water. Perhaps he was a brave sailor, but a man of a different stock than Bombar: he did not have the purposefulness of Bombar.

Bombard prepared for his voyage theoretically and mentally. As a physician, he knew that water was more important than food. And he examined dozens of fish species that he could meet in the ocean. These studies have shown that 50 to 80% of the weight of the fish is water, and at the same time fresh, and that the body of marine fish contains significantly less salt than the meat of mammals.

Having carefully checked the amount of different salts dissolved in the water of the ocean, Bombar was convinced that, apart from table salt, then every 800 grams of sea water contains approximately the same amount of other salts as there is in a liter of different mineral waters. We drink these waters - often with great benefit. During his journey, Bombar became convinced that it was extremely important to prevent dehydration of the body in the early days, and then a decrease in water rations would not be detrimental to the body in the future. Thus, he supported his idea with scientific data.

Bombard had many friends, but there were also skeptics, ill-wishers, and people who were simply hostile to him. Not everyone understood the humanity of his idea. Newspapermen were looking for a sensation, and since there was none, they invented it. Experts were unanimously indignant: shipbuilders - that Bombar was going to cross the ocean in a boat that supposedly could not be controlled; sailors - because he is not a sailor, but go ahead ... the doctors were horrified that Bombar was going to live on seafood and drink sea water.

As if challenging all his skeptics, Bombar called his boat "The Heretic"...

By the way, people who are well acquainted with the history of navigation and shipwrecks warmly supported the idea of Bombard. Moreover, they were confident in the success of the experiment.

Alain Bombard sailed across the ocean for sixty-five days. In the very first days, he refuted the assurances of "specialists" that there were no fish in the ocean. Many books about the oceans are full of such expressions as "desert ocean", "water desert"...

Bombar proved that this is far from the case! Just with big ships it was hard to notice life in the ocean. Another thing is on a raft or on a boat! From here you can observe the diverse life of the sea - life, sometimes unfamiliar, incomprehensible, full of surprises. The ocean is often deserted for many weeks of travel, but it is inhabited night and day by creatures that can be useful or harmful to man. rich animal world ocean, but little else we know it.

Alain Bombard proved that a person can do a lot if he really wants to and does not lose willpower. He is able to survive in the most difficult conditions in which he may accidentally find himself. Describing this unprecedented experiment on himself in the book "Overboard of his own free will", which sold millions of copies, Alain Bombard, perhaps saved tens of thousands of lives of those people who were alone with the hostile elements - and were not afraid.

Just a little over sixty years ago, the doctor Alain Bombard alone, in a small rubber boat, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It took him sixty-five days. He drank sea water and ate what he caught in the ocean. He wanted to prove that shipwrecked victims have a chance of survival. And he proved.

Alain Bombard - overboard of his own free will

Rubber boat Heretic - on it Alain Bombard went to conquer the ocean

The bomber kept a diary. He wrote everything down. For example:

“Eating raw fish makes a person very susceptible to infection. The slightest wound breaks." He threw antibiotics overboard - what if the victims of disasters do not have them.
He found out that you need to drink sea water in small portions, and then the kidneys cope, but you can only drink this way for six days - then you have to catch fish and squeeze out its juice. The skin is cut into the fish, and lymph is released from it, so they drink it. Or they chop the fish into small pieces, and then wrap it in a cloth and squeeze it out. They drink fish juice for a day, and then you can drink sea water again.

The itinerary of an incredible journey

Alpina Publisher's book about Alan Bombard's journey

“About half a liter of water can be collected in the morning - dew falls. It covers the entire boat and can be assembled with a sponge.
To reduce thirst, you need to moisten any rag and put it on your face.
If you throw a sock on a leash overboard, then in an hour plankton will pick up in it. A tablespoon a day satisfies the need for vitamin C. No need to take off your clothes, even if they get wet. Clothing keeps you warm."

What only Bombar did not experience. Storms, and calm, and scorching heat fell to his lot. The skin on my legs came off in tatters, my fingernails grew into the meat, and everything on my legs came off. He developed bloody diarrhea, at times it was difficult to keep his psyche within the normal range. He was talking to the doll. The little doll was given to him by his friends. And Bomber won. Sixty-five days later he landed on the island of Barbados.

“To achieve victory, you must believe in it!” - he wrote in a note to his friend Jack, who abandoned him just before the start of this voyage. After that, Bombar and went across the ocean alone.
He won because he knew that a person dies first of all from fear. So in lifeboats passengers on the Titanic died. So many victims of shipwrecks perished.

The bomber gave them a chance. He proved that man can do everything. In the summer of 2005, Alain Bombard, a man of insane courage, passed away. He was in his 81st year.

Portal for the student. Self-training

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