The perfect book to read while solidifying in subzero weather is The Raft by Robert Trumbull. And one look at the cover will suggest that another bite of that fat laden steak is well-worthwhile.Trumbull retells the story of 3 aviators whose plane went down in the Pacific. They had a rubber raft and little else because the plane sank so quickly. They were adrift for 34 days and traveled over 1,000 miles. The raft was about four by eight feet. It was so small that no one could stretch out. "Imagine doubling up on a tiny mattress, with the strongest man you know striking the underside as hard as he could with a baseball bat, twice every three seconds, while someone else hurls buckets of cold salt water in your face." The raft also had a nasty tendency to overturn when waves got a little high, or the occupants moved incorrectly. Their clothes were often wet from spray. They were very hot during the day and cold at night. They had no food, and, after the several flips of the raft, only a penknife and themselves for company.
It's always amazing how resourceful people can be under trying circumstances. Harold Dixon, who had the most navigational experience, managed to calculate about where they were and where they needed to go, more or less, and then figured small ways to steer the craft to go in that particular direction.
Squalls were viewed as a mixed blessing. Rain was their only source of drinking water (which they gathered by wringing out their clothes. But squalls brought wind and waves which might turn them over.
Finally, after being tossed by the winds of a passing hurricane they sighted an island toward which they frantically paddled, The natives were astonished to see them for they managed to float through the surf of a coral reef that the natives considered impenetrable in their canoes. They were slowly nursed back to health and then eventually rescued.
