Survivalist and chief scout Bear Grylls has spent a lot of time at sea during his life—he grew up on an island, where he learned about boating and built a boat with his father. He also learned to sail in his sister’s single-handed Laser dinghy.
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In his biography Mud, Sweat and Tears, Bear writes about how he loved spending time alone in the elements, the feeling of battling against the forces of nature, and experiencing how adventure made him come alive.
However, as any sailor knows, things can go wrong very quickly at sea if you run into problems, and you may have to battle the ocean’s elements for survival when you are adrift, sinking, or lost miles from land.
Trouble could come in the form of extreme weather, running into something, or something hitting you, damaging your hull so it’s now leaking and letting in cold water. Trouble at sea can also take the form of a fire or some other problem with your boat.
Here is Bear’s advice for how to survive being lost at sea:
Know When to Abandon Ship
Abandoning ship should always be a last resort, but if your boat is on fire or sinking, then you will have no option but to launch your life raft.
“The hardest decision you will ever make is to abandon ship,” says Bear in his book, World Adventure Survival Camp.
If there are other people on your boat, get on board the life raft and throw a life ring to the other survivors.
Pack a Grab Bag
You should always have a “grab bag” ready and packed that contains the essentials that you will need for survival if you need to abandon ship.
Essentials include a torch, foil blanket, dry clothes, and emergency rations. You should also have fishing gear, a signaling mirror, and flares. You can also include a whistle, locator beacon, knife, first aid kit, water purifier, bailing bucket, paddles, and canned food.
“In an emergency, activate your inflatable life raft, grab the bag and go,” says Bear in the book.
Find Water
There are many ways to collect drinking water at sea, from collecting rainwater to using a solar still or even making your own.
Bear says that fish eyes, bones, and flesh are also sources of water. “Eat the eyes and flesh raw and squeeze the bones in a cloth,” he says.
Bear advises to never drink seawater. “It is too salty and will just make you more thirsty,” he says. “Eventually it will drive you mad and kill you.”
He also advises that water that is not good for drinking can still be used “by putting it up your bottom”. This is called a rehydration enema—and Bear once demonstrated how to do this from a raft on a Pacific Island on Man Vs Wild. It’s not something to try at home and is something that must only ever be undertaken as a last resort, he warns.
Find Food
There are more options than you might think to find food at sea, according to Bear Grylls, whether it’s fish, birds, seaweed, plankton, or other delicacies to eat from the sea. If you don’t have fishing gear, you can make gear from your raft.
Bear’s advice is not to eat unless you have enough to drink, as being hydrated is more important. “Digesting food uses up water,” he says.
Get Smart about Protecting Yourself from the Elements
A trick Bear uses to protect his skin from the sun is to smear the oil from fish livers onto it after drying the livers in the sun. “If you are overheating, soak a cloth in seawater and put it around your neck,” says Bear.
Bear also uses these tricks to protect his skin and eyes from the sun, keep warm in cold weather, and protect your body from the effects of salt water.
Make a DIY Compass
If you don’t have a compass, Bear Grylls has a way to make his own compass. Start by magnetizing a needle by rubbing a magnet along it, then put into a cork and float it in a bowl of water.
Signal for Help
Finally, if you need to send a signal in a survival situation to a ship or an aircraft, you can use a mirror or something else with a shiny surface.
Use this object to reflect the sun’s rays in the direction of a ship or plane, flashing it “on” and “off” repeatedly to attract attention.
