Wow. This is one intense survival story.

Maurice and Maralyn Bailey were a British married couple who, in 1973, survived for 118 days on a rubber raft in the Pacific Ocean before being rescued.

… At dawn on 4 March 1973, their yacht was struck by a (dying) whale and severely damaged.

After transferring some supplies to an inflated life raft and dinghy and salvaging some food, a compass, and other supplies, the Baileys watched as Auralyn disappeared beneath the waves.

To survive, they collected rainwater and when their meagre food supplies ran out, began eating sea creatures such as turtles, seabirds and fish caught by hand or with safety pins fashioned into hooks.

Their adventure was turned into the book 117 Days Adrift (1988).

The story was retold in Maurice and Maralyn (2024) by first time author Sophie Elmhirst. The book was published in the United States in 2025 as A Marriage at Sea.

Amazingly, they returned to sailing, purchasing a new yacht called Auralyn II. 

Maralyn Bailey died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 61. Maurice Bailey died in December 2018 at the age of 85.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.