cover image Five Against the Sea

Five Against the Sea

Ron Arias. Dutton Books, $18.95 (226pp) ISBN 978-0-453-00703-0

On June 14, 1988, a Japanese tuna-fishing boat 550 miles southeast of Honolulu rescued five men from a derelict craft; incredibly, these man had survived 142 days at sea, drifting some 4000 miles in the Pacific Ocean. They had left Punterenas, Costa Rica, in January in a sub-standard fishing vessel; one week later, driven by a sudden, fierce storm, the craft lost its course. Arias, who reported the story in People magazine, here interviews virtually everybody involved in this affair, and reconstructs the agony of the families waiting at home as well as the desperation of the fishermen. One of the more surprising aspects of the story is that the crew was not congenial; the account of their adjustment to their plight is as interesting as the fact of their survival. Illustrations. (Oct.)