French physician Alain Bombard. A madman on a rubber boat proved that the human will is stronger than the sea
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Alain Bombard (fr. Alain Bombard; October 27, 1924, Paris - July 19, 2005, Toulon) - French physician, biologist, traveler and politician. In 1952, as a scientific experiment and campaign to promote the methods of survival he developed for shipwrecked on the high seas, he single-handedly crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to the island of Barbados, breaking 2375 nautical miles (4400 kilometers) in 65 days (from October 19 to December 22). On the way, he fed on caught fish and plankton. At the time of the end of the experiment, he significantly undermined his health. The bomber lost 25 kg, the level of erythrocytes and hemoglobin bordered on fatal, he had a serious visual impairment, his toenails fell out, his entire skin was covered with a rash and small pimples. In general, his body was dehydrated and extremely exhausted, but he reached the shore.
Alain Bombard is the first person in the world to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in an inflatable rubber boat, modeled on the lifeboats of his time, equipped with only a standard set for shipwrecked and an emergency supply of food, the safety of which was officially certified at the end of the experiment.
Victims of legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know it wasn't the sea that killed you, it wasn't hunger that killed you, it wasn't thirst that killed you! Swinging on the waves to the plaintive cries of seagulls, you died of fear.
Bombard Alain
He already had sailing experience - from Monaco to about. Menorca (May 25 - June 11), from Tangier to Casablanca (August 13 - 20), and from Casablanca to Las Palmas (August 24 - September 3).
Initially, Alain planned to cross the Atlantic with yachtsman Jack Palmer (Herbert Muir-Palmer, an Englishman, a citizen of Panama) - a friend and fellow Monaco sailor, but as a result he sailed alone - Palmer did not appear at the appointed time of the solemn sailing. On the morning of October 19, 1952, Alain, having seen his newborn daughter, began his solo swimming across the Atlantic, sailed on inflatable boat 4.5 meters long, called "Heretic". In his book, Bombard writes that the reason for choosing this name for the boat was that so many people regarded as "heretical" his statements "that a person can live on seafood alone and drink salt water", and also that it is possible to achieve a certain point on an "uncontrolled" boat.
During the voyage, Alain Bombard survived by fishing, using fish as food and as a source of fresh water. With a previously designed and personally constructed hand press, he squeezed juice from fish - fresh water. He drank in small quantities and sea water, which proved to the world that in small doses, the salty water of the ocean can still be drunk, alternating it with fresh water. During the 65 days of the transition, Alain Bombard lost more than 25 kilograms of his own weight due to dehydration.
In the second half of the 1950s. The bomber participated in the development of one of the designs of an inflatable life raft, which was supposed to equip all French ships. On October 3, 1958, the tests of this raft led by Bombard in severe meteorological conditions in the wide and full-flowing river Ethel near the city of the same name (Morbihan department) ended tragically: nine people died - four test participants and five sailors of the rescue ship. As a result, Bombar experienced a prolonged depression up to an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Then, however, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Ricard invited Bombard to work at his private oceanographic institute on the Cote d'Azur, on the island of Ambier near the town of Sis-Fours-les-Plages. In 1967-1985. Bombar headed the marine biology laboratory at this institute.
Since 1975, Bombard has served as environmental adviser to the French Socialist Party. In 1979-1985. Bombard was a deputy for the canton of Cis-Fours-les-Plages on the general council of the department of Var. In 1981, for a month (from May 22 to June 23), Bombard served as Secretary of State in the French Ministry of the Environment, in the first government of Pierre Maurois. During the reorganization of the government in June, he did not enter into its composition amid disagreements on the issue of parfors hunting, which Bombard wanted to ban. From 1981 to 1994 Bombar was a member of the European Parliament.
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 of mankind in the 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.
Like a doctor who knows the reserves well human body, 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 they were left physical forces: Desperation killed them. 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 a psychological factor that protects the 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 the days of the sailing fleet, it was said that only whalers and fur seal hunters see the real sea, 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 their normal working conditions.
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. Because 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, an experienced sailor who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht all alone, but provided with everything necessary in abundance, got scared at the last moment and simply 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 off by the thought of the impending need to eat raw fish again, swallow the healing, but such a disgusting plankton and drink the juice squeezed out of 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 various salts dissolved in the ocean water, Bombar was convinced that, apart from table salt, each 800 grams of sea water contains approximately the same amount of other salts as there is in a liter of various 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. Furthermore, 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! It was just difficult to see life in the ocean from the big ships. 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. The fauna of the ocean is rich, but we still know little about 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 may have saved tens of thousands of lives of those people who were alone with the hostile elements - and were not afraid.
Overboard at will
This book is dedicated
Three men:
Dr. Furnestan
Admiral Sol
Captain Carter
and three women:
my wife
my mother
Casablanca
The birth of an idea
Spring 1951. Early morning. I sleep peacefully in my room at the hospital in Boulogne. Suddenly the phone rings:
Duty intern?
Yes. What's happened?
Shipwreck at the Carnot Mole!
Now I'm going.
Still not suspecting the whole tragedy of the catastrophe, I, cursing, pull on my clothes and hurriedly go down to the emergency room. There is no one here yet. The porter tells me that the trawler "Notre-Dame de Peyrag" from the small port of Ekiem got lost in the fog and ran into the end of the Carnot mole.
It's quite cold outside, but the sea is quite calm and so I don't feel much anxiety. Mole Karnot is one of the last structures of the port. During a strong wind it is very dangerous, but when the sea is calm, it is not difficult to climb it, since on its outer side, facing the sea, stairs are arranged every twenty meters.
A car signal is heard: this is a rescue service car. The double door swings open and, quite proud of my role, I step forward ... I will never forget this spectacle! Forty-three people, stacked on top of each other like torn puppets, lay before me, all barefoot and all wearing life belts. Our efforts have come to nothing: we have not succeeded in bringing any of them back to life. An insignificant miscalculation, and as a result - forty-three corpses and seventy-eight orphans.
It seems to me that it was then that I fully realized the whole tragedy of the wreck at sea and that it was this incident that gave rise to the idea in me that later led to the expedition on the Heretic [L" Heretique "].
Shipwreck! For me, this word has become synonymous with the greatest human suffering, a synonym for despair, hunger and thirst. Boulogne alone loses from one hundred to one hundred and fifty of its citizens every year at sea, and later I learned that on the whole globe in peacetime about two hundred thousand people die in the same way every year. Approximately one-fourth of these victims do not go down at the same time as the ship and land in lifeboats, etc. But soon they too die a painful death.
I have long been interested in the question: how long can a person withstand all sorts of hardships, what is the limit of endurance of the human body? And I came to the conclusion that in some cases a person can step over all the norms determined by physiology, and still remain alive.
For a long time I studied materials about prisoners, exiles and other groups of the population living from hand to mouth. But more often than not, such theoretical research ended with me asking myself: “What do I need all this for?” Because with my ignorance or my medical education - this is the same thing - knowledge remained a dead letter for me until I found practical application for it.
But the problem of the shipwrecked was added to a number of such problems. Its peculiarity was that the external factors that cause human suffering do not depend, as in the case of prisoners, on the evil will of people or, as in the case of famine in India, on a sudden severe drought, when nothing can be changed. Vice versa! A shipwrecked person finds himself in a natural environment, certainly not safe, but at the same time extremely rich in everything that is necessary in order to live or at least survive, get to land or wait for help to approach. Indeed, in one cubic meter of sea water there are two hundred times more nutrients than in a cubic meter of land!
In short, I thought that although the sea is an eternal threat to the shipwrecked, it is not ruthless, and above all, it is not barren. You just need to conquer your fear of the sea and get yourself food from it. There was nothing insoluble in this problem. This is how I thought about the environment in which the shipwrecked person finds himself.
As for the human body, forced to fight with the sea element and at the same time draw vitality from it, I came to the conclusion that physiologists for the most part underestimate the importance of the mind and its influence on the body. I studied the most famous cases when people survived in the most desperate conditions. The influence of the mind on the whole organism is proved by the hunger strikes of Gandhi, the polar expeditions of Scott and Amundsen, and the voyage of Captain Bligh, whom the rebellious crew threw into the open sea on a boat with an eight-day supply of water and food: the thirst for revenge helped him to hold out at sea for more than forty days and survive! Thus, there was a clear misunderstanding here. It was impossible to say: "In such and such physical conditions it is possible to survive." It would be more correct to say, using the formulation favored by mathematicians, that "ceteris paribus (and this includes the influence of the mind, by which I mean courage and hope for life), it is quite possible to survive if such and such physical conditions exist."
Starting from this, I returned to the statistics. Fifty thousand people die every year while already in rescue boats. Is there nothing that can be done to save them? And if it is possible, then what?
I began to re-read the legendary tales of the shipwrecked, but, judging by them, all struggle seemed hopeless, and all hope was meaningless.
On July 2, 1816, the frigate Medusa sank onto a sandbank one hundred and eighty kilometers from the African coast. One hundred and forty-nine people - passengers, soldiers and a few officers - were placed on a hastily built raft, which was towed by boats. Under mysterious circumstances, the towing rope broke and the raft was carried away and the open ocean. There were six barrels of wine and two barrels of fresh water on the raft. The raft was found only twelve days later, but only fifteen people survived on it. Ten of them were near death and died immediately after they were taken on board.
On April 14, 1912, the Titanic, a transatlantic passenger steamer, collided with an iceberg. A few hours later, the Titanic sank. The first ships approached the crash site just three hours after the ship disappeared under water, but there were already a lot of dead and crazy people in the lifeboats. It is significant that among those who paid madness for their panic fear or death for madness, there was not a single child under ten years old. These kids were still at a fairly reasonable age.
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.
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!
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. different types ships and their equipment. Then he began to conduct experiments on himself, eating what could be available to the shipwrecked. For half a year, 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, which consists 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 in a long voyage, the three of them simply could not accommodate. 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 fear more than once, 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 exposure to a humid environment, from salt water and unfamiliar food, acne began to appear on Bombar'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. Bombard 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 with the most different purposes, was engaged in the study of seasickness and the bactericidal properties of water, fought the pollution of 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 -But history also knows those who are ready to sacrifice their lives in the raging waves of a troubled ocean for the benefit of humanity, for the sake of science. This is exactly what Alain Bombard was - a doctor, traveler, biologist and public figure. His circumnavigation in an inflatable rubber boat showed that a shipwrecked man can survive without food and water in the open ocean, and Bombar's willpower, shown on the way to the goal, amazed the whole world.
French doctor's theories
Alain Bombard was born on October 27, 1924 in Paris. As a very young medical student, Alain often wondered why the statistics of shipwreck victims were so high. Already when he, having completed his studies and went to work in one of the coastal hospitals, he had a chance to face a terrible picture of a shipwreck: 43 bodies of the unfortunate who were victims of the water element were brought to the hospital. This was imprinted in the memory of Bombard for life, the young doctor was amazed why people die in the first days of a shipwreck, when there is an adequate supply of water and food.
Alain Bombard delved into the problem of mortality due to maritime disasters and he managed to establish a terrible pattern - people who, by the will of fate, fell into the open sea on a lifeboat, died of despair, of fear of inevitability. The doctor realized that the main reason for the numerous deaths was the lack of desire to fight for his life and the loss of faith in a possible salvation. After studying the problem, Bombar developed survival techniques for those who were shipwrecked.
Experiment Idea
In the scientific world, Alain Bombard's theories were skeptical, and in 1952 he had the idea to prove by his own example that a person can survive on an inflatable boat in the open ocean, eating raw fish and drinking salty sea water from time to time. Such a desire caused general disapproval, and the desperate French doctor was considered crazy, because such an experiment was a real suicide.
Alain Bombard believed in himself and knew that the human body has huge internal resources and, subject to certain rules, will be able to endure a long journey in difficult conditions. Filled with this faith, the young doctor begins preparations for round the world trip. He begins theoretical training: he examines the types of fish that can be found in the ocean and determines that the body of fish consists of 80% water, containing fats, salts and trace elements. Bombar admits that the juice squeezed out of fish can be used as a source of fresh water.
Alain Bombard planned to travel in the company of a companion. He advertised in the newspaper, and his proposal began to respond. But among the large number of applicants there was no suitable candidate: as a rule, madmen and suicides responded, people offering to eat them on time, and those who tried to send relatives they did not like on a dangerous journey. The satellite was nevertheless found, it was the yachtsman Jack Palmer, who made a test trip with Alain from about. Menorca, during which travelers ate raw fish they caught and drank the juice from it. But on the day of sailing, the unfortunate yachtsman was frightened by the hardships of circumnavigating the world and disappeared without a trace.
Dangerous journey
October 19, 1952, despite the birth of his daughter, Alain Bombard went on a long journey. His boat, four and a half meters long, was named "Heretic", as a challenge to the society that did not believe in his success. Throughout the voyage, Bombard used only raw fish and caught birds for food, drank sea water and fish juice. Despite the fact that there was a supply of food and water on board the boat, the traveler did not touch it even in the most difficult moments of ordeals - Bombar was ready for anything to prove his theories.
The journey was difficult, as expected. The bomber has been on the verge of death more than once, but thanks to determination, a thirst for life and superhuman efforts, a newcomer to sea voyages managed to do what many experienced yachtsmen feared - he crossed the globe, proved the correctness of his theories and remained alive despite all the dangers of the path. Alain Bombard scooped water out of the boat for several hours in a row, during storms, falling from fatigue, he did not give up and fought, dispersed even large fish striving to damage the boat and did not accept any offer of passing ships to take him on board. The idea for the Frenchman was more important than comfort, plentiful food and.
The tragedy that overshadowed the triumph
Returning to France after 65 days of wandering through the expanses of water, Bombard became a celebrity: they reckoned with him, honored him and tried to inherit. Since that time, he has held honorary positions, takes part in scientific and social work, and writes the best-selling book Overboard of His Own Will.
In 1958, Alain takes part in the design of the raft, which was planned to equip all ships. But the test of the raft ended tragically: nine crew members and rescuers died, only Bombar managed to escape. This led to the fact that Alain's reputation was damaged, and it was he who was blamed by many for the tragedy.
Alain Bombard survived a severe depression, but despite this, in 1975 he began his political career. He held high positions in various French parties and state structures, and in 1981 became a member of the European Parliament. At the age of 80, the great traveler and public figure died in Toulon. His activities and life principles became an example for followers of travelers, and the motto "Be more stubborn than the sea, and you will win!" helped many people who were victims of difficult circumstances.
