438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

On November 17, 2012, two men left the coast of Mexico for a weekend fishing commute in the open Pacific. That night, a violent storm ambushed them as they were fishing eighty miles offshore. As gale force winds and ten-foot waves pummeled their small, open boat from all sides and nearly capsized them, captain Salvador Alvarenga and his crewmate cut away a two-mile-long fishing line and started a desperate dash through crashing waves as they sought the safety of port.

Fourteen months later, on January 30, 2014, Alvarenga, now a hairy, wild-bearded and half-mad castaway, washed ashore on a nearly deserted island on the far side of the Pacific. He could barely speak and used to be unable to walk. He claimed to have drifted from Mexico, a journey of a few seven thousand miles.

A “gripping saga,” (