SALVADOR ALVARENGA: HISTORY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Salvador Alvarenga is a Salvadoran fisherman who starred in one of the most impressive stories of survival at sea in real life. After being adrift in the Pacific Ocean for about 483 days, it was found on January 30, 2014, off the coast of a site known as Eneaitok Islet, in the Marshall Islands.

The sea had thrown Salvador into the courtyard of the home of a couple of locals who made him enter their home, cared for and fed him. Later, they reported the discovery to members of the local police, who went to the couple's home to investigate. According to the police report, Salvador Alvarenga's appearance was that of a savage.

In that sense, the police officers reported that Alvarenga had his hair matted up like a bush and his beard curled in a savage disorder. They also noticed that his ankles were swollen and his wrists were tiny. As they approached him, they noticed that he could barely walk. He refused to meet eyes and often hid his face.

Days later, Salvador Arenga's story was received by the press with a certain degree of suspicion. Journalists found it hard to believe that he was not seriously damaged after his ordeal. To date, all research supports his story. For this reason, Salvador Alvarenga has entered the list of the most famous castaways in history.

The Incredible Story of Salvador Alvarenga

José Salvador Alvarenga was born in the town of Garita Palmera, Ahuachapan (El Salvador), in 1975. His parents were José Ricardo Orellana, owner of a flour mill and a shop, and María Julia Alvarenga. Since 2002, Salvador had left his country to go to Mexico to work as a fisherman.

The reasons for his trip to Mexico are not very clear. He was always a very reserved man, and that would be the reason why there was not an abundance of data on his life before his experience at sea.

However, in the book 438 days, in which his story is related, it is implied that it was to preserve his life. In one of its chapters, the book recounts a case where Salvador was hospitalized for multiple knife wounds that had him on the brink of death. These injuries were received during a bar fight in his hometown.

In Mexico, he came to a small town on the Chiapas coast known as Costa Azul. The inhabitants of this fishing village remember him as a quiet, hard-working and very collaborative man.

He began sweeping the streets of the town, and before long he was working as a fishing assistant. In the end, he became one of the village fishermen.

Odyssey

After his rescue, Alvarenga declared that he had left Costa Azul in December 2012. He had a young fisherman named Ezequiel as a fishing partner, although this was not his usual companion and he did not have much experience. According to their plans, the trip would last only one day and they would try to fish for blacktip sharks and sailfish.

Despite warnings made that day about heavy rain and high winds, they set out in a 7-meter-long, single-engine, fiberglass boat without a roof. Shortly after sailing, she was thrown off course by the action of a strong storm that affected her for 5 days, but she had time to communicate by radio and ask for help.

During the storm, the radio ran out of battery, the boat's engine was damaged, and the boat began to wander at sea. They had to eat raw meat from fish, turtles, jellyfish and sea birds. In addition, they collected rainwater and sometimes drank turtle blood and even their own urine.

After 4 months, his partner refused to continue eating raw meat and died of starvation. Salvador was forced to throw it into the sea. Finally, his battered ship was thrown out to sea onto a reef more than 10,000 km from its starting point and in the middle of the ocean between Hawaii and Australia.

The suspicions

From the first moment that Salvador Alvarenga recounted his adventure, many people showed their disbelief. First of all, his physical condition and strength had surprised the doctors.

In other cases of fishermen found adrift, they looked very emaciated and fragile after weeks or months at sea. However, Alvarenga's only serious ailment was his joints, while he appeared to be well nourished and in normal mobility.

In addition, another of those surprised was Tom Armbruster (United States ambassador to the Marshall Islands at that time). He told the press that it was difficult to imagine someone surviving 13 months at sea. He couldn't understand how anyone could get to that place out of nowhere, and said to wait for the investigations.

For his part, Gee Bing, Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Marshall Islands, expressed not being sure he believed the story. He confirmed that he did not see Salvador Alvarenga so thin compared to other survivors that he had the opportunity to see in similar cases in the past.

The investigation

In the course of the investigations, the authorities located the next of kin in the village of Garita Palmera to confirm Salvador's story. They showed reporters photos of a much younger Alvarenga. In an interview, the parents said they had not seen him for eight years.

It was also known that he had a 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, who lived with her paternal grandparents. Similarly, other brothers living in the United States were interviewed.

With all this information, it was found that Salvador Alvarenga was who he claimed to be and was the person who had arrived at the Eneaitok Island.

Official confirmations

Salvador Alvarenga's story motivated the opinions of specialists in the matter of survival at sea. Spokesmen for the oceanography department at the University of New Wales said the chances were high that a vessel leaving the west coast of Mexico would be carried by currents to the Marshall Islands.

On the other hand, they stated that such a trip would normally take between 18 months and two years, depending on the winds and currents. They then concluded that Salvador's 13-month trip might be possible.

Likewise, the story told by Salvador was verified by survival experts who admitted that living in such conditions is theoretically possible.

This gave a hint of veracity to what could be one of the greatest feats of maritime resistance in history.

References

1. Franklin, J. (2015, November 07). Lost at sea: the man who vanished for 14 months. Taken from theguardian.com.
2. National Geographic. (s / f). José Salvador Alvarenga and other famous castaways. Taken from nationalgeographic.es.
3. Franklin, J. (2016). 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea. New York: Simon and Schuster.
4. Pearlman, J. (2014, February 03). Too incredible to be true? Survivor tells of Pacific ordeal. Taken from telegraph.co.uk.
5. Fox News World. (2014, February 04). Fishy Story? Details Of Castaway's Tale Adrift At Sea Confirmed But Doubts Remain. Taken from foxnews.com
6. CBC News. (2014, February 04). Jose Salvador Alvarenga's family had given him up for dead. Taken from cbc.ca.