Worth Reading: Island of the Lost
“Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World” by Joan Druett
by Leon Pantenburg
To quote the jacket liner: “Hundreds of miles from civilization, two ships wreck on the opposite ends of the same deserted island in this true story of human nature at it best – and worst.”
As a reader of this website, you have probably wondered at some point how you might react to a disaster or some emergency that plunges you into a survival situation. After all, that’s what survivalists and preppers do! And that’s why our personal survival philosophies and mottos tends to be something along the lines of “Be Prepared.”
Only a fool would deliberately put himself into a disaster or emergency situation to test his reactions, so the best we can do is read and try to learn from other people’s experiences. Island of the Lost can teach you something about different human reactions to essentially the same disaster. (Check out Leon’s survival book favorites.)
Auckland Island is a godforsaken place 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places on earth.
In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four wrecked on the southern end of the island. With little more than their bare hands, the men built a cabin, and a forge to make their own tools. They remained civilized through the darkest times, and managed to build a boat and effect their own escape.
Incredibly, at the same time the Invercauld falls apart on the other side of the island and its crew of 19 arrive on shore under the same dismal circumstances. The men fight and split up, some die of starvation, and others resort to cannibalism.
Why the difference? Musgrave’s crew followed the concepts of survival common sense to a tee. Upon being shipwrecked, they inventoried their tools, put their survival priorities in order, made a plan to be rescued, and got busy carrying out that plan.
The Ivercauld group, on the other hand, reacted as most people would. They struggled with denial, were disorganized, and never figured out what to do next. They had no real purpose or goal and their inability to focus and work together soon made a bad situation worse.
Island of the Lost takes two real-life disasters, and shows what happens when radically-different survival philosophies are applied. This book is fascinating reading, and reinforces the idea that you can will yourself to live.
Order a copy: Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
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One reason I love reading both history and psychology-related books is because of human behavior. Seems like people’s reactions to various situations are predictable. If we can look at those reactions (history), we get an idea of how things might go in the future. Everybody has heard that old saying!
I would love to read this book! Survival stories have always fascinated me.
I wish I was listed higher, too!
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!