Adrift

May 12, 1992 - Two malnourished men washed ashore in Western Samoa on this day. They had been lost at sea for 6 months aboard a 13-foot dinghy.

The ordeal began 1000 miles away on the Pacific island of Nikunau where fishermen Tabwai Mikaie, Arenta Tebeitabu and Nweiti Takamangu were caught in a cyclone and blown out to sea. Their boat lost its engine. For 177 days the men managed to survive on rainwater, raw fish, floating coconuts and a couple of sea turtles.

Takamangu died just a few days before they were rescued. The men said that after Takamangu's death, they resigned themselves to their fate. As they slept, the boat somehow steered itself through a dangerous reef and washed up on the Samoan island.