Castaway stranded at sea for 13 months accused of cannibalism

[AneroidOcean]

But here's the other thing: I think it might be a bullshit story because he got to the Marshall Islands too fast.

I looked up this site: http://www.adrift.org.au/ It basically predicts where your message in a bottle is going to end up over a given period of time given what we know about how ocean currents work (and from a lot of statistical data on the subject). Mass of the boat doesn't really change this result - if anything I would have thought a greater mass means you're going to move slower, not faster than what they predict. Anyway, if you click on a starting point anywhere on the west coast of Mexico -- roughly where this guy reckons he started from -- then you'll see from the time lapse that it takes plastic, drifting objects roughly 3 years to drift from Mexico to the Pacific Ocean region where the Marshall Islands lie. This guy managed that drifting voyage in 14 months. And it might just be me, but the picture of the guy on landing looks in much better health than you'd expect from someone living on an absolute subsistence diet for 14 months at sea. He doesn't appear sunburned, not even tanned, which again is really odd for someone in the open ocean for that time period.

It's all good and well to say that you don't believe 100% of his story, but to say that it's bullshit based on what amounts to a very rough calculation for plastic trash in water (which is mostly submerged) and is NOT AT ALL based on the current during the same time frame is really disingenuous. Not only do you have the changes in currents but the affect of wind and storms on his very exposed (compared to plastic in the water) boat hull as well.

Finding anything floating in the ocean is immensely difficult without any technology on the boat. As time passes it becomes nearly impossible. I know you had good intentions with your statement, but it's simply without merit.