Alain Bombard is a man of salt water. Alain Bombard and his solo swimming (7 photos)

Just a little over sixty years ago, doctor Alain Bombard crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone in a small rubber boat. It took him sixty-five days to do this. He drank sea water and ate what he caught in the ocean. He wanted to prove that shipwreck victims had a chance of survival. And he proved it.

Alain Bombard - overboard of his own free will

Rubber boat Heretic - on it Alain Bombard went to conquer the ocean

Bombar kept a diary. He wrote everything down there. For example:

“Eating raw fish makes a person very susceptible to infection. The slightest wound opens.” He threw antibiotics overboard - what if disaster victims didn't have them?
He found out that you need to drink sea water in small portions, and then your kidneys can handle it, but you can only drink this for six days - then you have to catch fish and squeeze out its juice. The skin of the fish is cut, and lymph is released from it, so they drink it. Or they chop the fish into small pieces, and then wrap it in cloth and squeeze it out. They drink fish juice for a day, and then you can drink sea water again.”

Incredible journey route

A book by Alpina Publisher about the journey of Alan Bombard"

“About half a liter of water can be collected in the morning - dew will fall. It covers the entire boat and can be picked up with a sponge.
To reduce thirst, you need to wet any rag and place it on your face.
If you throw a tied sock overboard, within an hour it will fill with plankton. A tablespoon a day satisfies the need for vitamin C. There is no need to take off your clothes, even if they are wet. Clothes keep you warm."

What Bombar has not experienced. It experienced storms, calm, and scorching heat. The skin on my legs came off in shreds, my fingernails grew into the flesh, and everything on my legs came off. He developed bloody diarrhea, and at times it was difficult to keep his psyche within normal limits. He was talking to a doll. The little doll was given to him by friends. And Bombar won. Sixty-five days later he landed on the island of Barbados.

“To achieve victory, you must believe in it!” - he wrote in a note to his friend Jack, who abandoned him just before the start of this voyage. After this, Bombar set off across the ocean alone.
He won because he knew: a person dies primarily from fear. This is how Titanic passengers died in lifeboats. This is how many shipwreck victims died.

Bombar gave them a chance. He proved: a person can do anything. In the summer of 2005, Alain Bombard, a man of insane courage, passed away. He was 81 years old.

| Voluntary human autonomy in the natural environment

Basics of life safety
6th grade

Lesson 18
Voluntary human autonomy in the natural environment

Voluntary autonomy is a planned and prepared exit into natural conditions by a person or group of people for a specific purpose. Goals can be different: active recreation in nature, exploring the human capabilities of independent stay in nature, sports achievements, etc.

Voluntary human autonomy in nature is always preceded by serious, comprehensive preparation taking into account the set goal: studying the features of the natural environment, selecting and preparing the necessary equipment and, most importantly, physical and psychological preparation for the upcoming difficulties.

The most accessible and widespread type of voluntary autonomy is active tourism.

Active tourism is characterized by the fact that tourists move along the route using their own physical efforts and carry all their cargo with them, including food and equipment. The main goal of active tourism is active recreation in natural conditions, restoration and promotion of health.

Tourist routes Hiking, mountain, water and ski trips are divided into six categories of difficulty, which differ from each other in duration, length and technical complexity. This provides ample opportunities for people with different levels of experience to participate in hikes.

For example, a walking route of the first category of difficulty is characterized by the following indicators: the duration of the hike is at least 6 days, the length of the route is 130 km. A pedestrian route of the sixth category of difficulty lasts at least 20 days, and its length is at least 300 km.

Voluntary autonomous existence in natural conditions can have other, more complex goals: cognitive, research and sports.

In October 1911, two expeditions - Norwegian and British - rushed to the South Pole almost simultaneously. The goal of the expeditions is to reach the South Pole for the first time.

The Norwegian expedition was led by Roald Amundsen, polar explorer and explorer. The British expedition was led by Robert Scott, a naval officer, captain of the first rank, who had experience as a wintering leader on the Arctic coast.

Roald Amundsen He organized the expedition exceptionally skillfully and chose the route to the South Pole. Correct calculation allowed Amundsen's detachment to avoid severe frosts and prolonged snowstorms on their way. The Norwegians reached the South Pole on December 14, 1911 and returned back. The trip was completed in a short time, in accordance with the movement schedule determined by Amundsen, within the Antarctic summer.

Robert Scott Expedition reached the South Pole more than a month later - on January 17, 1912. The route to the pole chosen by Robert Scott was longer than that of the Norwegian expedition, and the weather conditions along the route were more difficult. On the way to the Pole and back, the detachment had to experience forty-degree frosts and get caught in a prolonged snowstorm. Robert Scott's main group that reached the South Pole consisted of five people. All of them died on the way back during a snowstorm, not reaching the auxiliary warehouse about 20 km.

Thus, the victory of some and the tragic death of others perpetuated the conquest of the South Pole by man. The perseverance and courage of people moving towards their intended goal will forever remain an example to follow.

Frenchman Alain Bombard, being a practicing doctor in a seaside hospital, was shocked by the fact that tens of thousands of people die at sea every year. Moreover, a significant part of them died not due to drowning, cold or hunger, but from fear, from the fact that they believed in the inevitability of their death.

Alain Bombard was sure that there was a lot of food in the sea and you just needed to know how to get it. He reasoned like this: all life-saving equipment on ships (boats, rafts) have a set of fishing lines and other tools for fishing. Fish contains almost everything the human body needs, even fresh water. Drinkable water can be obtained from raw, fresh fish by chewing it or simply squeezing out the lymphatic fluid from it. Sea water, consumed in small quantities, can help a person save the body from dehydration.

To prove the correctness of his conclusions, he alone on an inflatable boat equipped with a sail spent 60 days in the Atlantic Ocean (from August 24 to October 23, 1952), living only from what he mined at sea.

This was complete voluntary human autonomy in the ocean, carried out for research purposes. Alain Bombard proved by his example that a person can survive in the sea, using what it can give, that a person can endure a lot if he does not lose willpower, that he must fight for his life to the last hope.

A striking example of human voluntary autonomy in the natural environment for sporting purposes is the record set by Fyodor Konyukhov in 2002: he crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a single rowing boat in 46 days. and 4 min. The previous world record for crossing the Atlantic, held by the French athlete Emmanuel Coindoux, was improved by more than 11 days.

Fedor Konyukhov started the rowing marathon on October 16 from the island of La Gomera, part of the Canary Islands, and on December 1 finished on the island of Barbados, part of the Lesser Antilles.

Fedor Konyukhov prepared for this voyage for a very long time., gaining experience in extreme travel. (He has over forty land, sea and ocean expeditions and voyages and 1000 days of solo sailing. He managed to conquer the North and South geographic poles, Everest - the pole of heights, Cape Horn - the pole of sailing yachtsmen.) The journey of Fedor Konyukhov is the first in the history of Russia, a successful rowing marathon on the Atlantic Ocean.

Any voluntary autonomy of a person in nature helps him develop spiritual and physical qualities, develops the will to achieve his goals, and increases his ability to endure various hardships in life.

Test yourself

What was Alain Bombard's goal after spending 60 days autonomously in the ocean? In your opinion, did he achieve the desired results? (When answering, you can use the book of the French writer J. Blon “The Great Hour of the Oceans” or the book of A. Bombard himself “Overboard”)

After lessons

Read (for example, in the books by J. Blond “The Great Hour of the Oceans” or “Geography. Encyclopedia for Children”) a description of the expeditions of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott to the South Pole. Answer the question: why was Amundsen’s expedition successful, but Scott’s ended tragically? Record your answer as a message in your safety diary.

Use the Internet (for example, on Fedor Konyukhov’s website) or in the library to find materials about one of Fedor Konyukhov’s latest records and answer the question: what qualities of Fedor Konyukhov do you consider the most attractive? Prepare a short message on this topic.

In 1953, a French doctor Alain Bombard published his book " Overboard at will» which has become a huge contribution to science rescue at sea. (Download the book) It tells the story of the author's unprecedented voyage across the Atlantic Ocean alone in a rubber boat.

But this journey is not just an adventure or a reason to become famous for the author. The reason for it was Bombard’s desire to test and prove the possibility of survival and rescue at sea of people who were shipwrecked and left on life-saving craft without water and food.

Rescue at sea. The background to the idea.

In 1951, a young doctor from Boulogne, Alain Bombard, takes part in the rescue of the crew of a fishing trawler that was wrecked near the port of Boulogne, located in northern France on the English Channel. The trawler's crew was all killed. Bombar was struck by the fact that all the dead managed to put on life jackets. However, this did not save them. And he wondered - what causes the death of people in shipwrecks?

Bombard began studying the history of shipwrecks and the problems of survival of shipwrecked people.

At the same time, he was literally shocked that, for some unknown reason, the search for shipwrecked people on the high seas lasted only ten days, after which it stopped. Although there were known facts about the survival of people on watercraft for fifty or more days. These people were abandoned to their fate and doomed to a painful death.

In addition, he came to the conclusion that, often, the cause of death of shipwrecked people was not hunger or thirst. People died long before they exhausted the physiological capabilities of their body. In some cases, they had supplies of water and food on board the life-saving craft. It was not hunger and thirst that killed them, but fear and despair. And Bombar set out to return hope of salvation to the hearts of these unfortunates.

Is it possible to drink sea water?

The author of the book faced the need to resolve once and for all the question of is it possible to drink sea water. After all, he was going to investigate a case where shipwrecked people on life-saving craft had neither water nor food.

It was believed, and not without reason, that one should not drink sea water. Due to its saturation with salts, an excess of them occurs in the body, which can cause death from nephritis. But on the other hand, if you don’t drink for about ten days, the body becomes dehydrated and irreversible pathological changes occur in it. Is it possible to drink sea water at least for a short time after the shipwreck to prevent dehydration until rescue or obtaining drinking water?

Having studied the composition of sea water, Bombar came to the conclusion that daily consumption of 800-900 grams of sea water will provide the daily intake of table salt. But this can be done for no more than 5 days, since at the same time a significant amount of other salts contained in sea water enters the body.

The author of the book came to this conclusion based on his own experience. Shortly before this, he, together with a friend, had to drift for two days in an uncontrollable rubber boat in the English Channel due to a breakdown of the outboard motor. There was no water in the boat. At the same time, Comrade Bombara did not drink any water, and the author himself drank sea water during these two days. After they were rescued by the fishermen, the comrade quenched his thirst for a long time, and Bombar, after drinking some water, suddenly realized that he was not thirsty.

Preparing for swimming.

In mid-October 1951, Alain Bombre travels to Monaco, where he studies the bibliography of the issue at the Oceanographic Museum. In the literature, he finds confirmation that shipwrecked people can survive without food supplies, but having the opportunity to obtain sea products.

In addition to the conditions for rescuing shipwrecked people at sea, he studied types of fish and their structure, methods of fishing, plankton, favorable winds and currents.

The conditions were as follows. The required period for autonomous navigation is from one to three months. The winds and currents should be favorable and would carry the boat to the shore. During the voyage it is advisable not to meet any ships.

Of the possible options, the paths of Columbus's two voyages seemed to be the best. First, Canary Islands-Cape Verde Islands-Antilles. And second, Canary Islands-Cape Verde Islands-South America. Bombar chose the first option.

At the chosen latitude, the North Equatorial Current goes in the direction of the Antilles, and the Northeast Trade Wind blows in the same direction. The Sargasso Sea, destructive for navigation, remains to the north, and the equally destructive zone of storms passes to the south, closer to the equator.

While studying fish, Bombard wondered whether it was possible to get water from fish. After all, fish consists of 50-80% liquid, and it contains less salts than in the bodies of terrestrial animals. He managed to extract the liquid from the fish using a vegetable press. To obtain the daily norm of liquid, about three kilograms of fish were required.

Fish meat satisfies the human body's need for protein and the basic composition of vitamins. But vitamin C is found in plant foods, that is, in, for which it is necessary to catch

On May 15, 1952, Alain Bombard enters into an agreement to publish a book about the trip and reimburse expenses for the expedition. And on May 17, a rubber boat for sailing was purchased in Paris. It was 4.65 m long, 1.9 m wide, and was equipped with a mast and a sail with an area of 3 sq.m. and two additional rudders.

It became clear that the three of us would be cramped in the boat. It was decided to sail together. The team consisted of the author of the book and the Englishman Jack Palmer, a yachtsman who knew navigation.

The boat was named "Heretic" with a hint of the claims of some skeptics about the heretical ideas of Bombard.

There were some oddities too. After press reports about the upcoming voyage, Bombard began receiving letters offering his candidacies for the team. Someone offered to take his mother-in-law into the team, someone offered their services as a cook and, in difficult times, offered to eat him. The author of the most extravagant letter reported that he had already unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide three times and if he was accepted into the team, then, finally, luck would help him.

Near the coast.

First it was necessary to check the boat, the correctness of some conclusions and assumptions. To do this, it was decided to make a test voyage in the Mediterranean Sea, from Monaco along the coast in a westerly direction.

On May 25, the onboard emergency supply of food and water was sealed and the boat and crew were towed to sea.

The autonomous sailing period from Monaco to Mallorca was 14 days. For the first three days they drank sea water. At the same time, they did not feel thirsty, which made it possible to conclude that it is possible to drink sea water to prevent dehydration. For the next two days, the liquid was given by caught sea bass, and for the next 6 days they drank sea water and 2 days liquid from fish.

Thus, the question of whether it is possible to drink sea water could be answered positively. But this can be done for no more than 5 days.

Food was more difficult. Fishing was poor and the crew of the Heretic, after 14 days of sailing, asked the captain of a passing ship for food and water. This greatly damaged the prestige of the experiment, as the press declared it a failure.

It was also found that the transition from fasting to normal nutrition must be done gradually and that the constant shine of the sea surface can cause conjunctivitis.

After the end of the voyage, the expedition arrives by steamship in Tangier, located on the African coast of the Strait of Gibraltar.

This man cannot easily be classified as an outstanding “sea wolf”, since he went to sea only twice, both times on a boat without a rudder and without sails. However, his feat was one of the most outstanding achievements of mankind in the confrontation with the ocean.

As a practicing doctor in a seaside hospital, Alain Bombar was literally shocked by the fact that tens and even hundreds of thousands of people die at sea every year! And at the same time, a significant part of them died not from drowning, cold or hunger, but from fear, they died only because they believed in the inevitability of their death.

They were killed by despair, lack of will, and seeming aimlessness to fight for their lives and the lives of their comrades in misfortune. “Victims of legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know: it was not the sea that killed you, it was not hunger that killed you, it was not thirst that killed you! Rocking on the waves to the plaintive cries of the seagulls, you died of fear,” Bombar firmly stated, deciding to prove it with his own experience the power of courage and self-confidence.

Every year, up to fifty thousand people die in lifeboats and lifebelts, and 90% of them die in the first three days! It is quite understandable that during shipwrecks, for whatever reason they occur, people get confused and forget that the human body can live without water for ten days, and without food even up to thirty.

As a doctor who knows the reserves of the human body well, Alain Bombard was sure that many people who, for one reason or another, were forced to part with the comfort of the ship and escape on boats, rafts or other available means, died long before their They lost their physical strength: they were killed by despair. And such death overtook not only random people at sea - passengers, but also professional sailors accustomed to the sea. For them this habit was associated with the deck of the ship, reliable, although rocking on the swell. They are used to looking at the sea from the height of the ship's hull. A ship is not just a means of transportation on water, it is also a psychological factor that protects the human psyche from fear of alien elements. On a ship, a person has confidence, the conviction that he is insured against possible accidents, that all these accidents are foreseen by experienced designers and builders of ships, that a sufficient amount of all kinds of food and water is stored in the holds of the ship for the entire period of the voyage and even beyond that... .

It was not without reason that back in the days of the sailing fleet they said that only whalers and fur seal hunters see the real sea, since they attack whales and seals in the open ocean from small whaleboats and sometimes wander for a long time in the fog, carried away from their ship by sudden storm winds . These people rarely died: after all, they were prepared in advance to sail the sea on a boat for some time. They knew about this and were ready to overcome the elements on their fragile and yet reliable whaleboats.

Even if, for one reason or another, they lost a ship in the open ocean, they covered enormous distances and still came to land. True, not always either: if some died, it was only after many days of stubborn struggle, during which they did everything they could, having exhausted the last strength of their body. All these people were mentally prepared for the need to spend some time on the boat. These were the usual conditions of their work.

Wanting to make unprepared people believe in themselves, in the ability to overcome both the forces of the elements and their apparent weakness, Alain Bombard - not a St. John's wort or a sailor, but an ordinary doctor - set off on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in an ordinary inflatable boat.

He was sure that there was a lot of food in the sea and you just needed to be able to get this food in the form of planktonic animals and plants or fish. He knew that all life-saving equipment on ships - boats, boats, rafts - have a set of fishing lines, sometimes nets, they have certain tools for catching sea life, and finally, they can be made from improvised means. With their help, you can get food, since marine animals contain almost everything that our body needs. Even fresh water.

However, sea water, consumed in small quantities, can help a person save the body from dehydration. Let us remember that the Polynesians, who were sometimes carried far from the land by hurricanes, knew how to fight for their lives and, perhaps most importantly, accustomed their bodies to consuming sea water. Sometimes the Polynesian boats rushed for weeks and months on the stormy ocean, and yet the islanders survived by catching fish, turtles, birds, using the juices of these animals. They did not see anything special in all this, since they were mentally prepared for such troubles. But the same islanders obediently died on the shore with a complete abundance of food when it became known to them that someone had “bewitched” them. They believed in the power of witchcraft and that is why they died. Because of fear!..

To the equipment of his rubber boat, Bombar added only a plankton net and a speargun.

Bombar chose an unusual route for himself - far from the sea routes of merchant ships. True, his "Heretic", as this boat was called, was supposed to sail in a warm zone of the ocean, but this is a deserted zone. To the north and south are the routes of commercial ships.

Previously, in preparation for this trip, he and a friend spent two weeks in the Mediterranean Sea. For fourteen days they made do with what the sea gave them. The first experience of a long journey dependent on the sea was a success. Of course, and it was difficult, very difficult!

However, his comrade, by the way, an experienced sailor, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht all alone, but equipped with everything necessary in abundance, got scared at the last moment and simply disappeared. Two weeks was enough for him to refuse to tempt fate further. He insisted that he believed in Bombard’s idea, but he was frightened by the thought of the upcoming need to again eat raw fish, swallow healing, but so nasty plankton and drink the juice squeezed from the body of the fish, diluting it with sea water. He may have been a brave sailor, but he was not a man of the same mold as Bombard: he did not have Bombard’s sense of purpose.

Bombard prepared for his voyage theoretically and mentally. As a doctor, he knew that water is much more important than food. And he explored dozens of species of fish that he could encounter in the ocean. These studies showed that from 50 to 80% of the weight of fish is water, and that it is fresh, and that the body of marine fish contains significantly less salt than the meat of mammals.

Having carefully checked the amount of different salts dissolved in ocean water, Bombard became convinced that, apart from table salt, every 800 grams of sea water contains approximately the same amount of other salts as a liter of various mineral waters. We drink these waters - often with great benefit. During his journey, Bombar became convinced that it is extremely important to prevent dehydration of the body in the first days, and then reducing the water ration in the future will not be detrimental to the body. Thus, he supported his idea with scientific data.

Bombar had many friends, but there were also skeptics and ill-wishers, and people simply hostile to him. Not everyone understood the humanity of his idea. Newspapers were looking for a sensation, and since there was none, they made it up. The specialists were unanimously indignant: the shipbuilders - that Bombard was going to cross the ocean on a boat that supposedly could not be controlled; sailors - because he is not a sailor, but come on... the doctors were horrified that Bombard was going to live on seafood and drink sea water.

As if challenging all his skeptics, Bombar named his boat "Heretic"...

By the way, people who are well acquainted with the history of navigation and shipwrecks warmly supported Bombard’s idea. Moreover, they were confident in the success of the experiment.

Alain Bombard sailed across the ocean for sixty-five days. In the very first days, he refuted the assurances of “experts” that there were no fish in the ocean. Many books about the oceans are full of expressions such as “desert ocean”, “water desert”...

Bombar proved that this is far from true! It was just difficult to see life in the ocean from large ships. It's a different matter on a raft or boat! From here you can observe the diverse life of the sea - life, sometimes unfamiliar, incomprehensible, full of surprises. The ocean is often deserted for many weeks of travel, but it is inhabited both night and day by creatures that can be useful or harmful to man. The fauna of the ocean is rich, but we still know little about it.

Alain Bombard proved that a person can do a lot if he really wants to and does not lose willpower. He is able to survive in the most difficult conditions in which he may accidentally find himself. By describing this unprecedented self-experiment in the book “Overboard of His Own Will,” which sold millions of copies, Alain Bombard may have saved tens of thousands of lives of those people who found themselves alone with the hostile elements - and were not afraid.