In late 2012, Salvadoran fisherman José Salvador Alvarenga left Mexico’s Pacific coast aboard a small fishing boat, expecting to spend only a few days at sea.

Instead, a storm pushed him far away from shore—and began one of the longest survival journeys ever documented. Alvarenga and his fishing companion Ezequiel Córdoba were caught in severe weather. Their engine and communications equipment eventually failed, leaving them drifting across the Pacific with very little food or fresh water.

Córdoba died after several weeks at sea. Alvarenga was left completely alone.

For the next 438 days, he survived aboard the tiny boat by catching fish, eating turtles and seabirds, and collecting rainwater whenever storms passed overhead. When rain didn’t come, he reportedly had to endure long periods without fresh water.

The boat drifted thousands of kilometers across the Pacific.

On January 30, 2014, after more than a year at sea, Alvarenga finally reached Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He was discovered by local residents after his boat washed ashore.

He had been missing for approximately 14 months.

His survival initially attracted skepticism because the journey sounded almost impossible. However, investigations and interviews supported the basic account, and Alvarenga later published his story in the book 438 Days.