chapter one Off to See the World Who were the Robertsons Why did they sail around the world The Robertson family was special They were lost at sea They lived through it This happened in 1971 There were six members of the Robertson family Dougal was the father Lyn was the mother Douglas was the oldest son He was 18 years old at the time Anne was 17 years old Neil and Sandy were twins They were boys They were 9 years old Dougal was a merchant navy officer He was a hired sailor He retired from sailing Retired means he stopped working But he still ran a farm He did this for 15 years 4
Dougal had sailed in East Asia 5
spotlight biography Jose Salvador Alvarenga is a fisherman He sailed from Mexico to El Salvador He did this in 2012 A storm hit his fishing boat The storm lasted 5 days Alvarenga was lost in the Pacific Ocean He was lost for 13 to 16 months He was trapped in his fishing boat He lost his fish He lost his tools He lost his radio He had traveled with a friend But the friend died at sea Alvarenga was far away from people and cities He survived by eating turtles birds sharks and fish He drank rainwater He saw the Marshall Islands He left his boat He swam to shore This happened in 2014 Two people found him They took him to the hospital Alvarenga was the first person to survive in a small boat lost at sea for over a year Some people didn’t believe his story 6
The Robertsons had a dairy farm Dairy is milk and cheese The farm was in England It was far away from other cities and people It didn’t have running water It didn’t have power It wasn’t doing well The Robertsons were losing money Douglas said Dad’s life was terrifically hard He was very frustrated He saw his brothers and sisters sending their children off to university and private school the sorts of things he was no longer able to provide Frustrated means upset Neil asked why they couldn’t sail around the world like Robin Knox-Johnston Knox-Johnston was an English sailor He sailed around the world Robin Knox-Johnston was the first to sail around the world nonstop and by himself 7
