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Comment by Mz | Hacker News Reader

I think this fascinates people in part because we sort of think it can't happen anymore. With 7 billion people, GPS, satellites, airplanes, cell phones, we think you can't get lost like this, you can't be so extremely alone. We think space is the only frontier left.

It flies in the face of our mental models of our world. On top of that, it is an extraordinary personal experience that is fascinating for that aspect. So many of us struggle hugely to cope even with the support of modern civilized life. I can't imagine figuring out the logistics of coping practically with such a situation. Coping psychologically is even more unimaginable to me.

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People who hike the Appalachian Trail & co get lost and die every year. Doesn't take much. Now that is a tiny patch compared to the pacific ocean which is basically half the globe. Even if you can get a distress signal out by the time help arrives you might be in a different position or already dead, not to mention that the question remains if help ever comes. Helicopters can't fly very far, ships take days if not weeks. You might be able to post on Facebook but outside help is not an option (personal experience, not kidding!)

I am not suggesting these mental models are accurate. But it does seem to be harder to intentionally disappear these days. I think our fascination with such stories is similar to or related to our fascination with prison escapes and people who successfully disappeared on purpose.

I think a lot of people feel trapped, like prisoners of their lives. The idea that you could go for a boat ride or show up at your regular job and be just swept away contains both an element of horror and an element of tantalizing possibility. People often long to start their lives over, to walk away from their troubles. They read stuff like this and perhaps feel a mix of hope that it might actually be possible and validation that the cost is very high. It may make them feel both more at peace with not yet having escaped and hopeful for a better future for themselves.

Only issue with "being lost at sea" is that the declaration of death usually takes months if not years. Often that is relevant. Also it is not that easy to do it convincingly, people tried.

That wasn't really what I intended to suggest. I wasn't suggesting that it specifically inspires people to plan to pretend to die at sea.

I was thinking more like a) it makes them feel less like incompetent dolts for not readily escaping their own problems, because, yes, you can disappear, but, wow, what a cost to pay and b) it fuels the imagination that perhaps escape from their current problems is possible (without such extremes of drama and suffering), if they keep at it.

If you were able to post on Facebook, why didn't you have a GPS signal from which you could deliver your co-ordinates over the internet? (Just curious, not sure if I'm missing something)

As gp said, you could tell people exactly where you are, but it takes a long tome for anyone to be able to reach those coordinates by ship. If your power source dies and you drift in the interim, now it takes many ships and a coordinated effort hopefully involving aircraft for a chance that you’ll be found. The ocean is a very large place and a ship doesn’t exactly leave tracks.

to give you an example: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/08/british-climbe...

and that is not the ocean, and yes he died

different example, but same story, high altitude mountaineering, to quote Rob Hall's wife (famous guide who died 1996 on Everest): 'You might as well be on the moon.', she said during a live patch through to him via radio from her home in New Zealand, exchanging the last conversation. Position is secondary, accessibility is primary concern

Is there more to your experience you’d be willing to share?

We were in an extreme remote region of the eastern Himalayas in East India, nearest big town was 3 days by car on a road that was often blocked, otherwise there were only bamboo huts with indigenous people. We were stuck in the jungle once with the car and had to spend a night there. The "roads" there are crazy, if you went over the edge there with your car you are done, even if you survive nobody would find you, if they'd even ever notice. We didn't have a sat phone because it was military restricted zone, we had special permits to go in but no tech, but I remember we had the faintest GPRS signal sitting on a lake and my friend was checking Facebook on a stone age smartphone counting the bits ;) it appeared to me so absurd. Same story in Africa, you have good mobile cell coverage there, but doesn't take much to get lost or injured and quickly die.

I think this fascinates people in part because we sort of think it can't happen anymore.

Over 10 years ago, I did the training you do if you want to be offshore crew. Loads of fun stuff like righting a capsized lifeboat in a training pool in full kit while someone sprays you in the face with a firehose. Anyway even back then we were taught: the era of epic survival stories is over, because with the proliferation of PLBs, EPIRBs, TABCEs, Iridium and so on, you could always signal someone. You might still die of course, but at least your location would be known :-)

It is still possible to get lost if you want to - the oceans, the mountains, the deserts are very very big. But you would either be doing it deliberately or you would be extraordinarily negligent, there's no middle ground here, really, assuming whatever the problem was didn't kill you immediately. That's why I am extremely skeptical of this story of two women who were apparently lost at sea for 5 months, because their engine that on a sailing yacht you only use to manoeuvre in the harbour anyway failed...

Yes, we are so convinced it cannot happen anymore that people are claiming he made it up, it is fraud. All the verifiable evidence seems to suggest veracity of the story, but many people simply cannot accept that this is even possible anymore.

I live in the continental United States. Hell, I'm not even that remote. I have DSL and cell service that borders on effective, depending on the season and weather. It's not like I live in Alaska.

People get lost here, all the damned time. They even have cell phones but don't realize they are useful for more than driving directions. Yes, I have gone out and 'rescued' people (plural) who had no signal but had GPS on their phone.

However, once in a while, we don't find them. Sometimes, we never find them. This is just northern Franklin County, Maine. If you follow some pretty simple rules, you'll be just fine. If not, Mother Nature is a powerful force and may very well kill you.

This is nothing compared to the vastness of the ocean.

I got lost in a swamp in the middle of my own small country (Estonia) for 2 days and I was only 10km from the closest place of people. Problem was, I kept going in circles, phone battery was dead, and I should've been smart enough to follow the sun to figure out how to go straight, but these days people of my age are lucky to remember that you can drink swamp water because seaweed is a really good filter thanks to watching Discovery Channel.

No sun in Estonia in my experience hehe

i voluntierly sail alone for months in very small boat, i never understood why people start talking inanimate objects and such, i feel great alone and cut off, but ye in vast ocean you realise civilization is still just small pockets on earths surface

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