: I read this book in 1973 or '74 and found it inspiring. I think
: you'd like it. True story of a family that decides to do some
: serious bonding by taking a long sea trip, and ends up in
: lifeboats. Can't get much closer than that. I checked Amazon and
: apparently it is in print in paperback. Here's the blurb on it
: from Amazon.

: Survive the Savage Sea, by Dougal Robertson

: - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
: After their 43-foot schooner was stove in by a pod of killer
: whales, the six members of the Robertson family spent 37 days
: adrift in the Pacific. With no maps, compass, or navigational
: instruments, and rations for only three days, they used every
: survival technique they could as they battled 20-foot waves,
: marauding sharks, thirst, starvation, and exhaustion
: - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

: It should be available from interlibrary loan.

: PGJ

Btw, I've been across the Atlantic by water three times now, though all three while in the Navy, once on a surface ship (LPD) and twice on a sub, once in a hurricane, not a fun ride.

Bill H.