# Are there any castaways? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841 "2003-12-24T14:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/1 "2003-12-24T14:58:30Z")
I was recently thinking about the movie Castaway starring Tom Hanks. In case you didn’t see it; the movie is about a Fedex employee whose plane goes down in the South Pacific and ends up stranded on a small island. Anyway, that movie got me thinking about whether or not there are currently any real life castaways who are sitting on deserted islands somewhere on Earth because of plane crashes or shipwrecks. Of course no one knows for sure (if we did, we’d go pick them up, right?). However, I was wondering what the odds were that there is someone in that prediciment right now. Of course, there would be numerous variables to take into account (health, access to food/water, shelter, climate, etc.), but I was wondering if someone with more knowledge than I could give a better breakdown on the odds. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/2 "2003-12-24T16:02:55Z")
This was a similiar situtation without the island - There was a guy who was stuck on his sailboat drifting at sea for about 6 months - he was picked up by the Navy last year. He had planned a short trip but somehow the boat had problems and he could not get back to land. The boat was in such bad shape the Navy sank it but that left him homeless since the boat was where he lived. I guess he had enough food since the boat was his home and he probably caught rain to drink. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/3 "2003-12-24T16:18:08Z")
There’s a man called Tom Leopard who lives on an island of the coast of Scotland in a shelter which he built himself he is the most tatoo’d man in the world IIRC. he only leaves the island to get food from the local town which is on the mainland. ill be back with a cite soon. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/4 "2003-12-24T16:27:03Z")
Sorry i meant to add: he is not a castaway per se but his situation although self-imposed is semi-castawayish. also his name is spelt Leppard sorry. [This](http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/index.asp?id=48496) is about his tattoos. and [this](http://tammy.hypermart.net/gmarchives/00000242.html) mentions more about his way of life. And finally [this](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,647990,00.html) is an Observer article about him. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/5 "2003-12-24T17:35:34Z")
Cecil wrote a column about Japanese soldiers who holed up on islands for years after the end of W.W. II: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html) I realize this is not quite the same thing, but the OP made me think of this column. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/6 "2003-12-24T18:05:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aaslatten \* > \*\*Cecil wrote a column about Japanese soldiers who holed up on islands for years after the end of W.W. II: > > [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html) > > I realize this is not quite the same thing, but the OP made me think of this column. \*\* Actually, from the link in the column, you can read about a group of Japanese who were castaway on the island of [Anatahan.](http://www.wanpela.com/holdouts/list.html) > [@](#): > > A group of stranded survivors of a Japanese vessel sunk by the American military found their way to the island of Anatahan, 75 nautical miles north of Saipan. The island’s coast line is precipitous with landing beaches on the northern and western shore and a small sandy beach on the southwest shore. It’s steep slopes are furrowed by deep gorges covered by high grass. This brooding cone jutting from the sea floor is a large, extinct volcano with two peaks and a grass covered flat field, the final resting place for a B-29 Superfortress that crashed upon returning from a bombing mission over Nagoya, Japan on January 3, 1945 killing the aircraft’s crew. > (snip) > They lived a sparse life, eating coconuts, taro, wild sugar cane, fish and lizards. They smoked crushed, dried papaya leaves wrapped in the leaves of bananas and made an intoxicating beverage known as “tuba”, (coconut wine). They lived in palm frond huts with woven floor matting of pandanus. Their life improved after the crash of the aircraft . They used metal from the B-29 to fashion crude implements such as pots, knives and roofing for their hut. That’s about as close to a Robinson Crusoe-type of castaway story I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Headcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@Headcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headcoat)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/7 "2003-12-24T18:34:34Z")
Eh, that guy is hardly the most tattooed man in the world. There’s this fellow from Germany that has his entire body (head to toe, even his genitals) tattooed completely with black ink. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/8 "2003-12-25T04:58:51Z")
That’s Lucky Diamond Rich, who is also mentioned in the Guiness article. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/9 "2003-12-25T05:51:24Z")
If we knew about them would they still be castaways? ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/10 "2003-12-25T19:39:08Z")
I would find it very hard to believe that any tropical island that was large enough, had enough food, enough fresh water, that no one else would already be living on it, and own it, that the government would not be stopping by each year to get the property taxes on it, or that no people in sailboats would not be stopping in such a place at least several times a year. ---
**Author:** ![RadioOrange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RadioOrange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioOrange)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/11 "2003-12-25T21:45:12Z")
Did Wilson ever reason an award for its acting the that movie?? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/12 "2003-12-25T22:07:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RadioOrange \* > \*\*Did Wilson ever reason an award for its acting the that movie?? 😛 \*\* No, but he did get two foul shots. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/13 "2003-12-26T05:59:15Z")
I used to read Cruising World magazine. It is a yachting magazine, but the title alone makes it worth buying. Anyway, and with no cite, there was a story some twenty years ago about a (French?) kid making his third round-the-world solo. He was unmasted and overturned in sudden storm. So fast in fact all his electronics were destroyed. He spent a month or two on an island. The Aussies eventually picked him up. ---
**Author:** ![Irish\_Girl81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a183cd/32.png) [@Irish\_Girl81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irish_Girl81)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/14 "2003-12-26T13:53:25Z")
I’m a castaway - I live in Ireland!! (Feels like I’m a fecking castaway most of the time anyway!!) ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/15 "2003-12-26T14:35:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > \*\*I was recently thinking about the movie Castaway starring Tom Hanks. \*\* Annoying Nitpick: The name of the movie is Cast Away. It’s not a noun saying what he is (a castaway), it’s describing what happened to him (he was cast away.) ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/16 "2003-12-26T17:48:55Z")
Steven Callahan survived at sea in an inflatable lifeboat for 67 days before being picked up. The Bailey family were adrift for 118 days before being found. They weren’t on land but still. There are other survival tales with similar feel such as the young woman (can’t remember her name) who survived the plane she was on breaking up in the air. She fell god knows how far and walked out of the jungle on a broken leg. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/17 "2003-12-26T19:31:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Susanann \* > \*\*I would find it very hard to believe that any tropical island that was large enough, had enough food, enough fresh water, that no one else would already be living on it, and own it, that the government would not be stopping by each year to get the property taxes on it, or that no people in sailboats would not be stopping in such a place at least several times a year. \*\* Well I’m sure that island countries like Indonesia or The Phillipines that comprise thousands of islands, include many tiny, uninhabited islets that are seldom if ever visited, least of all by tax collectors. Just because an island falls within a governmental jurisdiction doesn’t mean you couldn’t still be marooned on it. ---
**Author:** ![Frame\_Dragging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/53a042/32.png) [@Frame\_Dragging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frame_Dragging)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/18 "2003-12-26T23:16:51Z")
How about that guy stuck stuck in an airport in Paris since 1988? The Master reviews his dilemma at: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990820.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990820.html) Forget the uninhabited island - this guy is stuck at an airport! ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-castaways/220841/19 "2003-12-26T23:29:24Z")
There is another movie called [Castaway](http://imdb.com/title/tt0092732/combined), where a man and woman go live a castaway like existence for a year on an island, near, I believe Austrailia. It was a planned castaway though. Based on a true story, IIRC.