Publisher's Synopsis
The story you are about to read is true. I was, and still am at the time of writing, the Captain of the vessel that rescued the drifters. Following the rescue, the three Kiribati men were guests onboard the F/V American Victory for a period of three weeks as we finished our commercial South Pacific fishing trip. Their time aboard presented me with the fortunate opportunity to capture their story. The account that follows is an accurate retelling of the men's ordeal. Roitam, the owner-skipper, had in his possession a small hand-held GPS unit. Whenever possible, he recorded current latitude and longitude bearings. This data was in good order upon his rescue and was transferred to my possession. Following printing out the bearings in chronological order, I proceeded to interview Roitam about each day of his 87-day ordeal. Detailed notes were taken, recorded, and then outlined for his review corresponding to that day's specific latitude and longitude. Following his review of my notes, I edited the notes and again submitted them for his review. This process was exercised a number of times over their time aboard F/V American Victory. The process continued until Roitam was confident that the facts were all properly recalled and documented. Of further note is the fact that of the three Kiribati men, only Roitam spoke English and so only he could be directly interviewed by me. Roitam consistently reviewed all of my edited notes with both Nanoaa and Ekeimoa and included their input as well throughout the interview process. All the events, including shark and marlin attacks, current weather, food and water shortages, near capsizes, and corresponding sea conditions, were relayed to me by Roitam, following his discussion with his crew, during the extensive interview process. Today all three survivors are home with their families on the island atoll of Tarawa, which is one of many islands comprising the sovereign nation of Kiribati. During the summer of 2010, I opened a benevolent trust at Bank of America for the benefit of the Kiribati survivors with myself appointed as trustee. The title of the trust is, "Roitam Taakiro Survival Fund," and the purpose of the trust is to raise funds to buy the valiant Kiribati men a new skiff and outboard so that they can continue to provide for their families. To date, 100% of all proceeds paid to me for periodical articles detailing the Kiribati men's story have been directed to the trust as have numerous reader contributions. The same will be true for any personal reimbursement from the publication of this book until the trust's mission has been accomplished.
