Maurice and Maralyn Bailey

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Maurice and Maralyn Bailey are a British couple who, in 1973, survived for 117 days on a rubber raft in the Pacific Ocean before being rescued.

The Baileys' journey began when they left from Southampton, England, in their 31-foot yacht, the Auralyn. Their intended destination was New Zealand. They passed safely through the Panama Canal in February 1973, and were on their way to the Galapagos Islands. On March 4, 1973, their yacht was off the coast of Guatemala when it was struck by a whale and capsized. They survived the yacht's sinking by inflating a rubber dinghy and salvaging some food, a compass, and other supplies. They drank rainwater, and when their meager food supplies ran out, they started eating sea creatures such as turtles, seabirds and fish caught by hand or with safety pins fashioned into hooks. As they drifted in the open Pacific, they saw seven different ships, but no one on the ships ever saw them. After surviving for two months, their rubber raft began to disintegrate and they had to inflate it frequently. They suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and severe sunburn; encountered sharks; and endured several severe storms.

After drifting some 1,500 miles, the Baileys were rescued by a Korean fishing boat on June 30, 1973. Sailors on the boat, the Weolmi, spotted the raft on the horizon and brought aboard the Baileys, who were barely conscious and unable to move. The Weolmi brought them to Honolulu, Hawaii. They returned to England and wrote an account of their ordeal, entitled "117 Days Adrift," which was published in 1974. The following year, they returned to the sea in their new yacht, the Auralyn II.

Maralyn Bailey was born Maralyn Harrison on April 24, 1941 in Nottingham, England. Maralyn and Maurice married in 1963. Maralyn died in 2002 at the age of 61.

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