In December 2022, a man repairing his sailboat off the Caribbean island of St. Martin was swept out to sea by the currents. He spent 24 days adrift with almost nothing to eat. What kept him alive was sitting in his galley, and you probably have the same thing in your fridge door right now.
In short
- Elvis François, a 47-year-old man from Dominica, drifted for 24 days in the Caribbean.
- He survived on ketchup, garlic powder and bouillon cubes.
- He collected rainwater with a cloth and wrote “help” on the hull.
- He was rescued in January 2023 and taken to Cartagena, Colombia.
Swept out to sea during a repair
Elvis François was working on his sailboat off St. Martin when currents carried it out to sea, NBC reported, citing the Colombian Navy. He lost his phone signal. “I called my friends, they tried to contact me, but I lost the signal. There was nothing else to do but sit and wait,” he said.
A bottle of ketchup
On board, there was almost no food. What he had: a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder and Maggi bouillon cubes. That’s what he lived on for more than three weeks. For water, he collected rain with a cloth. He also had to keep bailing water out to keep the boat from sinking.
Ketchup isn’t a balanced meal, but it does contain sugar, which provides a little energy. Mixed with garlic powder and dissolved bouillon cubes, it was all he had to get through each day. He had no fishing gear on board and no way of cooking. For more than three weeks, every meal came from a few condiments most people barely think about, the kind that sit in the fridge door for months.
“Help” written on the hull
To be seen, he wrote “help” on the hull. After 24 days, a plane spotted the boat about 120 nautical miles northwest of Colombia’s La Guajira peninsula, after he signaled with a mirror. A passing container ship, the CMA CGM Voltario, then picked him up. He was taken to Cartagena around Jan. 16, 2023. “If it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be telling the story,” he said of his rescuers.
What’s really in your pantry
His story is a reminder of how long some everyday foods last. Condiments, spices and dry bouillon cubes are among the longest-keeping items in a kitchen. Storage makes a big difference too, as with potatoes that sprout too fast. And a power cut can be just as revealing as a shipwreck: here’s why a coin on a cup of ice in the freezer can tell you if your food is still safe.
The limit
Ketchup didn’t “save” him on its own: rainwater, his ability to stay calm and the people who searched for him mattered just as much. Without the rain he managed to collect, the story would have ended very differently. This is not a survival diet, just a remarkable story about what a few ordinary items can do.
That’s the story.
