The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

By the seventh day, Velasco’s spirits are low. He feels near death, yet he still will not surrender: “But when you feel close to death, your instinct for self-preservation grows stronger” (57). The use of the generic you (in Spanish, the word “uno,”  or ”one,” is used) shows that Velasco takes it as an axiom that the human will for survival surpasses all else. This perspective of his displays an intrinsic humility: He could have said, “The closer I felt to death, the more I felt driven to survive”—something more personal than universal.

Towards the end of his ordeal, Velasco again discovers hope in several places. First, another seagull flies over him. This seagull is much larger and older, which gives Velasco the strong impression that this seagull cannot be lost: “But an old sea gull, big and heavy like the one I had just seen, couldn’t fly a hundred miles from shore” (69). He has no intention of killing it and already knows eating it will do him little good. Thus, the bird not only symbolizes hope but also becomes a short-term companion. Velasco eventually catches the seagull and holds it in his arms. He sees fear in its eyes, which is another example of Velasco’s ability to empathize with other creatures and displays his humanity and strong moral code despite his horrid conditions. Once he releases the gull, and it returns to its flock, Velasco’s spirits ebb, and he begins wishing for death.

While he is miserable, the loss of hope stems more from the gull’s departure than from his own health; he has been in poor condition for many days. If this were strictly a work of fiction, the departure of the gull—and with it, the hope in Velasco’s heart—would only reinforce the bird’s symbolism. Furthermore, in terms of survival, Velasco’s despair here exhibits the importance of a psychological anchor, something to grasp and distract oneself from suffering. Velasco loses this anchor until he falls into a daze and remembers the times with Massey Nasser.

Massy Nasser was a Jewish sales clerk in Mobile who sold clothes to the Colombian sailors, and who spoke Spanish with remarkable fluency. Velasco remembers the times with Nasser as some of his happiest moments in Mobile. Once again, life-affirming memories buoy Velasco’s resolve. Through his memories, Velasco realizes life is worth living, no matter how seemingly unbearable the situation becomes.

Up until Chapter 11, there is little evidence that religion plays into Velasco’s survival. In Chapter 3, Velasco mentions his medallion of the Virgin of Carmen, a Catholic talisman. The Virgin specifically protects, among others, sailors, which is a good indication of why Velasco possesses it. The talisman’s importance to him shows in the scene wherein he struggles to swim to shore; he feels the chain loosen from his neck, and, despite his unfathomable exhaustion and desperation to reach land, he stops to retrieve the talisman, potentially risking his life to do so. The talisman—and, speculatively, Catholicism—means a great deal to him. Little is mentioned about the talisman, most likely because Colombia is a predominantly Catholic country where readers were likely familiar with the Virgin and Her significance. Nevertheless, it is no accident that Velasco remembers saving the medallion from sinking, and it is no accident or oversight that Márquez includes it in the story.

Although Velasco often denies that his survival was a feat of strength or willpower, he clearly suffered greatly. Velasco’s starving, sunburned body is at the stage when it is consuming its own muscle—yet he consistently finds the strength to save himself over and over again. Between the seventh and final day at sea before he swims to shore, Velasco is thrown twice from his raft, each time finding the strength to struggle back inside. In Chapter 9, his raft even capsizes, and he must struggle to free himself from the rope mesh and his belt before he drowns. Velasco’s act of lashing himself to the raft signifies his physical exhaustion and his desperation to not have his weakened body tossed by the waves; he calls it “the most dreadful moment of all” (46). His resiliency is mysterious.