In his preface to the book, Garcia seems somewhat embarrassed by the publication of the book, believing that the publisher and audience are only interested in a famous writer and not in the story itself.
He had nothing to fear : it's an interesting story, well told. The sailor was a young crewman aboard a Columbian naval vessel that had been in Alabama for some months getting repairs. On the return voyage the ship was overloaded with civilian goods and encountered heavy seas. The sailor was on the deck when the ship was covered by a large wave. He and about 6 others were washed overboard. All but the one sailor were drowned. The book tells the story of the sailor's journey by life raft and his eventual rescue.
I think what I found interesting about the story was the reactions of the sailor to his situation. He went several days without food or water, but says that he really didn't suffer from it until about the third day. He talks about capturing a sea gull, thinking to eat it for the meat and liquid. But he found it impossible to remove the feathers, and was so thoroughly disgusted by the prospect that he threw the bird away.
It's a short and easy read, originally published as a series of newspaper articles, and based on hundreds of hours of interviews that Garcia did with the sailor.
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