This story is satire. Untrue and a hoax.
based upon the evidence here
Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped On Desert Island For 7 Years
In 2007, Gemma Sheridan and two of her friends set out on a voyage that was to take them from their home town of Liverpool, across the Atlantic to the Panama Canal and then onwards to the beautiful island of Hawaii.
The first stage of the voyage went without incident. However, after passing through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific, things started to take a turn for the worst.
There was a huge storm that completely destroyed the boat’s electronic systems, washed both her friends overboard and seriously damaged the external structure of the boat.
Without any electronics on a boat that was barely functioning, Gemma drifted for 17 days until she was hit by another major storm.
During that storm she was knocked unconscious and awoke on a beach, surrounded only by wreckage from the boat. Here is a short account of some of the things she can remember from her time as a cast away.
“Within the first hour I had a major panic attack. It was a disturbing feeling, being alone, isolated, so far from home without a hope.
I had been on water rations for the last 2 weeks, so finding water was my first priority. There were no pools of fresh water so I had to rig up a contraption that drew the water away from the rock I had managed to get one drop out of every fifty seconds. That was my only source of water, so it was coconuts until it rained. Not the best start.”
“The amount of energy required to do anything massive and basic things were mentally taxing. For the first two weeks I stayed in a mock shelter I had made from debris that washed ashore.
I was desperate to find real shelter and after a while I found a large tree that looked perfect. I nibbled away at the bark of the tree with a giant clam shell for eleven days just to build my shelter.
It could quite possibly have been bomb and waterproof in the end and is probably still standing, but if Id had a machete, just that one tool, I would have been able to build it in a few hours.
It was four weeks before I managed to light a fire you have no idea how happy that made me.”
“There were eight feral goats on the island, three adults and five kids. I saw them occasionally and tried to catch them but they would always get away. I made a bow and arrow, but this just went twang and fell on the floor and my makeshift spear wasnt sharp enough.
So, when the hunting tools didnt work, I spent seven days building a coral-type trap with spikes on it and everything. One day I was walking round the island looking for crabs and saw what I thought was driftwood caught up in the bottom of this tree.
Then it bleated. This goat had been eating the leaves, got it’s horns caught and panicked. It was a massive thing, about 45 or 50 kilos. I tried squeezing it’s windpipe but that wouldnt do it so I had to bash it on the head with a clam shell. It took about 15 minutes to kill it and was quite gruesome.
It showed me how far I was from being able to hunt because even though it was trapped it still took me a quarter of an hour.”
“Fast forward a few years and everything had changed. The physical side was tough but ultimately bearable. I did a series of exercises on the beach every day press-ups, chin-ups on a tree branch, squats with boulders on my shoulders and shuttle runs of about 300 metres.
I had managed to get to a stage when I was getting stronger, but the difficulty was elsewhere. My mind was lonely and it was begining to dawn on me that I may never be saved. Usually if youre on a desert island and you start talking to yourself it is an indication that things are going wrong.
I had a sign on the beach that was about ten feet high but it had sat there all this time and nothing had ever came of it. So I decided to go all out, spending the next few weeks clearing space and finding materials to build a huge sign in the sand on the beach. My hope was that perhaps a plane might fly over and see it, but in all my time on the island, I had not seen 1 single plane fly over. I didn’t give up though.”
One morning I woke to the sound of a plane flying overhead. I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a dream. I ran to the beach screaming and waving my arms like a lunatic. The plane flew over two or three more times and then dropped a small package. Inside was a radio, fresh water, food and a small medical kit. I switched on the radio and heard the first human voice in years.
We talked for what seemed like an eternity, then I asked the voice on the other end, “How did you find me?” The man replied, “Some kid from Minnesota found your SOS sign on Google Earth!” I didn’t even know what Google Earth was, but I’m eternally grateful now.
based upon the evidence here
Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped On Desert Island For 7 Years
In 2007, Gemma Sheridan and two of her friends set out on a voyage that was to take them from their home town of Liverpool, across the Atlantic to the Panama Canal and then onwards to the beautiful island of Hawaii.
The first stage of the voyage went without incident. However, after passing through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific, things started to take a turn for the worst.
There was a huge storm that completely destroyed the boat’s electronic systems, washed both her friends overboard and seriously damaged the external structure of the boat.
Without any electronics on a boat that was barely functioning, Gemma drifted for 17 days until she was hit by another major storm.
During that storm she was knocked unconscious and awoke on a beach, surrounded only by wreckage from the boat. Here is a short account of some of the things she can remember from her time as a cast away.
“Within the first hour I had a major panic attack. It was a disturbing feeling, being alone, isolated, so far from home without a hope.
I had been on water rations for the last 2 weeks, so finding water was my first priority. There were no pools of fresh water so I had to rig up a contraption that drew the water away from the rock I had managed to get one drop out of every fifty seconds. That was my only source of water, so it was coconuts until it rained. Not the best start.”
“The amount of energy required to do anything massive and basic things were mentally taxing. For the first two weeks I stayed in a mock shelter I had made from debris that washed ashore.
I was desperate to find real shelter and after a while I found a large tree that looked perfect. I nibbled away at the bark of the tree with a giant clam shell for eleven days just to build my shelter.
It could quite possibly have been bomb and waterproof in the end and is probably still standing, but if Id had a machete, just that one tool, I would have been able to build it in a few hours.
It was four weeks before I managed to light a fire you have no idea how happy that made me.”
“There were eight feral goats on the island, three adults and five kids. I saw them occasionally and tried to catch them but they would always get away. I made a bow and arrow, but this just went twang and fell on the floor and my makeshift spear wasnt sharp enough.
So, when the hunting tools didnt work, I spent seven days building a coral-type trap with spikes on it and everything. One day I was walking round the island looking for crabs and saw what I thought was driftwood caught up in the bottom of this tree.
Then it bleated. This goat had been eating the leaves, got it’s horns caught and panicked. It was a massive thing, about 45 or 50 kilos. I tried squeezing it’s windpipe but that wouldnt do it so I had to bash it on the head with a clam shell. It took about 15 minutes to kill it and was quite gruesome.
It showed me how far I was from being able to hunt because even though it was trapped it still took me a quarter of an hour.”
“Fast forward a few years and everything had changed. The physical side was tough but ultimately bearable. I did a series of exercises on the beach every day press-ups, chin-ups on a tree branch, squats with boulders on my shoulders and shuttle runs of about 300 metres.
I had managed to get to a stage when I was getting stronger, but the difficulty was elsewhere. My mind was lonely and it was begining to dawn on me that I may never be saved. Usually if youre on a desert island and you start talking to yourself it is an indication that things are going wrong.
I had a sign on the beach that was about ten feet high but it had sat there all this time and nothing had ever came of it. So I decided to go all out, spending the next few weeks clearing space and finding materials to build a huge sign in the sand on the beach. My hope was that perhaps a plane might fly over and see it, but in all my time on the island, I had not seen 1 single plane fly over. I didn’t give up though.”
One morning I woke to the sound of a plane flying overhead. I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a dream. I ran to the beach screaming and waving my arms like a lunatic. The plane flew over two or three more times and then dropped a small package. Inside was a radio, fresh water, food and a small medical kit. I switched on the radio and heard the first human voice in years.
We talked for what seemed like an eternity, then I asked the voice on the other end, “How did you find me?” The man replied, “Some kid from Minnesota found your SOS sign on Google Earth!” I didn’t even know what Google Earth was, but I’m eternally grateful now.
