When the world ends on land, the ocean starts to look appealing. It covers most of the planet, nobody owns most of it, and it is full of food. Readers have suggested living on boats more than once (our guest columnist Aegis took the idea seriously, too). So how realistic is surviving the apocalypse at sea? Here is what the ocean genuinely offers, and what it will do to you if you’re careless.
Food is the ocean’s big advantage
- Fish. A hand line, a few hooks and some patience will feed people in most coastal waters. Learn which local species are safe; some reef fish carry ciguatera, a toxin cooking doesn’t destroy.
- Shellfish. Mussels, clams and oysters can be gathered by hand at low tide, but they filter the water around them and concentrate whatever is in it. During harmful algal blooms, often called red tides, they can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, which can kill. Before the collapse, check your state’s shellfish closure notices; after it, learn the warning signs and avoid shellfish from discolored water.
- Seaweed. Most common seaweeds are edible and nutritious, including kelp, dulse and sea lettuce. A few, such as the acid kelp Desmarestia, can cause stomach trouble, so learn the local species. Gather it attached and alive, not rotting on the beach.
Water is the ocean’s big problem
Seawater is roughly three and a half percent salt, far more than your kidneys can handle. Drinking it makes you more dehydrated, and castaways who drink it fare worse than those who don’t. You need fresh water from rain, from stores you bring, or from desalination: boiling seawater and collecting the condensed steam works but takes a lot of fuel, and small hand-pumped desalinators exist for life rafts but are slow and expensive.
Boats
A sailboat is one of the best apocalypse vehicles there is: wind power, a home that moves, and the ability to leave a dangerous coast. The catches are maintenance, which never ends, storms, and the fact that a lone boat is visible from a long way off. Sailing is also a serious skill that takes years to learn well, so take lessons now.
Submarines
Military submarines are built to stay hidden underwater for months, limited mainly by how much food they can carry. They are also staffed by large, highly trained crews and run on nuclear reactors or fuel. As a survival plan, a submarine is a fantasy; as a premise for fiction, it is excellent.
Living under the sea
Undersea habitats exist, just not many. Aquarius Reef Base, off the Florida Keys, is the world’s only undersea research station still operating, and scientists and astronauts live in it for missions of a week or more. It depends entirely on support from the surface for power, air and supplies, so for now the underwater colony remains science fiction.
The verdict
The coast is a better place to survive than the open ocean: food from the sea, fresh water from the land, and a boat to leave if things go wrong. Just respect the water. Cold water kills quickly, tides strand the careless, and the ocean does not care how well prepared you are.
Would you take to the sea when the world ends? Tell us your plan in the comments.