Desert Survival Story

Desert Survival Story

I was once a seaman, fighting for the French, against the British. The year was 1757. We were on our way to invade Britain and conquer it once and for all. However, things didn’t go quite the way I thought it would be.
When we met the British, we were astounded by the immense size of their ships and their cannons. Two British ships surrounded my ship. After about 15 minutes of continuous firing, my ship slowly slowed down and as the cannons pounded against my ship and as my crewmembers screamed and flailed desperately around and as planks of wood flew around, I jumped into a lifeboat and tried to leave my ship. As I did, I saw that my ship had turned into a burning fireball. That was the last thing I remembered before I got to Africa.
I don’t know how long my journey took but I found myself, slumped over my lifeboat on the beaches of the Sahara. As I opened my eyes, I found that there was only sand all over with the blue water lapping over my feet. There were no trees, no people, no houses, and no signs of civilization. Then, I started to cut apart my lifeboat with my seaman’s knife. After an hour or so, I sharpened a plank of wood into a sharp spear. It was long and smooth but pointy at the top. I set out into the yellow sands of the dunes with the bitter sand screaming against my face and the desert sun burning my skin. Finally, I found a cactus. I chopped it off and then painfully, I gripped the cactus and poured the water into a pot and I left it out in the sun. I ripped a small piece of shirt and covered the pot with it. Finally, as I kept on walking, I found a dead camel. I dragged it back to the beach and then; I boiled the water and the meat from the cactus over a fire. Since it was cold out in the desert, I dug a deep burrow and slept there. The next morning, I found a fox and stabbed it with my spear. I did the same but this time, I got my water from the sea. I got a pot and put an empty glass cup inside the center. I slowly poured some salt water into the pot. Then, I placed the pot cover upside down so that the highest handle was facing down right above it and facing the glass. Finally, as the fire started to boil gently, the water becomes vapor and then, it condensed into the air and fell into the glass. I kept on hunting and finding food such as desert snakes, spiders, and scorpions. One day, I saw a ship near the coastline. However, it was a slave ship, and I quickly avoided it, fearing that I would be found and sold as a slave. Finally, after 18 days, a caravan of traders stumbled upon me and happily took me back to civilization.