My sister's months at sea after whale sank boat

15 March 2025

Samantha Noble & Pamela Gupta

BBC News, Derby

Pat Brewin said she did not know how her sister and brother-in-law lived to tell the tale

BBC Pat Brewin sat on a sofa holding a newspaper cutting. Pat is 79 years old and has short, dark hair. She is wearing a grey jumper with white horizontal stripes, and a light grey scarf with butterflies on. — Pat Brewin said she did not know how her sister and brother-in-law lived to tell the tale

The first Pat Brewin knew about her sister and brother-in-law being shipwrecked at sea in a dinghy and rubber life raft - tied together for nearly four months - was when she watched the News at 10.

"I said 'oh my God - that's our Maralyn being helped up the gangway'.

"I can see her little legs now, they were like little sticks when they were carried into this Korean boat," she said.

Maralyn and Maurice Bailey's boat sank when it was hit by a whale in the Pacific Ocean on 4 March 1973, and after their food ran out, they made hooks from safety pins and caught fish, small sharks, seabirds and turtles to eat, and collected rainwater to drink.

After a book about the survival of the Derby couple, who have since died, was named the best title of last year, Pat says it was her sister - who could not swim - that kept the pair going.

The couple, photographed here in 1974 reliving their ordeal at the London Boat Show, married in 1963

Getty Images A black and white photo of Maralyn and Maurice Bailey on a life raft. — The couple, photographed here in 1974 reliving their ordeal at the London Boat Show, married in 1963

Earlier this month, the book - called Maurice and Maralyn: An Extraordinary True Story of Shipwreck, Survival and Love - by Sophie Elmhirst, won the £30,000 Gold Prize at the Nero Book Awards.

In 1966, Maralyn - who worked in a tax office - suggested to her husband they sell their house, in Allestree, buy a boat and live on board.

The pair - who met in Normanton - bought their 31ft yacht called Auralyn and set sail for New Zealand from Southampton on 28 June 1972, with Maralyn aged 31, and Maurice aged 39.

Pat told the BBC she would regularly receive postcards from her older sister.

The 79-year-old said: "On one of them she said 'don't worry - you won't hear from me for a bit because we're crossing the Galapagos', so we never gave it another thought."

Days after this postcard was sent to Pat, the couple's boat sank

Supplied Maralyn's post card to Pat from Panama - with four images on — Days after this postcard was sent to Pat, the couple's boat sank

At the end of February 1973, Maurice and Maralyn - who had married in 1963 - left Panama for the Galapagos Islands, a journey which should have taken about 10 days.

But on day six - 4 March - the ship sank, 250 miles from their destination.

The couple were left fighting for survival for 118 days on a 9ft-long dinghy and a life raft, which was 4ft 6in in diameter, tied together.

In an interview in 2014, Maurice said Maralyn "was the guiding light in everything we did"

Supplied A black and white photo of Maralyn Bailey sat on a boat. — In an interview in 2014, Maurice said Maralyn "was the guiding light in everything we did"

They drifted about 1,500 miles in a mainly north-westwards direction before they were rescued by a Korean fishing boat.

Pat, who was talking to the BBC from her home in Chaddesden, in Derby, said Maralyn could not swim.

She said: "I saying to her 'what are you going to do if you got into difficulties or into the sea":[]}