Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst

Maurice and Maralyn couldn’t be more different. He is as cautious and awkward as she is charismatic and forceful. It seems an unlikely romance, but it works.

Bored of 1970s suburban life, Maralyn has an idea: sell the house, build a boat, leave England and its oil crisis, industrial strikes and inflation – forever. It is hard work, turning dreams into reality, but finally they set sail for New Zealand. Then, halfway there, their beloved boat is struck by a whale and the pair are cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

On their tiny raft, their love is put to the test. When Maurice begins to withdraw into himself, it falls upon Maralyn to keep them both alive. Filled with danger, spirit, and tenderness, this is a book about human connection and the human condition; about how we survive – not just at sea, but in life.

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Maurice and Maralyn is a book I picked up at the inaugural Spring edition of Derby Book Festival.  I loved Sophie Elmhirst’s talk about this Derbyshire couple who were adrift in the Pacific for 118 days before being rescued and just had to find out more. 

Elmhirst opens her book with the incident that caused their boat, Auralyn, to sink some 300 or so miles away from the Galapagos Islands.  It’s a chance encounter that no one can plan for as the hull of their boat is irreparably (out at sea, at least) damaged by an injured whale. Forced to abandon ship, they grab what they can and move to their life raft with no idea of what’s in store for them.

After that rather dramatic opening, Elmhirst takes us back to how Maurice and Marilyn met and how they came to be on that voyage in the first place. I love the way that the author so brilliantly captures how different they are.  Maurice is someone who feels awkward around others and has few friends – he’s happiest on his own.  Maralyn, 9 years his junior, is his polar opposite – pretty and sociable with a daring, happy go lucky attitude towards life.  Maurice’s attraction is instantaneous, and while he has no expectations that his feelings will be reciprocated, he decides to try anyway.  And Maralyn responds in kind, perhaps seeing in Maurice freedom from the expectations of both her family and society as a whole.  He’s not looking for a mother for the children that neither of them wants, nor does he have expectations that she will tend hearth and home.  He respects her and sees her as an equal, particularly as she shares his joy of being outdoors, be that walking, climbing, camping, or sailing.

While Maralyn never learns how to swim, it’s her idea to undertake their voyage, envisioning a new life for them both in New Zealand.  While it’s the sort of wistful dream that many are familiar with, they go ahead with it, selling their house and buying a boat and the necessary gear.  Unfortunately for them, this does not include a radio transmitter.  Maurice intends to be as self-sufficient as possible, and seems to want to recreate the experiences of earlier seafarers, although “intrepid” and “explorer” aren’t words that come to mind when reading about Maurice.  In 1972, they set off, first sailing down to Spain and the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean and traversing the Panama Canal.  Their journey to this point is plain sailing, as is the first stretch across the Pacific Ocean until that encounter with the whale.    

In Maralyn’s view, they were either meant to survive or they would engineer their own survival, a two-pronged approach that left no room for failure.

People often think they’ll know how they will respond in a crisis, but the reality can be very different.  While Maurice, as the more experienced sailor, was the captain upon their vessel, he quickly descends into a pessimistic state as the days pass without rescue.  As someone who sees themselves as self-sufficient, I don’t think he would have expected to lose hope in that way, although their situation is dire, and that sense of hopelessness is completely understandable.  Some might see his attitude as realistic rather than pessimistic, but not Maralyn.  She is the one who keeps them going – never losing hope and finding ways to keep their spirits up.  I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Maurice wouldn’t have made it on his own.

Elmhirst’s tone is quite matter of fact throughout.  For me, this worked to heighten the severity of their plight and seems to be in keeping with how the couple themselves discuss the incident afterwards.  She covers their survival, with the most pressing concern being fresh water (and I can’t even begin to imagine the raging thirst they must have experienced at being surrounded by undrinkable water, waiting for the next rain shower to replenish their supplies!) as well as food, which is abundant if not entirely palatable, although they learn to appreciate it.  It’s terrifying to imagine being in that situation, and a real testament to the couple that they come through it.  You might be forgiven for thinking that they might go off sailing after that experience, but they do embark upon another voyage some years later, one that is blessedly drama free.

Elmhirst has based her work upon the couple’s own book published after their ordeal as well as newspaper clippings from around the world – the two were briefly a global media sensation following their rescue – and their own, more personal, logs and diaries.  It’s an absolutely fascinating account, and all the more poignant for being based upon the experiences of an entirely ordinary couple.  Highly recommended for those interested in castaway and survival against the odds tales.