RIP Maurice Bailey

Maralyn and Maurice Bailey in a raft similar to the one they survived in.

Maurice Bailey, shipwreck survivor, was born in January 1933. His death was announced in November 2019; he is thought to have died in late 2018, aged 85. He was lost at sea with his wife in 1973. The couple survived on a raft for 117 days.

While Maurice and Maralyn Bailey thought about their impending death on a liferaft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sperm whale emerged and contemplated them. One huge eye, inches from the boat, peered at the couple. “It’s such a treat to see a docile whale alongside you. It did nothing. It just stared at us for half an hour. I got to know it very well. It eventually went off very slowly, just dived without a splash. It was marvellous,” Maurice said when recalling their 117-day ordeal at sea.

Read more of their amazing story.