You can't really test the mettle of a man until you put him in a life-or-death situation. Though it has been more than 40 years since Steve Callahan survived at sea, he still carries the scars with him. The sailor survived for 76 days on a sailboat after getting stranded at sea after colliding with a whale.
It's not something you really get over, but Callahan has lived a full life in the 40 plus years since.
"Since this happened in 1982, it's never left me," he told Daily Mail. "Now, I'm 72 years old, this is something that's two and a half months of my life from when I was 30. 'And although I have, I don't know, an affinity for the story and what it means, which is more than about me, it's really about senses of connection to everything, and just being a small part in the larger, incredible universe we live in."
Callahan's incredible story of survival became the topic of the documentary 76 Days Adrift. At just 29, the sailor took to the seas as a way of coping with heartbreak from a failed marriage. However, while sailing through the Canary Islands, he ended up colliding with a whale. It left him stranded at sea for more than two months.
Sailor Survives For Months After Hitting Whale
He had to plug the holes in his vessel to stop it from sinking. He also boosted his dwindling ration by catching just enough fish to survive.
"Yes, it was a horrible event, but I saw things, I witnessed things, I learned things about the world and about myself that I could only have done in by going through that,'" he said. "I guess if there's a hopeful message to people, it is that: we go through all these things, but hidden within them are opportunities and gifts, and that includes talking to you right this minute, and doing the film."
The sailor struggled to overcome the mental hurdles of being stranded. It became a mental battle as much as a physical one.
"When I was young, really young, before all this happened, I think I always tried to convince myself that my mind... 'Fine, that's the leg, but the rest of me is okay,' sort of mind over matter attitude. But what this event taught me... was that it's very much a two way street," he said.
One thing he didn't appreciate was all of the attention his feat brought him.
"Once I landed, I was getting a lot of questions from people from the press all over the place, most of whom aren't mariners. And the inevitable question was, 'is this some kind of record? Is this some kind of record?' You know?' And I tried to point out to [one reporter]. It's not a sporting event. It's a survival experience. I remarked to him. I suppose I could be the first guy around the lighthouse backwards with my pants down. And that would be some kind of record."
