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A full length television programme.

The credits for this television programme.

Back From the Dead - The Saga of the Rose-Noëlle

Television (full length) – 1996.

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This documentary tells the story of four men men who survived 119 days adrift at sea in an upturned trimaran. John Glennie's boat Rose-Noëlle capsized in the Pacific in June 1989, and washed up four months later on Great Barrier Island. Director Mark Beesley mixes raw interviews and spare reenactments to convey the physical and emotional ordeal; the quartet were sometimes trapped inside a cramped section of the boat for days on end. The epic survival-at-sea tale won Best Documentary at the 1997 New Zealand Television Awards. The story was later retold in 2015 telemovie Abandoned .

Key Cast & Crew

Frank Whitten

Mark McNeill

Interviewer, Research

Mark Beesley

Director, Writer

Mark Everton

Producer, Writer

John Harris

Russell Shipman

Produced by.

Greenstone TV

Acknowledgements

Made with funding from  NZ On Air

• great barrier island
• heather hellriegel
• james nalepka
• jim nalepka
• john glennie
• karen hofman

Documentary

More Information

NZ Herald article on the Rose-Noëlle saga, September 2009

Article on various accounts of the Rose-Noëlle saga, Up Country website, May 2014

Rose-Noëlle author Jane Phare interviews survivor John Glennie, The NZ Herald, October 2009

Short clip from a TVNZ news report on efforts to find the Rose-Noëlle, Te Ara website

Interview with the cast of a TV movie about the Rose-Noëlle, Stuff, August 2015

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Abandoned (2016)

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Dominic Purcell (Jim) Peter Feeney (John) Owen Black (Rick) Greg Johnson (Phil) Serena Cotton (Heather) Siobhan Marshall (Martha) Rachel Nash (Karen) Seamus Stalker (Darren) Jack Walley (Gordon) Mark Ruka (Shane) Minouk van Der Valde (Raewyn) Daniel Cleary (Laing) John Davies (McKinley) Daniel Watterson (Newsreader) Laurie Dee (Reg) Isla Thompson (Hayley) Rachel Nicholls (TV Reporter)

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

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Abandoned (2015)

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In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

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2015 Directed by John Laing

Sea of Terror

In 1989 the trimaran Rose Noelle set sail from Picton, New Zealand, bound for Tonga with four crew. After a freak wave capsized the yacht, they drifted for 119 days before landing on Great Barrier Island.

Dominic Purcell Peter Feeney Owen Black Siobhan Marshall Serena Cotton Rachel Nash Seamus Stalker Isla Thompson Jack Walley Mark Ruka Minouk van Der Valde Daniel Watterson Daniel Cleary Greg Johnson John Davies Laurie Dee Rachel Nicholls

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Stephanie Johnson

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Releases by Date

03 may 2016, 06 jul 2016, 17 feb 2017, 30 aug 2015, releases by country.

• Physical 12 DVD and Blu-ray premiere
• TV TV premiere
• Physical PG-13 DVD premiere

86 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Learic Life ★★★

Held back a bit by limited production value, this survival tale starring Dominic Purcell still has strong enough storytelling to remain compelling throughout.  When a boat is capsized during a vicious storm, the captain (who it turns out is seeking out inclement weather conditions for the sheer thrill and challenge, much to the chagrin of the rest of the crew when they find this out) and his crew are forced to do everything in their power to stay alive.  The actors do a good job of selling the realism of the situation, and I found myself immersed in their dilemma.  Not one I need to return to but a quality single viewing.

Review by Yarjka ★★★½

A well-told story with some good acting. I like that there is no bond of friendship formed, no heroic acts of self sacrifice, no monumental moment of decisive action: just day-to-day survival at sea in very precarious circumstances.

Review by Travis Lytle ★★★

Laughably misrepresented by the adjacent artwork, "Abandoned" is not the humans versus sharks schlocksterpiece suggested by the attached marketing materials. The film is actually a real-events-based adventure detailing the survival attempts of four men when their boat capsizes outside New Zealand. Boasting a straightforward tale, tone, and production, the medium-heat work observes abiding friendship forged in the quest to stay afloat. The results are solid and inspiring.

Review by David ★★★

Could’ve done without the religious undertones.

Review by markaritavision ★★★★

Good sea faring adventure story think  Apollo 13  on the water.  Interesting to hear it from the shitty captain, I guess he’s the one who wrote it all down though.  I could have done with a little more happy sailing but the short runtime is part of the appeal.  I especially enjoyed the crossover   scary cult vibes.

Review by Shawn Robare ★★★

The constant narration of the captain over the scenes hurt the tension of the film which was a shame. Otherwise a very well executed story of survival at sea.

Review by overlookhostel ★★★★

119 days abandoned at sea makes you appreciate what you have. During a pandemic when things we take for granted are no longer available, I’d much rather take the situation we’re dealing with now than be stuck at sea for 4 months. The 4 guys create a colony on the boat. The men create friendships, growing with every day and they work together to overcome the impossible obstacle they’re faced with. Just a feel good movie. When all the men return home and their families are in awe, it makes you appreciate your family even when you want to get out of the house during quarantine. Recommend everyone to watch this, you may not like the characters, but the message is powerful and I will never forget this movie.

Review by MoVieManKev ★★★½

A well done nicely told harrowing based on true life tale. I was engrossed and captivated throughout.

Review by Lauren ★★½

I could really sense the struggle the four men went through, the movie felt realistic, and while not thrilling, it kept me engaged throughout. One of the main reasons I enjoyed it was that it’s based on a true story. I’m not sure I’d have chosen to watch otherwise.

Review by Nilknarf ★★★

Story of a really bad sail boat captain. He gets an inexperienced crew on short notice to sail to Tonga from New Zealand. The captain then decided to sail into a storm hoping to make good time, all with a green crew. He also didn’t have the proper marine radio because he was to cheap to get a radio license. Bad captain. He needlessly risked the lives of his crew for his own selfish interests.

The story used flashbacks and flash forwards, which I usually don’t like because it kinda bores me. I kinda lost interest in the plot and characters as a result. Character development was definitely lacking. But the ending was a bit better than I expected. I still think the captain was not very good and  a little self absorbed.

Review by thibustier

Ptn bah franchement pas si mauvais qu’on pourrais croire et même carrément fun et agréable à regarder à plusieurs, un film qui aurait pu être vraiment mauvais et qui fini par être moyen.  Dominic Pursel au sommet de son art d’avoir toujours l’air ailleurs. Un film qui au lieu de verser dans le spectaculaire deviens un genre de huis clos factuel de survie, vachement prenant et franchement fun sans être grandiloquent.

Review by Jackson M. ★★★

There was a lot of decisions I liked and a lot I didn't like, but overall, this was WAY better than I expected. Pretty impressive for what it is.

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Capsized: blood in the water true story - what the shark week movie changed.

Capsized: Blood in the Water, Shark Week's first original movie, is based on a true story. So how much of the event was changed for Discovery?

Discovery's Capsized: Blood in the Water is based on the harrowing true story of a sailing crew stuck adrift for days in shark-infested waters. The full-length film marks Shark Week 's first-ever original movie, although some details were changed compared to the disastrous event.

Sharing the story of the 1982 fateful trip, Capsized: Blood in the Water showcases how much a person can endure when survival instincts kick in. The film also explores how hope could make all the difference in life and death situations. Furthermore, it examines the warning signs that some of the crew should have pointed out which could have prevented the deadly trip.

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Capsized: Blood in the Water ends with only two survivors who witnessed more terror than anyone could ever imagine. Capsized: Blood in the Water informs viewers about what happened to the survivors after they were rescued by a Soviet cargo ship. But along the way, some changes were made to quicken the story and dramatize it for television.

Capsized: Blood in the Water True Story Differences

Perhaps the most notable changes in Capsized: Blood in the Water 's true story is the dynamic and demeanor of the crew. John Lippoth (Josh Duhamel) serves as the yacht's captain and the movie portrays him as a skilled boater who keeps his crew in line. In reality, John was lazy, inexperienced, and spent most of his time drinking with crewman Mark (Joshua Close) below deck. Even though the new guy, Brad (Tyler Blackburn), is shown as being a novice to the boating world, the real Brad Cavanagh was highly adept in the sea, as was Deborah Scaling-Kiley (Beau Garrett).

The capsize of the boat is also hurried in the film compared to the actual event. The movie begins with the yacht, Trashman, leaving Annapolis, Maryland, as it sets sail for Florida. The true journey began in Portland, Maine, before it made a stop in Annapolis. On the way to Florida, the Trashman hit rough seas during a long storm. The crew took turns taking the watch and steering the ship which lasted for the better part of a day. John and Mark had been drinking and they fell asleep when they were supposed to be on duty. The yacht had taken too much damage, causing it to sink. In the movie, a storm quickly approaches and capsizes the boat almost immediately.

John's girlfriend Meg Mooney (Rebekah Graf) was injured by some of the boat's rigging when the group tried to make it to the inflated lifeboat. They were forced to take refuge under the lifeboat for 18 hours before the wind died down and they were able to flip it and get inside. Meg injures her leg before they are forced out of the boat in the movie. She later dies from her injuries in the same fashion as Meg did in 1982. Both John and Mark fall victim in a similar fashion as they did during the real event. They hallucinate and fall in the water before they are attacked, and ultimately killed, by sharks. Mark's hallucinations stemmed from drinking saltwater which is what made both men lose their minds in the true tale.

Related:  Why The Mist's Movie Ending Is Still One Of The Most Shocking Ever

What Happened After Capsized: Blood in the Water's Ending?

Capsized: Blood in the Water 's ending provides a follow-up on the lives of Brad and Deborah following their rescue. After five days without food and water, the sole survivors were picked up by the Russians on October 28, 1982. The pair then spent eight days in the hospital as they were treated for severe dehydration and starvation.

Deborah went on to have a successful speaking career and wrote three books about her survival. It was revealed that she died in 2012. Brad suffered from the trauma for years but he later overcame the terrifying memories. He eventually became a boat captain and often travels along the same route where the group capsized. Capsized: Blood in the Water 's ending text appropriately honors the three crew members that were lost on the journey.

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Lost at sea: The Rose-Noelle story

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The crew from the Rose-Noelle after 119 days at sea. From left: Phillip Hofman, Rick Hellriegel and Jim Nalepka. Photo / Supplied.

The story of the Rose-Noelle, Abandoned, is showing on Sunday Theatre

It was the story of the year: four men - John Glennie, Rick Hellriegel, Jim Nalepka and Phil Hofman - back from the dead after surviving a shipwreck, storms and starvation.

When the four desperate survivors of the wreck of the 12.6m Rose-Noelle clawed their way up through steep Great Barrier bush to tell the world they were back, Media clamoured for the story. The TVNZ helicopter jostled for space on the tiny Great Barrier beach against a helicopter hired by the fledgling TV3. Paul Holmes nailed an exclusive with the Rose-Noelle's skipper John Glennie, and Penguin signed him up to write a book. The Rose-Noelle story was a ripper.

Three days into its voyage, at 6am on June 4, 1989, a massive wave - so big it roared like a freight train - came out of the darkness and flipped the 6.5 tonne trimaran upside down like a bath toy, trapping the four terrified men in the darkness, sea water pouring in through the open hatch.

From that moment what was an adventure trip to Tonga turned to a struggle for survival as they drifted, lost at sea, for 119 days.

The signal from the EPIRB locator beacon they set off was not picked up and on June 13, John's 48th birthday, it stopped working. The men were alone.

By all accounts, the wreck should have drifted towards South America, its occupants slowly starving to death. Any other year, with a different weather pattern, only skeletons would have remained.

Instead, the winds and currents pushed the stricken trimaran in a wide loop, eventually washing it up on a remote part of Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. A miracle, those with faith proclaimed.

Maybe, maybe not, sceptical Customs and marine investigators thought at the time.

Captain Mel Bowen, then with the Maritime Transport Division of the Ministry of Transport, was asked to help investigate the men's claim.

He started his inquiries with a healthy doubt of suspicion.

"I was paid to doubt," he says.

As garbled reports of four men surviving for four months by clinging to the upturned hull of a trimaran, Bowen - an experienced seafarer - knew something wasn't right.

One of the men was clean shaven, the others had trimmed beards and hair. They were wearing clean clothes. And where were the salt sores, the scourge of anyone in constant contact with salt water?

They were thin, yes, but otherwise outwardly fit and healthy. No signs of scurvy.

If they had been drifting in the Pacific for four months, why hadn't they floated towards Chile, as expected?

Quietly watching the four men, Bowen thought they seemed vague, confused, unsure of details.

Bowen, now retired in Rotorua, smelled a rat. Customs smelled drugs.

The timeline was right. Four months to get to South America to collect drugs and back for a drop off at the Barrier.

Had a navigational error caused the Rose-Noelle to hit rocks and break up just as they were about to land? Bowen, never much of a desk-sitter, headed straight out to Great Barrier to visit the spot - Little Waterfall Bay - where the Rose-Noelle had slowly ground itself to pieces as the yacht hit an offshore reef.

His job was to find clues, evidence which would back up the men's garbled story. Bowen and the local Barrier policeman, Shane Godinet - who had collected the four survivors in his truck when news first came through - ran down through the bush to the tiny beach and climbed back up again, trying to find evidence of a spot where the men said they had camped in the bush for a night, sharing a can of food in the darkness.

Then he and Godinet began searching the shoreline and, donning dive gear, searched the site where the Rose-Noelle had ground itself to death.

This search helped convince Bowen that Glennie was not a drug runner; that the Rose-Noelle had been a beautifully built and well-equipped yacht which was Glennie's home. Up from the water came Glennie's bicycle and a chef-sized wok from the yacht's superb galley.

"In the event what we found was a jumble of household effects." Most telling was the yacht's topsides. Where unmarked paint should have been, instead barnacles grew - only possible if the yacht had been floating upside down for months. A few days later Barrier resident Dave Medland searched the wreck site and spotted something glinting in the water. It was four cycling medals, two belonging to Glennie and two his father had won.

Medland also found some American coins, the left-over change when Glennie and his brother sold their first trimaran, Highlight, in Los Angeles, after sailing around the Pacific in the 60s. And he found a drill which he took home, cleaned up and plugged in. After four months under water, the drill still worked.

It was after Glennie, Hellreigel, Nalepka and Hofman had been questioned closely, and separately, by investigators that some of the mystery was cleared up.

The men had lived in a small space inside the wreck, not on top of it. They had rigged up a water catchment system and, after the upturned yacht grew barnacles and became a floating reef, had started to catch fish using a gaff. Glennie had repeatedly dived into the submerged cabin, feeling his way around for the stocks of food he knew were there. Trays of unripe kiwifruit gradually ripened, and rationed out, gave them precious vitamin C.

After clambering ashore and spending a night in the bush, they had broken into a bach on the Barrier, where they had washed, shaved, trimmed their hair, changed into clothes they found in a wardrobe and cooked themselves a meal. And they had slept the night. The next day they heard a phone ringing in a nearby property.

Twenty years ago Great Barrier still had an old-fashioned party line. A nearby resident, Peter Speck, heard the phone ring and picked it up. His voice - and later his visit to the back on a farm bike - was the first outside human contact the men had had in four months.

Speck couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. Four men lost at sea for four months suddenly reappearing in his neighbour's bach.

More than three months earlier an Air Force Orion had spent two days searching an area between the Kermadec Islands and Tonga - miles from where the Rose-Noelle was drifting - based on what was thought to be a garbled message from the yacht giving its position. But faced with little information about the yacht's intended course, the search was abandoned.

With no signal from the EPIRB distress beacon, Search and Rescue officials concluded that something "catastrophic" had happened to the yacht.

In the New Zealand Water Safety Council's bulletin of Aug/Sept 1989, the four Rose-Noelle crew were listed as "drowned" in the vicinity of the Kermadec Islands.

Instead, they were huddled in a cramped space, wet and cold, with nothing to do but day-dream about food and fresh water.

Apart from Hellreigel and Nalepka, who knew each other from Anakiwa's Outward Bound, the four men were strangers, with little in common.

Twenty years later, the three remaining men - Hellreigel died of a brain tumour two years after coming ashore - are still estranged.

None of them have kept in touch, even after an event that inextricably bound them together.

Glennie moved to the United States, married and started a new life based firmly on land. Hofman and his wife Karen had their fifth child, Rose, sold their boat and moved from Picton to Waiheke Island. They later bought a trimaran and lived aboard before settling in Auckland's Mt Wellington.

The Herald on Sunday was unable to contact Nalepka but, after helping Hellreigel's wife Heather nurse Rick as his brain tumour progressed, he returned to the United States. He later came back to New Zealand, qualified as a nurse, worked at Nelson Hospital and married a New Zealander.

Former Great Barrier policeman Shane Godinet is semi-retired in the Far North's Henderson Bay, after leaving the Barrier for Houhora police station in the 90s. He still has scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings and photos from the Rose-Noelle and says the survival story is never far from his mind.

He has the Rose-Noelle's flag framed at home and intends to make a desk ornament using a couple of Glennie's American coins and a winch from the wreck.

Looking back, he says, the four men were lucky to survive even their arrival at Great Barrier. The tiny beach near Little Waterfall Bay, where the yacht hit rocks, was the only part of that coast that was not sheer rock. The men would have been unable to get out of the water, Godinet says.

"Another 50m either side where they hit the rock and they would have been dead. We would have just found wreckage."

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The Rose Noelle: 25 years on, a wife’s true story

Karen Hofman lost her beloved husband once for four long months. But now he is lost to her forever. Karen is coming to terms with the death of Phil Hofman, who passed away in March after a heart attack.

In 1989, the father of five was involved in New Zealand’s most gripping maritime survival story.

Along with John Glennie, Rick Hellreigel and Jim Nalepka, Phil was shipwrecked when their yacht, the Rose Noelle, capsized three days after it set sail from Picton for Tonga. Drifting at sea for a harrowing 119 days, the tale of how the four strangers survived the elements – and each other – has become legendary.

Many thought the men had perished, but Karen knew in her heart that her husband was still alive. She recalls how she made a pact with God, promising that if Phil was saved, she would embrace and accept him, even if he returned a changed man.

The men, who survived in a tiny area the size of a queen-sized bed, were eventually rescued when the wreckage of the Rose Noelle crashed ashore in a remote part of Great Barrier Island.

“Many days had passed,” recalls Karen, reflecting on her husband’s disappearance. “Behind the scenes, people were having conversations, saying they needed to tell me to face the reality that my husband was not coming home.

“They told me a memorial service needed to be organised. But I had to see the proof – I needed to see the wreckage. I wasn’t going to give up hope.”

In June, it will be 25 years since the famous ordeal garnered worldwide attention. Karen says it’s a fitting time to pay tribute to Phil, a man she loved dearly, one who many thought would be lost at sea forever.

“He wasn’t a glass half full kind of person. He liked the glass overflowing and being filled up again. He had an infectious energy, which I loved,” says Karen, who resides in the South Island town of Kurow. “Going through what I did during the Rose Noelle disappearance has probably prepared me for Phil’s death. I’ve already experienced missing him. But this time it’s harder, because I know he’s never coming back.”

Karen met Phil when she was 11 years old and growing up in the Auckland suburb of Manurewa. She was immediately drawn to his charm and zest for life. The pair married when Karen was just 17 and they started a family together. By the 90s, they were living on a boat and sailing around New Zealand with their children.

While docked behind the Rose Noelle in Picton, the opportunity arose for Phil, who was a builder, to join the boat’s captain, John Glennie, on a voyage to Tonga.

“Phil was always looking for adventure,” Karen explains. “He expressed interest and was soon sailing the seas with John and two men, Rick and Jim, who John found by placing an ad at the local backpackers.”

Phil, who had had triple bypass surgery three years earlier, was looking forward to the trip, but three days into the voyage, a huge wave washed over the 12.5m yacht, tipping it upside down and trapping the men inside.

Half submerged under water, the men learned to survive in near impossible conditions. Hunched together in the upturned yacht, the men rigged up a water catchment system so that they could drink. John dived into the submerged cabin, feeling his way around for food. And the boat eventually grew barnacles and became a floating reef, so they were able to catch fish.

Karen says Phil often spoke about the horrifying experience, and told her that thinking about his family is what kept him alive.

“He wondered if he would see his children again. He realised he had a lot to lose.”

Surviving the physical elements was hard, but surviving each other – four men who had little in common – proved to be just as difficult. They realised that to get through the long days and nights, they had to work as a team and tolerate each other.

“It was wet and cold. They were stuck in a small space and were hungry and thirsty. It would be tough for any relationship to survive that,” Karen tells.

The men had no way of knowing if they would be rescued – their emergency beacon had not been picked up and eventually stopped working.

But they were overjoyed when the Rose Noelle eventually washed up in a secluded area of Great Barrier Island.

After making it to shore and spending a night in the bush, the men broke into a bach, where they cleaned up, shaved, trimmed their hair, changed into clothes they found and cooked themselves a meal, before sleeping through the night.

The next day, when they sought help at a neighbouring home, the group’s reappearance sparked a media frenzy. Every news outlet wanted to tell their story, but because they appeared clean-shaven, their account was originally met with suspicion, with many claiming it was a hMax.

Rumours even surfaced that the men were covering up a drug trafficking operation to South America. However, an investigation found convincing evidence that the men’s story was true, especially when marine growth was found on the boat’s topside.

Karen was thrilled to have her husband back. She smiles, recalling that his first words to her were, “Hi, honey, I’m home.”

But the return wasn’t all plain sailing – Karen noticed a significant change in Phil.

“Emotionally and mentally, he thought it hadn’t affected him at all, but he went off the rails a bit. He thought he was invincible. I imagined he would come back changed for the better – that he would have had an epiphany. He didn’t believe in God, but I thought having had his life spared, he would have more faith. He didn’t. The attention went to his head and he went wild.”

A year after his return, the couple had their fifth child – a daughter they named Phillippa. Karen says being a father again helped Phil settle more – even though he strayed, enjoying a liaison with another woman.

“I had made a deal with God,” Karen reiterates. “However he came back and however he was would be okay with me. I had to keep my end of the bargain and be happy with Phil as he was.”

In recent years, Phil became ill with heart disease, which he succumbed to on March 23. By then, the Rose Noelle drama was a distant memory for him, despite all the TV documentaries, books and plays based on the amazing survival story.

Karen says that after the disaster, Phil lost touch with the other three men. John moved to the US, Rick died of a brain tumour two years after the boat accident, and Jim returned to the US after helping to nurse Rick as his brain tumour progressed. Jim later came back to New Zealand and qualified as a nurse.

Karen says she and her five children, Elizabeth (48), Michelle (46), Chantelle (40), Dion (38) and Phillippa (23), miss Phil dearly. Rod Stewart’s song Sailing was played at his funeral and Karen still sleeps with his unwashed jersey – his scent keeping memories alive.

She says she is grateful she got to spend so many more years with Phil, after coming so close to losing him at sea.

“I loved him. For me, there was nobody else in the world. He was the father to my children and my best friend.”

WATCH: A scene from Abandoned

The Rose Noelle crewmen finally reach dry land

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Capsized: The True Story of Four Men Adrift for 119 Days Hardcover – September 11, 1992

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• Print length 221 pages
• Language English
• Publisher HarperCollins
• Publication date September 11, 1992
• Dimensions 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• ISBN-10 0060179619
• ISBN-13 978-0060179618
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From publishers weekly, from library journal, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; First Edition (September 11, 1992)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 221 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060179619
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060179618
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• #2,856 in Sea Adventures Fiction (Books)
• #9,783 in Travelogues & Travel Essays
• #13,618 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies

About the authors

Steven callahan.

Steven Callahan is probably best known for completing an Atlantic crossing after losing his boat mid-ocean in 1982. For 76 days, he learned to live like an aquatic cave in a life raft and drifted 1,800 nautical miles, a voyage he chronicled in Adrift (Houghton Mifflin), which became a NY Times best seller and has been translated into 15 languages. He also authored Capsized (HarperCollins) for survivor Jim Nalepka who spent four months with four other men on an overturned, half-flooded boat, most of their time crammed into the space of a double bed with eighteen inches of headroom. Callahan has contributed writings, illustrations, and photos to more than a dozen other books, many about seamanship and/or survival, such as Michael Greenwald’s Survivor, as well as authoring hundreds of articles for the marine press worldwide. He’s served as contributing editor to Sailor and Sail magazines, and senior editor at Cruising World for which he continues to do special projects such as testing new boats and lifesaving equipment.

From the time he was a kid, Callahan was addicted to the water and boats, and by age 10 was whacking together barges using old roofing boards. He taught himself the basics of boat design and celestial navigation, and helped build a 40 footer prior to graduating high school. As an adult, he has spent more than 40 years in the marine and communications trades, first building boats, then designing and teaching design, as well as living aboard, racing, doing boat deliveries, writing, illustrating, and doing photography. His educational background in philosophy and the arts as well as boat design, and sailing more than 80,000 offshore miles, most shorthanded and on unusual craft, have inspired his primary literary and artistic goal to broaden the audience for maritime subjects by taking non-sailors into the unique and magnificent offshore world where universal human issues often are magnified. He is intrigued by not only the technical elements of boats and the sea but also by the human questions that arise when sailing in the world’s greatest wilderness.

Callahan continues to write about and speak publicly on survival, voyaging, and seamanship, and has been frequently interviewed for television and other media programs. He resides with his wife in Maine where they enjoy living close to nature.

James Nalepka

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Atlas & Boots

The UK's most popular outdoor travel blog

25 sailing movies for when you’re knot shore what to watch

We share some of our favourite best sailing movies, from Hollywood blockbusters and indie films to illuminating documentaries

I still hang on to the rather fanciful notion of sailing in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race . Until I pluck up the courage (and the funds), I’ve been busying myself with more realistic nautical escapades.

From  tall ship sailing off the west coast of Scotland  to  sailing the Whitsunday Islands  in Australia , more and more of our travels have taken place on the water.

However, until I make the leap from weekend warrior to blue water sailor, I’ll have to make do with films, books and daydreams.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of the best sailing movies I’ve seen. What follows is a broad mix of modern and classic, indie and feature, drama and documentary film. Whatever their style, these flicks are thoroughly wet and wonderful.

And, I’m sorry about the pun, but you know, ship happens.

best sailing movies

Listed in no particular order, these nautical movies include terrifying ordeals of tragedy, inconceivable stories of survival, turbulent tales of adventure and wild journeys of discovery – perfect for a night in on a dry and comfy sofa.

1. Kon-Tiki (1950) Let’s start with one of the best sailing movies ever made. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five others sailed from Peru on a balsa wood raft. This is the classic Academy Award winning documentary of their astonishing journey across 4,300 miles of the Pacific Ocean.

Watch on Amazon Rotten Tomatoes IMDB

2. Red Dot on the Ocean (2014) Once labelled a ‘youth-at-risk’, 30-year old Matt Rutherford risked it all in an attempt to become the first person to sail solo non-stop around North and South America. Red Dot on the Ocean is the story of Matt’s death-defying voyage and the childhood odyssey that shaped him.

3. The Dove (1974) Produced by Gregory Peck, this coming-of-age adventure is based on the true story of Robin Lee Graham . At 16, he set sail in a 23ft sloop determined to be the youngest person to sail around the world.

4. Wind (1992) In over 140 years of competition, the US has lost the America’s Cup just once. This is a fictional story of the American challengers intent on winning back sailing’s top prize. A tale of money, power, love and ambition follows… oh, and some sailing.

5. Morning Light (2008) A riveting true-life adventure aboard the high-tech sloop Morning Light. Fifteen rookie sailors have one goal in mind: to be part of her crew, racing in one of the most revered sailing competitions in the world, the Transpac Yacht Race .

6. Between Home – Odyssey of an Unusual Sea Bandit (2012) An independent filmmaker’s account of his solo voyage from the UK to Australia, negotiating the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans en route. A trip that eventually takes over two years to complete.

Watch on Amazon IMDB

7. Styx (2019) When a lone yachtswoman comes across a sinking ship of refugees, she is torn away from her idyllic trip and tasked with a momentous decision. Should she act when authorities tell her to sail away?

8. Captain Ron (1992) After inheriting a yacht, a Chicago businessman enlists long-haired, one-eyed low-life Captain Ron to pilot the yacht from the Caribbean to Miami. During the voyage, the sailor frequently loses his way while becoming a hit with the businessman’s family. Goofy comedy starring Kurt Russell and Martin Short widely recognised as one of the funniest sailing movies ever made.

9. Maidentrip (2013) This riveting documentary chronicles the life and adventures of 14-year-old Laura Dekker who set out on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to be the youngest person ever to sail solo around the world.

10. Kon-Tiki (2012) A well-crafted retelling of the epic original and one of the best sailing movies ever made. This dramatised version is a throwback to old-school adventure filmmaking that’s exciting and entertaining in spite of its by-the-book plotting.

“But you can’t navigate a raft,” he added. “It goes sideways and backwards and round as the wind takes it.” – Thor Heyerdahl, Kon-Tiki

11. Abandoned (2015) Four men set sail on the trimaran yacht Rose Noelle . It capsizes in a storm, trapping the crew in a space the size of a double bed. After 119 days adrift, the yacht washes ashore. The crew’s story is extraordinary, but doubt is cast on their claims and they face hostility from the media and authorities.

12. Adrift (2019) There are far better films on this list, but Adrift is just about worth a watch. Based on true events, a young couple embark on an adventure of a lifetime that brings them face to face with one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history.

13. The Perfect Storm (2000) A skipper insists that his crew go out on a final fishing trip before winter sets in. Unknown to them, a brutal storm is on its way. While the special effects are excellent for the time, the film falls a little  short on characterisation.

14. Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World (2016) The vessel is Infinity, a 120ft hand-built sailboat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000-mile Pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia with a stop in Antarctica .

15. Turning Tide / En Solitaire (2013) Franck Drevil is a star skipper, having won the latest Vendée Globe , the most prestigious round-the-world single-handed yacht race. However, with this year’s race approaching, a sudden accident forces Franck to withdraw.

16. Knife in the Water (1962) When a young hitchhiker joins a couple on a weekend yacht trip, psychological warfare breaks out as the two men compete for the woman’s attention. A storm forces the small crew below deck and tension builds to a violent climax.

17. Dead Calm (1989) This tense thriller tells the story of an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill) whose yacht cruise is violently interrupted by the mysterious lone survivor (Billy Zane) of a ship whose crew has perished.

18. The Riddle of the Sands (1979) A classic British swashbuckling yarn based on the early English spy novel of the same name. In 1901, two British yachtsmen visit Germany’s Frisian Islands and accidentally discover a German plot to invade England.

19. Maiden (2019) The story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, who became the skipper of the first-ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.

20. White Squall (1996) Based on a true incident from 1960, White Squall is the story of the tragic sinking of the Albatross , a prep school educational two-masted schooner, during a Caribbean storm. Starring Jeff Bridges.

21. The Mercy (2017) Starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, this is certainly no heroic tale. Instead, it’s the dramatisation of the bizarre story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to pull off one of the greatest hoaxes of our time: pretending to be the first to sail singlehandedly around the world!

22. Deep Water (2006) Following on from the above, Deep Water is a British documentary about the remarkable story of the first Golden Globe round the world yacht race , focusing on the psychological toll it took on its competitors – particularly one Donald Crowhurst.

23. Captains Courageous (1937) A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship gets picked up by a fishing boat, where he’s made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work. Based on the 1897 novel by Rudyard Kipling.

24. Open Water 2: Adrift (2006) A silly premise, but entertaining nonetheless. Six friends jump off a yacht without lowering the ladder first. With no way to climb aboard, it’s only a matter of time before bickering turns to terror.

25. Master and Commander – The Far Side of the World (2003) During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain (Russell Crowe) pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel.

“Do you not know that in the service one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?” – Capt. Jack Aubrey, Master and Commander

Readers’ suggestions

Here’s what our readers have added to the list of the best sailing movies.

• Masquerade (1988)
• Violets are Blue (1986)
• Kill Cruise (1992)
• Message in a Bottle (1999)
• High wind in Jamaica (1965)
• Caddyshack (1980)
• O Mundo em Duas Voltas (The World in Two Round Trips) (2007)
• One Crazy Summer (1986)
• Coyote: The Mike Plant Story (2018)
• The Weekend Sailor (2017)
• Harpoon (2019)
• Waterworld (1995)
• Around Cape Horn (1929)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
• The Bounty (1984)
• All Is Lost (2013)

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41 Days Stranded at Sea: The Harrowing, Heartbreaking Real-Life Story Behind New Movie 'Adrift'

"It's amazing what you can do when you have to survive," says shipwreck survivor Tami Oldham Ashcraft

Spoiler Alert! This story contains major spoilers about the plot of the new movie Adrift .

The summer of 1983 started out like a fairytale adventure for 23-year-old globetrotter Tami Oldham Ashcraft.

The California native got engaged to her British boyfriend, Richard Sharp, and several months later the two experienced sailors set out on a dream trip from Tahiti to San Diego on a luxurious 44-foot sailboat. Less than two weeks into their trek, the pair — played by Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin in the new movie Adrift — were trapped in a devastatingly strong hurricane that changed their lives forever.

Ashcraft, who originally detailed her ordeal in a 1998 self-published memoir Red Sky in Mourning , says that although she and Sharp received radio warnings about the developing storm, which started out as a tropical depression and quickly gained in intensity and speed, they were unable to outrun it.

“We ran from it for three days trying to figure it out, because it kept changing direction,” Ashcraft recalls to PEOPLE. “The storms are going twice your speed. We couldn’t make that kind of time with the boat to get out of the way.”

When the hurricane fully descended upon them on Oct. 12, Sharp had sent Ashcraft below deck to rest. The last thing she remembers before the boat capsized and she was knocked unconscious is her fiancé screaming.

“When I woke up from being knocked out for 27 hours, I didn’t know where I was,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Where am I?’ The boat’s half-full of water at that point, I couldn’t even really remember anything. Then I started moving and unlatching myself [from her safety suit and various debris], looking around going, ‘Oh my God. Richard. Where’s Richard?'”

All she could find of Sharp in the midst of the wreckage was his broken safety tether hanging lifelessly over the boat. While the reality of her grave situation swept over her, so did the awareness that she was badly injured — her head was split open behind her hairline and she had a serious gash on her leg — and drifting aimlessly somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“They were both bad. My head injury I could keep clean somewhat, keep bandages on it,” says Ashcraft. “Thank goodness it’s underneath my hairline so you can’t see it. It splayed my head wide open, and I just bled. My leg I kept hitting on everything, and then there was so much water in the boat. It would just stay wet all the time. I was super worried about my leg. Then I started ripping up t-shirts and stuff when I ran out of bandages.”

After she self-administered first aid, Ashcraft’s next key survival move was crafting a makeshift sail from some of the debris on the boat and setting course for Hawaii — 1,500 miles away — which she was able to do via her navigation skills.

“What saved my life was knowing celestial navigation, that I could navigate by the sun and get myself somewhere,” Ashcraft says. “You have to do three sights a day, and sometimes I would have to do four. Doing all the mathematics required for that really helped me to focus.”

RELATED VIDEO: Two American Women and Their Dogs Rescued After Five ‘Hopeless’ Months Lost At Sea

It also helped keep her mind off her grief over losing her fiancé in such a tragic way.

“I had to tell myself onboard that I couldn’t cry anymore, because I was losing way too much water,” Ashcraft says. “My water supply was very limited. I just had a big talk with myself. That inner strength to survive is so strong. You just don’t realize it, until you’re put in a really crucial time that you have to survive. It’s amazing what you can do. That just comes from within really. Then keeping your mind active.”

Ashcraft survived 41 days adrift in the Pacific, subsisting on peanut butter and willpower, before she approached Hilo, Hawaii and was picked up by a Japanese research vessel after sending up a flare around 4 o’clock in the morning.

The ship’s crew members “were shocked,” she recalls. “I was exhausted. I was way underweight — I’m 5’8″-5’9″ and I weighed about 100 lbs. I didn’t even go to the hospital. Can you believe that? I can’t believe nobody sent me to the hospital.”

When Ashcraft returned home to San Diego, the weight of her near-death experience and the loss of her first love fully set in, and she face a long recovery from her injuries, physically and mentally.

“I had the head injury and I couldn’t even read a book for nearly five years. I couldn’t finish sentences, my short term memory was really bad,” she says. “Seeing couples together, that sort of thing, was hard. I had nightmares. I was consumed for years and years with thinking about it. I then realized after five or six years that I could choose when to start thinking about him and the experience. I started realizing, ‘Oh, I’m not consumed by this all day now.'”

Although Ashcraft says her physical injuries healed well enough that she never went to a hospital for medical attention, she regrets not seeking out help from a therapist or counselor.

“I wish I had gotten some professional mental help. I think I could have sped up my recovery a little bit more,” she says. “Not so much the grieving but the mental recovery of reading and that kind of thing. They can give you projects to work on and things, and also just make sure that you’re going around the right track.”

Ashcraft says it took her a full five years before she was able to come out of her mental fog and feel joy again. She returned to the water almost immediately — only these days she prefers power boating to sailing when she navigates near Washington’s San Juan Islands, where she lives with her family, husband Ed, a contractor, and her two daughters.

“We’ve been a boating family,” she says. “I think it teaches the children so much more about life.”

Ashcraft still speaks publicly about her incredible survival story to groups like the Navy Survival School. “I’m glad to help, although I’m sorry I was in that situation. Now I choose when I want to think about it. For many years I was consumed by it and a lot of that had to do with just moving on in life,” she says. “It’s still in your heart. It’s just in a different way.”

Adrift is now playing in theaters.

Published on July 26th, 2023 | by Editor

Lawson’s trimaran capsized off Mexico

Published on July 26th, 2023 by Editor -->

(July 26, 2023) – The family of missing sailor Donald Lawson reports a vessel found capsized off the coast of Mexico is, indeed, Defiant, Lawson’s 60-foot racing trimaran.

The U.S. Coast Guard informed Jacqueline Lawson, Donald’s wife, that the Mexican Navy was on the scene. Jacqueline positively identified the vessel as Defiant.

A U.S. Coast Guard Cutter has been dispatched to help in searching for the missing sailor from Baltimore, MD and is en route, 150 nautical miles out from the location.

The Coast Guard told Jacqueline yesterday that a vessel was found 315 nautical miles south/southwest of Acapulco.

Lawson had left Acapulco on July 5, 2023, singlehanding the ORMA 60 bound for the Panama Canal and ultimately Baltimore to prepare for a single-handed round the world record attempt this fall.

He communicated on July 9 that he had been experiencing problems with his hydraulic rigging and was without engine power, relying solely on a wind generator. But when he lost his wind generator due to a storm on July 12, he decided to return to Acapulco but contact was lost later that day .

Following a proclamation in June 2020 that he’d identified 12 records held by the World Sailing Speed Record Council that he planned to break, Lawson bought the ORMA 60 in April 2022 to pursue this initiative.

However, equipment issues and accidents marred his ownership of the boat which delayed his record-setting pursuits of which none were ever achieved.

UPDATE : As of July 27th, there has been no new information on the boat or Lawson.

Tags: Donald Lawson , records , World Sailing Speed Record Council

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Weeping, weak, and soaked, dozens of Rohingya refugees rescued after night on hull of capsized boat

MEULABOH, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian search and rescue ship on Thursday located a capsized wooden boat that had been carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees, and began pulling survivors who had been standing on its hull to safety.

An AP photographer aboard the rescue ship said 10 people had been taken aboard local fishing boats and another 59 were being saved by the Indonesian craft.

Men, women and children, weak and soaked from the night’s rain, wept as the rescue operation got underway and people were taken aboard a rubber dinghy to the rescue boat.

It was unclear how many refugees were aboard the small craft when it capsized off of Indonesia’s northernmost coast on Wednesday, with six survivors initially rescued by local fishermen estimating between 60 and 100 people.

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It was unclear whether all managed to cling to the capsized craft overnight or whether some had drowned.

Indonesia’s search and rescue team only left Banda Aceh city in the evening Wednesday, many hours after the capsizing, and initially had difficulty locating the boat in the choppy waters off the coast.

It finally found the boat and the survivors about midday on Thursday.

Amiruddin, a tribal fishing community leader in Aceh Barat district, said those rescued indicated that the boat was sailing east when it started leaking and then strong currents pushed it toward the west of Aceh. The six said others were still trying to survive on the capsized craft.

About 740,000 Rohingya were resettled in Bangladesh to escape the brutal counterinsurgency campaign by security forces in their homeland of Myanmar.

Thousands have been trying to flee overcrowded camps in Bangladesh to neighboring countries with Indonesia seeing a spike in refugee numbers since November which prompted it to call on the international community for help. Rohingya arriving in Aceh face some hostility from some fellow Muslims.

Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention outlining their legal protections, and so is not obligated to accept them. However, they have so far provided temporary shelter to refugees in distress.

Last year, nearly 4,500 Rohingya — two-thirds of them women and children — fled their homeland of Myanmar and the refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh by boat, the United Nations refugee agency reported. Of those, 569 died or went missing while crossing the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the highest death toll since 2014.

Returning safely to Myanmar is virtually impossible because the military that attacked them overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021. No country has offered them any large-scale resettlement opportunities.

U.N. agencies fear about 70 missing or dead from capsized Rohingya refugee boat

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About 70 Muslim Rohingya refugees are feared missing or dead from a boat that made a grueling sea voyage from Bangladesh and sank off Indonesia’s coast this week with 75 survivors, United Nations agencies said.

A statement issued jointly by U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, and the International Office for Migration, or IOM, said they were “extremely concerned about the scale of potential loss of life,” saying that accounts from survivors indicated about 150 people originally were aboard.

That likely would have included a crew of about five people, who apparently abandoned the vessel and whose whereabouts are unknown. Two survivors told the Associated Press on Friday that the captain and four crew abandoned the boat for another one when the refugee vessel started to sink.

Indonesian fishermen raised the alarm about the stricken vessel Wednesday when they started rescuing its passengers, and an Indonesian search and rescue ship on Thursday pulled remaining people from the capsized hull about 14 miles off the western coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province.

The U.N. joint statement did not specify the exact number of people believed lost, but a website maintained by UNHCR said 75 people were “reported dead or missing” from a boat whose details match the one that capsized Wednesday.

“If confirmed this would be the biggest loss of life so far this year,” said the statement, referring to a steady stream of boats carrying Rohingya seeking to escape crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

There has been a notable increase in Rohingya refugee arrivals in Indonesia over the past year. The 2,300 refugees who arrived in 2023 were more than the previous four years combined, the statement said.

The survivors from the boat are 44 men, 22 women and nine children. A few were taken to a local hospital for treatment but most were sent to a temporary shelter in the Aceh’s Barat district. Several told UNHCR workers they had lost family members on the journey.

“In one case, there was a child whose parents and siblings died during the trip,” Faisal Rahman, a UNHCR staff member in Aceh, said Friday. “There was another case, a husband whose wife and child died. Also, children whose mothers have died. So there were several families who said their relatives had disappeared or died at sea,”

Soliya Begum, an 18-year-old survivor, told the Associated Press the captain scuttled the boat and fled to another one with his crew when it started taking on water. Her account could not be immediately confirmed. Sometimes people purposely sink refugee boats to force rescuers from destination nations to take the passengers ashore, but usually such action is taken closer to land.

Another survivor, Akram Ullah, 30, told the AP that the boat had left Bangladesh on March 9 and that its captain and at least some of its crew were Indonesian. He also said the captain and four other crew members fled the boat as it was starting to sink.

About 1 million Rohingya from Myanmar are refugees in Bangladesh. They include about 740,000 who fled in 2017 to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by Myanmar security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings and burning thousands of homes. The Rohingya minority in Myanmar faces widespread discrimination and most are denied citizenship.

With inadequate water, sanitation, and healthcare, life is hard in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. which are susceptible to fire, flood and outbreaks of disease. There are few opportunities for meaningful work and violent criminal gangs terrorize residents.

The aid agency Save the Childfren said the continuing sea voyages reflect the dire situation in the camps in Bangladesh. It said 250 unaccompanied children were among the Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia in the last three months of last year.

“The presence of unaccompanied children in Aceh is alarming and suggests that Rohingya families are desperate enough to send their children away in search of a better life,” the group’s temporary Indonesia director Dessy Kurwiany Ukar said.

The group said other countries in the region besides Indonesia should share the responsibility for taking in Rohingya refugees.

Associated Press writer Saifullah reported from Meulaboh and Tarigan reported from Jakarta. AP journalist Grant Peck contributed to this report from Bangkok.

More to Read

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March 6, 2024

‘Pray for us’: Eyewitnesses reveal first clues about missing boat with Rohingya refugees

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Hallucinations, thirst and desperation: How migrants endured 36 days at sea

Dec. 18, 2023

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Top 30 Favourite Ship/Boat Movies

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

PG | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

A group of passengers must embark on a harrowing struggle for survival after a rogue wave capsizes their cruise ship at sea.

Director: Ronald Neame | Stars: Gene Hackman , Ernest Borgnine , Shelley Winters , Red Buttons

Votes: 49,034 | Gross: $84.56M

2. A Night to Remember (1958)

Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, History

On her maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Kenneth More , Ronald Allen , Robert Ayres , Honor Blackman

Votes: 17,068

3. Ghost Ship (2002)

R | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.

Director: Steve Beck | Stars: Julianna Margulies , Gabriel Byrne , Ron Eldard , Desmond Harrington

Votes: 108,685 | Gross: $30.11M

4. Greyhound (2020)

PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History

Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.

Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks , Elisabeth Shue , Stephen Graham , Matt Helm

Votes: 113,880

5. Titanic (1997)

PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio , Kate Winslet , Billy Zane , Kathy Bates

Votes: 1,274,617 | Gross: $659.33M

6. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Biography

A recounting of a New England whaling ship's sinking by a giant whale in 1820, an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Chris Hemsworth , Cillian Murphy , Brendan Gleeson , Ben Whishaw

Votes: 148,307 | Gross: $25.02M

7. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Not Rated | 178 min | Adventure, Drama, History

In 1787, British ship Bounty leaves Portsmouth to bring a cargo of bread-fruit from Tahiti but the savage on-board conditions imposed by Captain Bligh trigger a mutiny led by officer Fletcher Christian.

Directors: Lewis Milestone , Carol Reed , George Seaton | Stars: Marlon Brando , Trevor Howard , Richard Harris , Hugh Griffith

Votes: 17,753 | Gross: $13.68M

8. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Russell Crowe , Paul Bettany , Billy Boyd , James D'Arcy

Votes: 237,017 | Gross: $93.93M

9. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.

Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gregory Peck , Virginia Mayo , Robert Beatty , Moultrie Kelsall

Votes: 7,474

10. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Passed | 132 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

First mate Fletcher Christian leads a revolt against his sadistic commander, Captain Bligh, in this classic seafaring adventure, based on the real-life 1789 mutiny.

Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Charles Laughton , Clark Gable , Franchot Tone , Herbert Mundin

Votes: 24,743

11. Poseidon (2006)

PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

On New Year's Eve, the luxury ocean liner Poseidon capsizes after being swamped by a rogue wave. The survivors are left to fight for their lives as they attempt to escape the sinking ship.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss , Kurt Russell , Emmy Rossum , Josh Lucas

Votes: 110,119 | Gross: $60.67M

12. Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, History

The World War II story of the Royal Navy's effort to defeat Nazi Germany's most powerful warship.

Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Kenneth More , Dana Wynter , Carl Möhner , Laurence Naismith

Votes: 8,285 | Gross: $6.54M

13. In Which We Serve (1942)

Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, War

This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.

Directors: Noël Coward , David Lean | Stars: Noël Coward , John Mills , Bernard Miles , Celia Johnson

Votes: 6,412 | Gross: $0.45M

14. Captain Phillips (2013)

PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Biography, Crime

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks , Barkhad Abdi , Barkhad Abdirahman , Catherine Keener

Votes: 490,713 | Gross: $107.10M

15. The Boat That Rocked (2009)

R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

A band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that wanted classical music, and nothing else, on the airwaves.

Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman , Bill Nighy , Nick Frost , Michael Hadley

Votes: 115,854 | Gross: $7.99M

16. The Bounty (1984)

PG | 132 min | Adventure, Drama, History

Fed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Mel Gibson , Anthony Hopkins , Laurence Olivier , Edward Fox

Votes: 30,165 | Gross: $8.60M

17. Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

G | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Family

The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.

Director: Don Chaffey | Stars: Todd Armstrong , Nancy Kovack , Gary Raymond , Laurence Naismith

Votes: 30,844 | Gross: $4.58M

18. Moby Dick (1956)

Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama

The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Gregory Peck , Richard Basehart , Leo Genn , James Robertson Justice

Votes: 21,739 | Gross: $10.40M

19. Kon-Tiki (2012)

PG-13 | 118 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

Legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl's epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsawood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Directors: Joachim Rønning , Espen Sandberg | Stars: Pål Sverre Hagen , Anders Baasmo , Gustaf Skarsgård , Odd-Magnus Williamson

Votes: 51,816 | Gross: $1.52M

20. All Is Lost (2013)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.

Director: J.C. Chandor | Star: Robert Redford

Votes: 83,668 | Gross: $6.26M

21. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.

Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp , Geoffrey Rush , Orlando Bloom , Keira Knightley

Votes: 1,204,608 | Gross: $305.41M

22. The Perfect Storm (2000)

PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: George Clooney , Mark Wahlberg , John C. Reilly , Diane Lane

Votes: 177,407 | Gross: $182.62M

23. Jaws (1975)

PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider , Robert Shaw , Richard Dreyfuss , Lorraine Gary

Votes: 656,538 | Gross: $260.00M

24. Captain Ron (1992)

PG-13 | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy

A Chicagoan inherits an old yacht. He, his wife, daughter and son fly to a Caribbean island and hire a dubious Captain Ron to sail them on an adventure to Miami.

Director: Thom Eberhardt | Stars: Kurt Russell , Martin Short , Mary Kay Place , Benjamin Salisbury

Votes: 22,850 | Gross: $22.52M

25. Dead Calm (1989)

R | 96 min | Horror, Thriller

After a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Nicole Kidman , Sam Neill , Billy Zane , Rod Mullinar

Votes: 43,530 | Gross: $7.83M

26. Lifeboat (1944)

Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War

Several survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tallulah Bankhead , John Hodiak , Walter Slezak , William Bendix

Votes: 31,074

27. The African Queen (1951)

PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

In WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart , Katharine Hepburn , Robert Morley , Peter Bull

Votes: 84,042 | Gross: $0.54M

28. 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

PG-13 | 154 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Gérard Depardieu , Armand Assante , Sigourney Weaver , Loren Dean

Votes: 32,693 | Gross: $7.19M

29. The Sea Hawk (1940)

Approved | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History

Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for the attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills on the sword.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn , Brenda Marshall , Claude Rains , Donald Crisp

Votes: 10,660

30. The Sea Wolves (1980)

PG | 120 min | Action, History, War

During World War II, British Intelligence brings a crew of ex-soldiers out of retirement, using their age as cover, to take to the seas and pull off an unlikely undercover mission in neutral Goa.

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen | Stars: Gregory Peck , Roger Moore , David Niven , Trevor Howard

Votes: 5,247

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AP Week in Pictures: Global

Spectators watch plumes of smoke from volcanic activity between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco)

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Members of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their destroyed home by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

A model presents creations by Rajdeep Ranawat during the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) in Mumbai, India, Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

The buildings of the banking district are reflected in the river Main in Frankfurt, Germany, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a St. Patrick’s Day brunch with Catholic leaders in the East Room of the White House, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A person waves an Irish flag while watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade, Sunday, March 17, 2024, in Boston’s South Boston neighborhood. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A woman throws a bag of trash at police blocking an anti-government demonstration against food scarcity at soup kitchens and economic reforms proposed by President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

CEO Jensen Huang speaks about AI and climate during the keynote address of Nvidia GTC in San Jose, Calif., Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, celebrates after defeating Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, in the final match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 17, 2024, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

An aircraft airdrops humanitarian aid over northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Rafah, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Smoke and explosions rise inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier, of Canada, perform their pairs short program during the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Yulia Navalnaya, center, widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a queue with other voters at a polling station near the Russian embassy in Berlin, after noon Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Russian opposition has called on people to head to polling stations at noon on Sunday in protest as voting takes place on the last day of a presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule after he clamped down on dissent. AP can’t confirm that all the voters seen at the polling station at noon were taking part in the opposition protest. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking on a visit to his campaign headquarters after a presidential election in Moscow, Russia, early Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Chin Choeun, 54, climbs down a palm tree at Trapang Ampel village, outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, March 15, 2024. Choeun spends nearly 12 hours a day collecting sap from palm trees that he and his wife turn into palm sugar. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Residents bathe in a dam of Unda river, ahead of World Water Day, in Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Benfica’s Lucia Alves, bottom, challenges for the ball with Lyon’s Selma Bacha during the women’s Champions League quarterfinals, first leg, soccer match between SL Benfica and Olympique Lyonnais at the Luz Stadium, in Lisbon, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Debris scatters the ground near damaged homes following a severe storm Friday, March 15, 2024, in Lakeview, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Carson Hume competes in the men’s super-G ski race during the U.S. Alpine Championships, Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at the Sun Valley ski resort in Ketchum, Idaho. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslims capsized off Indonesia’s northernmost coast on Wednesday, according to local fishermen. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

Revelers throw flour as they participate in the flour war, a unique colorful flour fight marking the end of the carnival season, in the port town of Galaxidi, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Athens, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

March 15-21, 2024

A volcano erupts again in Iceland. A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees who survived a night at sea after their boat capsized were being rescued off Indonesia’s northernmost coast. A family breaks their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their home destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip. An aircraft airdrops humanitarian aid over the northern Gaza Strip. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his campaign headquarters after the presidential election in Moscow. Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexey Navalny, stands in a line with other voters at a polling station near the Russian Embassy in Berlin, after noon Sunday.

This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images published in the past week by The Associated Press.

This selection was curated by AP Photo Editor Pamela Hassell in New York.

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