Aerial view of the Westmen Isles, 2009-02-01

Guðlaugur Friðþórsson (born 24 September 1961) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic fisherman who survived six hours in cold water after his fishing vessel had capsized and furthermore trekked, for another three hours, across

lava field Lava fields are large, mostly flat areas of surface or subaquatic lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of miles across the underlying terrain. Morphology and stru ...

s to reach a town for help in freezing conditions.

Sequence of events

On 11 March 1984, Guðlaugur and four other fishermen were fishing near the

Westman Islands Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

when their boat, which was engaging in fishing and carrying trenchers to another village, capsized at about 10 p.m. It is suspected that the weight of the trenchers was miscalculated, causing the boat to be more susceptible to turbulent ocean conditions. During the sinking of their boat, off the coast of

Heimaey Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

, Guðlaugur and two out of four other companions climbed on to the keel. After about 45 minutes, they swam towards the shore, yet the other two disappeared within 10 minutes. The only survivor of the crew of five, Guðlaugur swam for five to six hours in water the to the island, wearing a shirt, sweater and jeans, guided by a lighthouse. He remained clear-headed throughout. Reaching the shore of Heimaey, Guðlaugur found himself at the most dangerous section of the island's coastline, due mainly to the waves hitting the coastal lava rock formations. After searching for and finding a suitable, flatter part of the shoreline, he finally got to land but had to walk with bare feet, traversing of volcanic

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

. When he knocked on a door at 7 a.m., nine hours after the boat had sunk, he was taken to the hospital. Guðlaugur's body temperature was below yet he showed almost no symptoms of

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

vasodilatation Vasodilation is the widening of blood vessels. It results from relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, in particular in the large veins, large arteries, and smaller arterioles. The process is the opposite of vasoconstriction, ...

, only of

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

Testing

In autumn 1985,

Jóhann Axelsson Jóhann is a masculine given name. It is the Icelandic and Faroese form of the name Johann, a form of the Germanic and Latin given name "Johannes". The English-language form is John. The Icelandic surname Jóhannsson is a patronymic surname meanin ...

, head of Department of Physiology at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, who had included Guðlaugur in an ongoing study about hypothermia, took Guðlaugur to London to see William Keatinge of the Physiology Department of the

London Hospital Medical College Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, commonly known as Barts or BL, is a medical school, medical and dental school in London, England. The school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal Un ...

and an expert in hypothermia. Together, they demonstrated that the 23-year old, Icelander had phenomenal resistance to cold.

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fridthorsson, Gudlaugur 1961 births Living people Gudlaugur Fridthorsson Shipwreck survivors

Sequence of events

Testing

See also

Footnotes

References