The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

'On February 22 we were told that we would be returning to Columbia.'

In 1955, eight crew members of Caldas, a Colombian destroyer, were swept overboard. Velasco alone survived, drifting on a raft for ten days without food or water. Márquez retells the survivor's amazing tale, from his loneliness and thirst, to his determination to survive.

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor was Márquez's first major, and controversial, work, published in Colombian newspaper El Espectador, in 1955. It is being re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books as ebooks for the first time.

About the Author

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Marquez born March 6, 1927 is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, and is the earliest living recipient.1 He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in his leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha; they have two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.