Lots of preppers think they know what it takes to survive, but until you see what can really happen, and what is humanly possible, it is all just theory.

Thankfully for us but unfortunately for the people who have lived through extraordinary events, we have plenty of documented tales concerning feats of extreme survival.

Whether these brave individuals found themselves facing down a situation through no choice and no fault of their own, or whether they voluntarily embarked on an adventure or goal that tested the very limits of skill and endurance, there is something we can learn from each and every one of them. And we should!

Below you will find 21 famous survivalists that all preppers should know about. Hailing from all over the world, and all with different backgrounds, let their feats inspire you to prep harder, and also inform you about what you yourself might face one day.

1. Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton was a famous British explorer who led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917.

The expedition was meant to be the first crossing of the Antarctic continent, but their ship, Endurance, got completely immobilized in ice, the hull eventually crushed.

Shackleton and his crew were forced to survive for nearly two years in the harsh Antarctic environment before they were rescued.

Shackleton’s leadership and determination played a pivotal role in the survival of his crew, as he kept them motivated and organized during their long ordeal.

His exploits, prior, during, and after the ill-fated expedition are quite literally the stuff of legend. If you have not read the story of that seemingly doomed expedition, make sure you do so at the earliest opportunity.

2. Alexander Selkirk

Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who was marooned on a remote island in the South Pacific in 1704.

Supposedly, he tried to start a mutiny aboard the ship he was serving on, and after pleading his case to the captain, he said he would rather be marooned than sail one more mile aboard the shabby vessel.

And so the captain did precisely that, and Selkirk begged to be let back aboard, to no avail. He spent over four years alone on the island before being rescued by a passing ship.

Selkirk’s survival skills and resourcefulness were key to his survival, as he learned to hunt and gather food, built shelter, and even tamed feral cats for rodent control and companionship. Selkirk’s story inspired the novel “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe.

3. Louis Zamperini

An American World War II veteran who survived being lost at sea after his plane crashed, and subsequently surviving brutal conditions as a POW.

After Zamperini’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a bombing mission gone awry, Zamperini and two other crew members drifted on a raft for two and a half months before being captured by the Japanese.

Then Zamperini endured hideous torture and starvation for over two years in prison camps before being liberated at the end of the war upon American victory in the Pacific.

Also an Olympic long distance runner, and Christian evangelist post-recovery, his resilience and strength of character are truly mythical, and his story remains one of the best known and most inspiring stories of survival and perseverance of the 20th century.

4. Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan is a former British SAS soldier, author, and survival expert. He gained widespread recognition for his incredible escape during the Gulf War in 1991.

Ryan was part of the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero mission, which aimed to take out Scud missile launchers in Iraq.

When the mission went awry, the team was forced to escape on foot through hostile territory. After evading capture, Ryan trekked more than 190 miles across the harsh desert landscape in just eight days, relying on his elite survival skills and sheer determination.

He braved incredible danger, and at one point drank unbelievably toxic runoff water from an industrial site that nearly killed him. Even then, he pressed on.

His harrowing journey remains the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS.

5. Creek Stewart

A renowned American survival instructor, television host, and author, Creek Stewart has dedicated his life to teaching others the art of wilderness survival and has developed numerous training programs and courses to share his knowledge.

Through his survival school, Willow Haven Outdoor, Stewart has helped countless students gain valuable skills to survive in various outdoor scenarios.

He is famous for his practical, holistic approach to problem solving no matter the environment and the situation.

Hosting the TV show “Fat Guys in the Woods,” he has brought his passion for survival and self-reliance to a wider audience of “average Joes”, inspiring many to embrace the outdoors and learn essential survival techniques to be better citizens, husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends.

6. Les Stroud

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Les Stroud is a Canadian survival expert, author, and filmmaker best known as the creator and star of the hit television series “Survivorman”.

In each episode, Stroud ventures into some of the world’s most remote and inhospitable environments with minimal gear, showcasing his survival skills and sharing valuable tips with viewers.

Most notably, compared to his contemporaries, Stroud filmed the entire affair himself for every episode, serving as both the star and the camera crew. No staying at a hotel between takes, no help, no support!

Stroud’s unique approach to survival education, which emphasizes the importance of adapting to one’s surroundings and making use of available resources, has earned him a loyal following.

7. Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls is a British adventurer, television presenter, and former SAS serviceman who has become a household name in the world of survival.

He is best known for his popular TV series “Man vs. Wild,” where he demonstrates various survival techniques and tackles extreme environments around the globe.

Grylls’ expertise in wilderness survival, combined with his engaging personality and daring exploits, made him the single biggest star of the survival television boom in the early to mid 2000s.

Although sometimes derided as nothing more than a TV personality, his real world exploits besides his military service, including scaling Mount Everest and a nearly fatal parachuting accident, have proved that he is indeed the real thing.

In addition to his television work, Grylls has written numerous books on survival and personal development, inspiring millions to embrace adventure and self-reliance.

8. Mykel Hawke

Retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer Mykel Hawke is a survival expert, and TV personality. With over 25 years of military experience and extensive training in survival, Hawke has honed his skills in some of the most challenging environments on Earth.

He has shared his knowledge with the greater public through various survival television shows, including “Man, Woman, Wild” and “Lost Survivors,” as well as through his survival school, SpecOps Global.

Hawke’s practical approach to survival education has synthesized the very best information taken from his long lived experience and also other cutting edge instructors from around the world.

9. Cody Lundin

Cody Lundin is another American survival instructor, author, and television personality known for his decidedly unconventional approach to wilderness living and primitive skills.

As the founder of the Aboriginal Living Skills School, Lundin has spent decades teaching students how to survive and thrive in the wild using ancient techniques and minimal or no equipment.

Lundin gained widespread recognition as the co-host of the Discovery Channel’s “Dual Survival,” where he showcased his expertise in various challenging scenarios alongside co-host and sometimes foil Dave Canterbury, featured elsewhere on this list.

Most notably, though this is hardly worth mentioning among his accomplishments, Lundin is known for going barefoot on his many exploits.

No shoes is no impediment to survival when you are as good as he is! Sometimes controversial, no one serious doubts his expertise or experience.

10. Aron Ralston

A name that will be well known already to many readers, Aron Ralston is an American outdoorsman, motivational speaker, and author who became so for his remarkable story of survival in Utah’s Blue John Canyon.

In 2003, while hiking alone, Ralston’s arm became trapped under a fallen boulder. After five days with limited supplies and no hope of rescue, Ralston made the harrowing decision to amputate his own arm using a dull multi-tool knife.

Then, unbelievably, he repelled down to the canyon floor and hiked out where he was found by fellow hikers and eventually rescued by airlift.

His frankly incredible willpower and determination kept him alive, and subsequently, Ralston’s story inspired the film “127 Hours.”

11. Salvador Alvarenga

A fisherman who survived one of the most astonishing tales of survival at sea, Alvarenga and a companion were caught in a storm while fishing off the coast of Mexico, and their boat was swept out into the open ocean.

With minimal supplies and no means of communication, Alvarenga endured 438 days adrift, surviving on raw fish, birds, and rainwater.

His companion, unfortunately, succumbed to despair after enduring only 2 months of the harsh conditions.

Now completely deprived of company and companionship, Alvarenga was forced to give his departed friend a burial at sea and simply keep surviving.

Alvarenga’s ordeal finally ended when he washed ashore on the Marshall Islands, over 6,000 miles from his starting point.

12. Joel Lambert

Joel Lambert is a former U.S. Navy SEAL, survival expert, and television personality known for his work on the Discovery Channel series “Lone Target” (also known as “Manhunt” in some markets).

With extensive military experience in tracking and evasion, Lambert’s show famously pits his skills against elite tracking teams from around the world in thrilling, high-stakes challenges.

Surviving disasters and other events that happen to you is one thing, but surviving the attention of skilled and tenacious human adversaries is another thing entirely, and perhaps no one has made that promise more entertaining or informative than Lambert.

Lambert’s TV work shows all preppers the importance of mental strength, resourcefulness, and tactical thinking in overcoming difficult situations.

13. Ray Mears

Ray Mears is a British survival expert, author, and television presenter who has been teaching bushcraft and wilderness survival skills for over three decades.

Mears has tons and tons of TV credits to his name, and has hosted numerous TV series, such as “World of Survival,” “Extreme Survival,” and “Bushcraft,” where he demonstrates practical techniques for living off the land and surviving in various environments.

His extensive knowledge of traditional skills, combined with his passion for preserving quickly dwindling indigenous wisdom, has made him a true living legend in the spheres of outdoor education.

Through his books, television work, and survival school, Woodlore, Mears continually encourages the greater public to learn basic self-sufficiency and survival skills.

14. Dr. Juliane Diller

There is no shortage of it survival stories out in the world, and many of them are genuinely harrowing but only a few can say they have survived the unsurvivable.

Dr. Juliane Diller (formerly Koepcke) is one such person. A German-Peruvian biologist who survived a truly nightmarish event in the Amazon rainforest at the age of 17 when the plane she was traveling in was struck by lightning and disintegrated, literally broke up, in mid-air.

In what could only have been a genuine miracle, Diller survived the two-mile fall while strapped into her seat, and found herself alone in the dense jungle.

Despite grave injuries and limited supplies, she managed to navigate her way through the rainforest for 11 days until she was rescued by local fishermen.

Drawing on her knowledge of biology and the natural world, hers is yet another tale of survival, perseverance and sheer refusal to die in the face of what should have been certain death.

15. Ed Stafford

In 2010, Ed Stafford became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River, a journey that took him 860 days to complete.

That’s right, the entire Amazon River! This is a quest that has killed countless people who tried to follow it over far shorter distances, but Stafford did it all on foot.

Stafford has since embarked on numerous other expeditions and has starred in several TV series, including “Walking the Amazon,” “Marooned with Ed Stafford,” and “First Man Out”.

His adventures have showcased his exceptional survival skills and seemingly bottomless enthusiasm and endurance, inspiring others to push their limits, and embrace the challenges of the natural world.

16. Dave Canterbury

Dave Canterbury is an American survival expert, author, and television personality known for his practical approach to teaching wilderness survival skills.

As the co-founder of the Pathfinder School, Canterbury has developed a comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes self-reliance, adaptability, and the importance of mastering core survival techniques.

He gained widespread recognition as a co-host of the Discovery Channel’s “Dual Survival,” where he shared his expertise in various challenging scenarios alongside Cody Lundin, above.

Although he was embroiled in a controversy surrounding his embellishment of a military service record, there’s no disputing that he is definitely a subject matter expert regarding what he teaches, and his authored several best-selling books on survival and outdoor living skills.

17. Peter Siebold

Peter Siebold is an American aerospace engineer and test pilot who survived a catastrophic in-flight breakup of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise (quite the mouthful) during a test flight in 2014.

The vehicle disintegrated after its feathering system prematurely deployed, causing Siebold and co-pilot Michael Alsbury to be ejected from the craft at an extreme altitude.

Siebold miraculously survived the wreck, thanks to his emergency parachute, while Alsbury tragically lost his life. Siebold’s survival story is a grim reminder about the importance of safety equipment, but also coolness under pressure and quick thinking.

No matter how bad things look, there’s always something you can do to improve your chances!

18. Anatoli Bugorski

Anatoli Bugorski is a Russian physicist who experienced a one-of-a-kind and nearly fatal accident involving a particle accelerator in 1978.

While working on the machine, which was supposed to be shutdown, Bugorski accidentally put his head in the path of the proton beam, resulting in a localized dose of radiation equivalent to millions of times the lethal amount.

Remarkably, he survived the incident, although he suffered severe burns, partial paralysis, and the eventual loss of hearing in one ear.

By all accounts, the man should have died immediately or soon after the incident. Bugorski’s unlikely survival has made him a genuinely unique case study in the effects of extreme radiation exposure on the human body.

19. Ricky MeGee

In 2006, Ricky MeGee woke up in his own hastily dug grave. Do I have your attention? After picking up a pair of hitchhikers deep in the Australian outback, as you do, MeGee was drugged and left for dead after they, presumably, stole his truck.

MeGee woke up disoriented and stranded in the unforgiving deep desert with no supplies. Over the course of 71 days, he managed to stay alive by eating insects, lizards, frogs and drinking rainwater collected in makeshift containers.

MeGee’s tale is one that is, understandably hard to read: while it’s a cautionary tale about trusting strangers, no matter how well-intentioned you might be, it is nonetheless a testament to the fundamental will to live.

20. Roberto Canessa

One of the 16 survivors of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. In 1972, a plane carrying 45 souls crashed in the Andes while en route to Chile, leaving 27 survivors stranded in the freezing mountains with minimal supplies.

Over the next 72 days, the survivors endured avalanches, frostbite, and starvation, ultimately resorting to cannibalism to stay alive.

The survivors’ story is one of the most famous and most tragic tales of endurance in the face of extreme adversity, and Canessa’s even more so: he, along with fellow survivor Nando Parrado hiked for 10 days, ill-equipped, down from the mountain to find help and rescue.

A survival story of incredibly grueling odds, and in the end Canessa and his companion Parrado faced almost certain death on the slim chance of finding help. His story was later immortalized in book and film formats.

21. Harrison Okene

One of the most unbelievable tales on our list is that of Harrison Okene, a Nigerian cook who survived a terrifying underwater ordeal when the tugboat he was working on capsized and sank off the coast of Nigeria in 2013.

Trapped in a small air pocket within the sunken vessel with only his torso up out of the frigid water, Okene managed to stay alive for nearly 60 hours in complete darkness, surviving on sips of Coca-Cola while surrounded by water and the bodies of his deceased colleagues, all on the ocean floor.

Against all odds, he was eventually found and rescued by a team of South African divers who were to recover the bodies.

The post Survival Legends: 21 Famous Survivalists You Need to Know appeared first on Survival Sullivan.

By: Tom Marlowe
Title: Survival Legends: 21 Famous Survivalists You Need to Know
Sourced From: www.survivalsullivan.com/famous-survivalists/
Published Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000

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