Castaway: Daniel Foss

Five years alone on a rock island with no trees, no soil, and no certainty of rescue is the kind of survival scenario people argue about online, until you hear what Daniel Foss reportedly lived through after an 1809 shipwreck in the Pacific. We follow Foss from the moment the brig Negotiator strikes an iceberg to the desperate days in an open lifeboat where cold, thirst, and starvation wipe out the crew one by one.

Along the way, we zoom out to the sealing industry of the 1700s and 1800s, where small ships and smaller margins pushed crews into dangerous waters in pursuit of fur that could be traded for high value goods. That economic pressure helps explain why men ended up so far from help, and why “routine” voyages could flip into catastrophe overnight.

Once Foss washes ashore with only a wooden oar and what he can scavenge, the story turns into a masterclass in grim problem solving: catching rainwater in rock holes, eating whatever the island offers, and eventually turning an ocean of seals into food, shelter materials, and a reason to keep going. We talk through the shelter he builds, the way he marks time, the hurricane that nearly undoes everything, and the final moment when rescue is close but not guaranteed.

We also share a candid note on sources and historical accuracy, because shipwreck accounts often live somewhere between documentation and legend. If you’re into maritime history, castaway stories, shipwreck survival, or the psychology of solitude, you’ll find a lot to wrestle with here. Subscribe for more disaster history, share this with a friend who loves survival stories, and please leave a rating or review so more people can find the show.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Transcript

Solitude To The Extreme

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We could all use a little peace and quiet from time to time. A little bit of solitude to unwind and just not have to deal with other people. Whether it's an hour or a day, any little bit helps. But how much is too much? How much could you handle? A day, a week? How about five years? Five years of zero human contact while you're trapped on a tiny island made out of rocks. Your only companion? A single wooden oar. The only piece left from the ship you had sailed on. That was the situation Daniel Foss found himself in after the ship he was on sunk in eighteen oh nine. So what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History as a Disaster. Tonight we're diving into the Pacific Ocean for the story of Daniel Foss who was marooned on an uncharted island in the Pacific in eighteen oh

Pocket Boat Sponsor Break

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Sealing Trade And Why It Mattered

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else? In the 170 and 1800s, sealing was big business. While not as lucrative as whaling, after doing a series on the Essex and learning what a whaling crew went through, I can only assume it was at least slightly safer. Seal fur also didn't sell for as much as sea otter fur. Sea otter pelts normally sold for around $100 each, whereas seal fur only fetched less than $5 on average. What made it worth the effort though was China. Traders and merchants desperately wanted Chinese goods. However, due to Chinese trade restrictions, they almost exclusively dealt in silver. Nearly every trade had to be for silver. There really wasn't much else they were that interested in, except seal fur. It was highly prized in China and used to make coats and cold weather gear for the colder areas of the country. So they could trade something that was next to worthless for highly sought-after Chinese goods and turn it around again for a huge profit. Now, a typical sealing voyage was usually done on a schooner or a brig, a small ship that was easy to maneuver in ice flows and amongst the islands they'd be hunting on. They ran with a crew of roughly 20 men, although that number could fluctuate up to 30 and down to 10. They'd travel up to the Arctic or subarctic regions to hunt seals on the islands there. They'd drop a hunting party off on one island and leave them there for weeks at a time to hunt seals while the ship moved on to another island to hunt there. And they'd repeat this process again and again until the ship's holds were full of seal skins.

Who Daniel Foss Is

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So, with that little bit of background out of the way, let's talk about Daniel. Outside of this little adventure, not a whole lot is known about him. Most of his life has been lost to the sands of time. We do know, according to the Find a Grave website, he was born in 1790 in New Hampshire, making him 19 years old when our story starts. And he eventually made it down to Elkton, Maryland, and at some point made it up to Pennsylvania looking for work. In Pennsylvania, he found work on a ship, the negotiator, a brave captain by James Nickel. Not his first choice for work, but it was the best job he could find. So on September 2, 1809, the negotiator set sail from Pennsylvania, making its way south. They were making good time and hit the Cape of Good Hope, near the southern tip of Africa, by mid-October and set course for the Friendly Islands, otherwise known as the Kingdom of Tonga, just northeast of New Zealand.

Storm Night And Iceberg Impact

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Everything was going great until November 25th when they sailed into a heavy snowstorm. The sails and rigging began to ice over and by midnight the wind howled and whipped over the brig. They were at the mercy of the storm as it shoved the ship about the ocean. By 2.30 that morning, the ship struck an iceberg, damaging the ship beyond repair. The negotiator was sinking beneath the waves.

Lifeboat Misery And Rapid Death

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They rushed to load up the lifeboats with all the supplies they could carry. They were hundreds of miles from the nearest landmass. By the time morning came, they were freezing. Many had not had the time or opportunity to grab jackets or gloves or anything to protect themselves from the cold. But with the first light of day, they were able to take stock of what they did have, which, honestly, really wasn't that much. A barrel of beef, a barrel of water, half a barrel of pork, and a small keg of beer. You know, because you gotta have that beer. Which forced Captain Nickel to put them on strict rations. They would also have to take turns at the oars or bailing. If you weren't rowing the boat, you were baling out water. It was all they could do if they wanted to survive the ordeal. Constantly being busy would help keep their minds off their situation, plus had the added benefit of helping to keep them warm. Unfortunately, over the next nine days, thirteen members of the crew died and were buried at sea. Eight men now remained. Four of them were in bad shape. They had severe frostbite and could barely stand. But still they kept going, kept rowing onward. To conserve their meager supply of water, they chipped off chunks of ice to drink as it melted in their mouths. As they continued on, five more of the survivors dropped dead. All that remained was Captain Nickel, Dr. Haggard, and Daniel. By january tenth, the weather was getting warmer. They had finally got out of the freezing climate and hit a better, more temperate zone. However, by the twentieth, the last of the food was gone. And try as they might, they fought for five days to catch a fish, but it just wasn't happening. They were down to cutting their shoes into pieces and soaking them in fresh water before eating them, which I'm sure was mighty tasty. And of course, it did very little to ward off the threat of starvation.

Drawing Lots To Stay Alive

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So Captain Nickel made the hard decision. They had to draw lots to see who would die so the others could live. Daniel cut off three strips from his coat, one of which had a brown thread running through it and put them in a cap. They would each pull out a piece, and the one who pulled the piece with the thread would be chosen to die. As they pulled their lots, doctor Haggard pulled the marked piece. He was given a few minutes to pray, clutching his wedding ring and saying a silent goodbye to his wife and children, before nodding and saying he was ready to go. He held his left arm out and they slit his wrist, drinking his blood as it poured from the wound. After he passed from blood loss, they butchered his body into small strips and left them in the sun to dry. Between the doctor's flesh and the steady rain that had kept them supplied with water, they had enough to sustain them for a few weeks. But they still grew weak from the lack of food after twelve days and could barely stand.

Landfall Turns Into Total Loss

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By the morning of march fifth, the last of the doctor was gone, but off on the horizon they spotted land. This sighting gave them new hope. Hope of rescue, hope of an end to their ordeal. They just had to push to reach the small island. This island was tiny, barely two miles around and with tall rocks surrounding it. The approach to the island would be difficult, but the thought of finding food and fresh water on land pushed them on. They finally made it close enough to the island by the next morning and circled it looking for a safe place to land. Captain Nickel was reluctant to get closer. He was afraid of the waves and the rocks smashing them to bits before they got close enough to land. But Daniel was insistent that they couldn't go any further. They had to try to make it. So they went for it. They aimed to land near a shelf in the rocks. But as they got to within a hundred yards of the island, the waves flicked the lifeboat over, much like Captain Nickel feared would happen. Daniel clutched onto his oar, using it to help him float over the swells as they pushed him closer to the rock shelf. He made it, fighting against exhaustion to pull himself up over the high rocks before the waves could smash him back down again. As he reached the summit of the cliffs, he turned back to look for Captain Nickel. Below him, all he could see in the surf was the smashed remains of the lifeboat broken up into hundreds of pieces. Captain Nickel was nowhere to be seen. Daniel was

Water Hunger And A Dead Seal

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alone. Exhausted, he collapsed to the rocky ground. After regaining some strength, he got back to his feet. His thoughts turned toward survival as he began to search the island. It took him hours to search the little island. It was a half a mile long and a quarter mile wide and made entirely of rocks. No sand, no soil, nothing. Not even a shred of shrubbery or grass to grow on. After hours of a fruitless search, he made it back to where he started and tried to find some shelter. He settled on sleeping under an overhanging rock and managed to gather up some rockweed to act as a bedding. It did little to make it more comfortable, but it was better than sleeping on the solid rock. During his first night on the island, it rained nonstop. He used his jacket to try to collect some of the fresh water, but it just absorbed the salt from the rocks and the ocean spray, splashing up and tating it. By morning, he went in search of water and found some in holes in the rocks, but it wasn't that suitable for drinking. He managed to clean out some of the holes in hopes of catching more fresh water during the next rain. He also found a few small shellfish which he greedily ate. Things were looking a little better, but he still didn't expect to make it through the night. It had been days since he had any real food and he was starting to swell up. He was suffering from severe dehydration, but he'd make it through the night, and with nothing else to do, he searched the island again for food and found a dead seal in between some rocks. And despite the smell of decay, the seal would provide some food to help him make it through another day. He ate a little of it and took what was left to his little shelter in the rocks. He solved his food shortage at least for now, he just needed water. The rain that night helped a little. He laid in the rain, mouth open to at least get some relief to his parched lips. When morning came, he dragged himself to the holes he had cleaned out. They were now filled with fresh clean water, and he had his first real drink in days. He now had at least a ten day supply of water, which he covered with flat rocks to keep the salt out of it and spoil it. Returning to his little shelf shelter, he ate from the rapidly shrieking supply of seal meat and stretched out to try and get some sleep on his rockweed

Seals Everywhere Food Finally Solved

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bed. After catching up on some sleep, he explored the island again. Joy filling him as he stumbled upon thousands of live seals sunning themselves on the rocks of the island. They made no move to run or show any fear as Daniel got closer and walked between them. So he left and ran back to get the ore he saved from the lifeboat. Returning quickly, the seals proved to be easy prey as he walked among them, cracking them over the head and stunning them. He spent an hour moving through the crowd of seals before they finally started to flee, the madman with a club among them. Over one hundred seals lay stunned on the rocks. He moved among them with a knife he managed to hold on to when the ship sank, slitting their throats and drinking their blood. Refreshed and strengthened from the seal blood, he picked out a dozen of the largest ones, skinning and cutting them to pieces, laying the meat in the sun to dry. With his basic needs of food and water met, he could now focus on other things, like making a better shelter.

Building A Fortress And Marking Time

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He found a spot on the highest part of the island, a place the waves couldn't reach. It took four weeks to build in his weakened condition. When he was done, it had three rooms. One to store food in, one to sleep in, and a place to retreat to in the rain. The walls were three feet thick and covered in dry rock weed and virtually waterproof. To keep track of time, he carved a notch into the ore. One notch meant one week. He also carved a hem into the ore and would later use the ore to record his ordeal. The first year dragged by. The second year, he spent two months building a 20-foot square and 10-foot high wall around his little hut. The wall completely blocked both the high winds and sea spray. Next, he set to work building a pillar of rocks about 30 feet high, using bigger rocks at the base and smaller rocks as the tower grew taller. From up here, he could watch the horizon for any passing ships. In the hopes of attracting a passing ship, he tied his coat to the oar and planted it on top of the tower as a makeshift flag. The hope was a passing ship would see it and come in to

Hurricane Windfall And Rescue At Last

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investigate. In June of year three, Daniel saw a sail on the horizon. However, it never came close enough to see him, but it was at least a little hope that ship travels that area. March of the next year, the island was struck by a hurricane. Black clouds gathered overhead as the winds out of the southwest blew over the island. The island shook violently as the full force of the hurricane hit it. Thunder boomed and lightning lit up the sky. Large waves crashed over the island. The only place not hit by the waves was the high point Daniel built his shelter. Anywhere else, and he'd have been washed away. The thick walls he built around it also protected it from the worst of the winds howling around him. The morning after the hurricane passed, he went out to survey the damage done. To his surprise, he found the island littered with flying fish thrown ashore by the storm. After four years of living off seal meat, he had something new to add to his diet. Even bigger surprise was the dead whale that had been thrown ashore. The whale had been harpooned at some point, renewing his hope that whalers worked in the area and there was still some hope of rescue. He continued to spend his days making a record of events and strived into his oar. When he didn't need it, he covered it in sealskin and left it atop the tower as a flag. During his fifth year, after spending a few days sick and unable to leave his shelter, he finally made it out to discover a ship had sailed close to the island. He waved and jumped around to get their attention, and they eventually sent the lifeboat to try to land at the island. After several unsuccessful attempts, they went to turn back to their ship the Neptune. But Daniel wasn't having it. He dove into the water, clutching his oar and barely managed to make it out far enough for the sailors in the boat to pull him in. He would ride with the Neptune back to New York and make it home. He would eventually donate the oar to the museum in Philadelphia, who subsequently lost it after he went back to Maryland. After that, Daniel would eventually marry and have two children before dying in 1870 at the ripe old age of 80 in Pennsylvania.

Sources Doubts And Wrap Up

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Now, a quick little note on sources and historical accuracy. The first written account of the story appeared in a journal of the shipwreck and sufferings of Daniel Foss, written by Daniel Foss, which later appeared in Joseph Sabine's Biblioteca Americana, a collection of written works from the discovery of America to the early 1900s. A later book about the shipwreck and survival is also available on Kindle. In it, a few details are a little different, like Daniel being from Georgia and the ship sailed from Virginia. Small details that were different and I believe based on a different variant of the story in Joseph Sabine's book, but I went with what I believe was accurate based on the find of grave site. As far as historical accuracy goes, well, there wasn't a whole lot of information I could find, uh, with really no information being found on the negotiator. And the ship to Neptune that I found was built in 1814 and had no mention of Daniel Foss on it at all. Now, normally on something like this, I would scrap the topic completely with not being able to verify sources, but I'm trying to get just a little bit ahead on episodes. I got some stuff going on that I'm afraid I might fall behind and not be able to put it out of something, so I decided to not scrap this topic and just went ahead and put it out. Besides, well it wasn't that bad of a story, so it is what it is. Anyways, that was the story of Daniel Foss. Thanks for listening, and if you liked the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your Apple Choice. And you can reach out to the show at historiesandisaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions. Or to tell me I'm an idiot for doing this topic, whatever. As well as following the show on social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whatever. And share the episode. Your friends will love it. And just remember, penguins are awesome. So if you find yourself stuck on an island, don't club the penguins. Get them nasty old seals. Now, actually don't club anything. Besides the penguins, they probably taste terrible anyways. So, chase that dream. Don't get stuck on an island. Live for today, because tomorrow is never guaranteed. Thanks and goodbye.