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Яхтенному капитану на заметку |
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In 1 april 1540 a Spanish ship was wrecked off the coast of Peru, well to the north-east of my present position. The only surviving crewman, Pedro Serrano, spent two nights in the water. On the third day he sighted land above the sea and swain ashore. There no vegetation at all, and no fresh water: the surface consisted entirely of sand and rock a few meters above the waves. The castaway ate shellfish and turtles, and collected rainwater in the turtles’ shells. He survived here for seven years, and so adapted environment that thick hair grew all over his upper body, protecting him from exposure. A ship sighted Serrano in 1547, eventually he returned to Spain. He became something of a novelty, a freak, in the courts of northern Europe, where he still wqore his hair long, as proof of his hardships. A Germen Prince gave him a pension. |
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