Three weeks on,
the shipwreck survivors
were in the heart of the Desolate Region,
and in deep despair.
In the boat's log,
one of the survivors wrote,
"The violence of raving thirst
has no parallel in the catalogue of human calamities."
They had almost run out of rations,
and despite being experienced sailors,
failed to catch a single fish.
But there are pockets of richness in the South Pacific.
One was well known to the crew of the Essex
and would have been in their reach,
but for the prevailing winds.
Lying over 700 miles off the coast of South America
are the Galapagos Islands.
Unlike the open ocean,
the seas surrounding these 100 or so islands are bursting with life,
with many creatures you wouldn't expect to find in tropical seas,
like these sea lions.
Despite sitting on the equator,
the waters around the Galapagos are cooled
by currents flowing all the way from Antarctica.
It is this that allows the Galapagos to be home
to the world's only tropical penguin.
Tropical fish live here, too.
Thanks to the nutrients carried by the cool current,
there is an abundance of life.