Alone in the Ocean: A Story of Escape

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This story is often called one of the most impressive and risky adventures of the 20th century. Oceanographer Slava Kurilov dreamed of seeing the world, but the country wouldn’t let him leave beyond its borders. Then, on December 13, 1974, he took a desperate step: he jumped from the cruise ship “Soviet Union” into open sea near the Philippines. In three days he swam about 100 kilometers and reached the island of Siargao, surviving miraculously.

He was viewed in two ways— as a lawbreaker because he escaped, and as a hero because he managed to break through the “iron curtain” and prove to himself and others what a person is capable of.

People wrote about the book and its hero like this:

“In some sense he embodied both the reader of Gumilyov and his hero, daring to challenge fate… The Russian intelligentsia must not forget its heroes: there aren’t so many of them. Whoever reads this book will never forget the pages where Slava Kurilov, covered in glowing microorganisms during three days and three nights of lonely floating, glides through the night of the Pacific, raising heaps of fire with every movement; here is the image of the eternal rebel!” — Vasily Aksyonov.

“He was able to overcome fear like no one else. I’m still amazed by his words: “The struggle for survival could have distracted me a lot from observing. I wanted to see and understand everything that had always been hidden from the human eye and attention. I lost my composure only for a short time.”” — Elena Gendel’eva-Kurilova.

“Highly recommended: it reads in one breath, and it’s hard to believe this really happened and that a person is capable of such a thing at all.” — Alex Exler.

Recorded by the production center “Vimbo.” © “Vimbo,” 2018. Producers: Vadim Buk, Mikhail Litvak.