[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What 5 things? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/21/2012 3:39:09 PM EDT
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My daughter came home and asked me this question because apparently it's an assignment she had in school. I don't know if something similar has been discussed here before but it seems pretty interesting topic. No BOB's, BOV's. or BOL's. No zombies, commies or terrorists. Just straight up basic survival.
If you knew you were going to placed on a small deserted island for a period of one year and were told you could bring 5 things, what would you bring? Rules: You do not know what island or what part of the world it is in. You do not know what wildlife or vegetation exists on the island but assume there will be enough natural resources available to keep you alive if you know how to harvest it and prepare it. The cloths on your back do not count but you will not be giving any extra garments or excessive layering unless you make that part of your 5 items. No stupid\silly answers like a "year supply of food and water" or "a boat or helicopter so I can leave". No satellite phones, generators, magic wishes, fairy godmothers, Chuck Norris, etc. Off the top of my head, my list would be... 1. Knife - I'm thinking something with a 5-7" fixed blade 2. Fire starter - I'm thinking a FireSteel 3. Canteen - something to put and drink cleaned water in\from 4. Pot - Boiling water, cooking 5. Survival manual - Help me with the things I don't know, can't remember and just something to read to help with the boredom What about you? |
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1. Knife––A big, 1/4" thick Bowie style, with a sharpening stone in the sheath. Stainless (not reccomended for a knife that big, but in this enironment...neccessary)
2. Axe 3. Firesteel 4. Swim fins 5. table-sized spool of paracord ETA: Removed water distillation kit, added axe |
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Knife - ESEE 4 or 5
Cooking pot - Stainless, hopefully you will have fresh water. Swim Fins and Mask - Hopefully they will consider this one item. Fire Steel 1000 ft paracord roll However, I do like the thought of the following: canteen Hawaiian sling spear gun good tarp and survival blanket of course a certain band camp girl |
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1) A Kabar Cutlass machete with a sharpening stone on the sheath
2) A large roll of clear VisQueen 3) A pressure cooker with 2 lids - 1 normal lid and 1 rigged with copper tubing to act as a still 4) A 1200 foot roll of OD paracord 5) A 1 pound propane torch with striker [All things I have in my possession (except the 2nd lid for the pressure cooker)] |
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Heavy weight brown/silver tarp.
Second on the Kabar cutlass. stainless pot spool of Paracord Fire starter I think this would pass the No excessive layering part: lightweight Poly-Pro base layer top and bottoms basket ball shorts and long sleeve T shirt. Soft shell jacket and rain pants. mid height hiking boots...smart wool wader socks. |
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Quoted:
1. knife 2. steel water bottle 3. fire kit 4. para cord 5. Alyson Hannigan Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile WINNER!!! I like the above but would change out the bottle. Quality 6" knife stainless stew pot that holds atleast 2 gallons of liquid 1/2" X 12" firesteel Full spool of Paracord in a very bright color Alyson Hannigan |
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1. knife, 5" fixed blade
2. tarp, the biggest blue one there is (shelter, clothing, carrying stuff, hammock, rainwater catch) 3. nylon rope, the big 1000' bundle (rigging shelter, hammock, pulling it apart for netting and fishing line, and the other things one uses rope for) 4. pot, 20 quart, stainless steel for sterilizing water and cooking food 5. army blanket |
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One of the most mind leveling studies I've ever done was on the history of sailors stranded on deserted islands. I'll put this very plainly. About every island in the world that can sustain life, has people on it. The Robinson Curuso factor has really a quite miserable survival rate.
To answer your question, probably five goats or take a chance cows. Goats were what sailors use to put on islands for that contingency, till sailors could be picked up. It was no accident old Robinson had animals on his boat. About all that other stuff, you can fabricate given time and time is all you have on a island for a year and none of that gear is going to prevent scurvy. The one item that was in every rescue station, you excluded from your list, food. Without it, you better wish for a great signally tool, rescue, and blow off that year. Tj |
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Quoted:
One of the most mind leveling studies I've ever done was on the history of sailors stranded on deserted islands. I'll put this very plainly. About every island in the world that can sustain life, has people on it. The Robinson Curuso factor has really a quite miserable survival rate. To answer your question, probably five goats or take a chance cows. Goats were what sailors use to put on islands for that contingency, till sailors could be picked up. It was no accident old Robinson had animals on his boat. About all that other stuff, you can fabricate given time and time is all you have on a island for a year and none of that gear is going to prevent scurvy. The one item that was in every rescue station, you excluded from your list, food. Without it, you better wish for a great signally tool, rescue, and blow off that year. Tj Was hoping for oranges on the island. |
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The worst thing about these types of assignments is that what they are really looking for is something like this.
1. Courage 2. Ingenuity 3. Persistence 4. Compassion 5. Inner Peace They are trying to "lead" the child to "discover" something about their values.... They don't really care about "survival gear". It's a philosophical exercise. |
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1. Big survival knife with sharpening stone (Rambo/Bowie Big)
2. Fire Steel 3. Cast Iron Camp Style Dutch Oven 4. Large Vinyl Tarp 5. Huge roll of paracord EDIT - I posed before reading the replies and glad to see most of us think about the same. To TJ's point, a pair of rabbits (one male one female might be a wise addition too  ) I am just not sure which of the two items above I would give up to add rabbits but the ocean should provide.
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Quoted:
... There is always that one guy... 
Seriously, you way over analyzed this. Obviously this is not a realistic scenario. I mean really who's going to voluntarily go to a deserted island for 12 months with no supplies? 
The main point was simply this... identify the 5 most important and useful survival items you could have other then food and water. |
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I think I'd put a big container of multivitamins on the list to help ensure the island diet doesn't unbalance things.
As for the hot chick additions, while that might be fun for day 1 of 365, do you really want to deal with them day 2 and on when they are whining about not having makeup, clean clothes, or even shampoo? |
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1. Knife. Personally, given the circumstance of it being a tropical island, I think I would get more mileage from a Leatherman Charge than I would a fixed-blade survival knife. The advantages of having a multi-tool speaks for itself. I'm sure that it would be invaluable for working on anything I find washed up on the shore.
2. Fishing rod/reel combo with tackle (if the tackle is permitted to be included in this as a single unit and counted as such). Obvious reasons. 3. A roll of heavy-duty poly tarp - not the black stuff, but the semi-translucent. Water stills, shelters, etc. 4. Some paracord. A roll will do. 5. Estwing stainless campers axe. I was mixed about choosing this vs a machete, it being a tropical island and all, but I think having the hatchet would serve me well for busting open coconuts as well as driving stakes into the ground and chopping firewood. Its a heavier-duty tool than a machete in my opinion, and its not like I'd be bushwhacking my sorry ass through a jungle somewhere. |
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Shelter, food, water, clothing. What tools will provide these needs? What are the more immediate/difficult needs to fulfill with natural substances?
1 Gransfors small forest axe 2 magnisum block style ferrocerium fire kit 3 large dutch oven 4 large tarp. Tinned canvas or heavy nylon. The poly pro ones are too fragile, imo. A tipi would be nice, but probably out of bounds of intent of discussion. 5 para cord would be nice but if you wind up on a cold island you're gonna be screwed for not having a sleeping bag or heavy wool blanket. Cordage is not that hard to make so I'm going with the 8 pt Hudson's Bay. The most important thing is knowlege and skill. Given a decent start against winter I could get by with none of the above, provided the natural resorces exist. (flint, hard woods, assorted plants, animals, etc etc). It does make things exponentially more difficult, though. TJ had valid points but the scenario stated that natural resources, essential to life, would exist on our fantasy island. |
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Knife
Firesteel Deck of cards (it's gonna get really fucking boring...) My Kahr P9 carry gun 1 round of 9mm just in case it gets TOO fucking boring... 
Alternately: Knife Firesteel GPS to figure out where I am Sattelite phone to tell someone where I am A strobe for when the helicopter or boat comes to pick me up 
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diving mask...........................................................................for diving for food, crabs, lobster, clams, make a spear from a tree for fish
kukri, with sharpening stone in sheath................................cutting trees, cleaning fish, building shelter spool 550 cord......................................................................building shelter, fishing line, snares for rabbits, etc pot..........................................................................................cooking food, boiling water to drink..... probably find plastic bottles on the beach to store water in. huge ferro rod........................................................................easy fire starting..... basically have layers on. definately need a idea of where you will be going. after all, your not going to accidently crash on a tropical beach wearing a parka, or a alaskan island wearing shorts and hawaiian shirt. |
| I would love to see a feature-length movie done with all of the "survival stars" plopped down on one island for a year. Bear Grylls, Les Stroud, Ruth England and Mykel Hawke, Dave Canterbury, and Cody Lundin - all with the same set of rules as in the OP. They would get no support from the camera crew, no special treatments, and they would all have to stay for a one year. It would be like a celebrity death match. |
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Quoted:
I would love to see a feature-length movie done with all of the "survival stars" plopped down on one island for a year. Bear Grylls, Les Stroud, Ruth England and Mykel Hawke, Dave Canterbury, and Cody Lundin - all with the same set of rules as in the OP. They would get no support from the camera crew, no special treatments, and they would all have to stay for a one year. It would be like a celebrity death match. Episode for month 9: Ruth gives birth. Does the baby drink its own piss or does it drink milk out of a bag? |
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Quoted:
I would love to see a feature-length movie done with all of the "survival stars" plopped down on one island for a year. Bear Grylls, Les Stroud, Ruth England and Mykel Hawke, Dave Canterbury, and Cody Lundin - all with the same set of rules as in the OP. They would get no support from the camera crew, no special treatments, and they would all have to stay for a one year. It would be like a celebrity death match. My money would be on John McPherson, hands down. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
... There is always that one guy...
Seriously, you way over analyzed this. Obviously this is not a realistic scenario. I mean really who's going to voluntarily go to a deserted island for 12 months with no supplies?
The main point was simply this... identify the 5 most important and useful survival items you could have other then food and water. I apologize, but you actually picked a scenario many of us who boat or fly prepare for. Might as well have included Mary Ann and Ginger waiting on us on the beach with a coconut alcoholic beverage and Gilligan to entertain us. I'll give you an example, one of the ways shipwrecked sailors stayed alive as long as they did was they had guns in shipwreck stations (along with food, water, and medical supplies). They'd use the guns to shoot birds. Reality is more akin to "Clipperton Island". This is one of the deserted tropical islands that actually has water. Its classic and has a nice lagoon in the center. At its peak, Clipperton had over 100 residents. It was a thriving community until the Mexican revolution in 1914 cut off its twice a month resupply. By 1915, most of its population was dead from scurvy. The governor which turned down a US ship offer to evacuate the island, died in a canoe during a desperate attempt to catch a boat to perform a rescue. A handful of people actually manged to live until 1917 when the last male went crazy raping and killing what women were left and was killed in return. 15, most of them children survived, picked up by the USS Yorktown that same year. These survivors survived from sporadic boat supplies in 1914, a US resupply after the massive scurvy kill off that killed most of the population (they called an outbreak like it was a caught disease) in 1915, then as the ohters died, they took their stores. The people started dying of scurvy about mid year 1914. The governor continued to hope Mexico would come to his aid, not forget him. That was in addition to coconuts, fishing, and WHAT IS NOT MENTIONED in our thread, eating the birds on the island. That's right, a gun is a critical piece of survival gear even on a deserted island. Though not mentioned one can assume the people also had rudimentary gardens at one time as well as pigs a staple on tropical islands. Anyway, 100 were on the island and only 15 came off, the majority dead the first year due to scurvy and you can't find an island in the world more Gilligan than this one. Most are barren rocks or beaches of sand with no water and no life other than fish and birds, maybe a lizard. This island had the best you can hope for, fresh water, coconut palms, fish, and birds. Well it also has a few rats left over from the ship visiting days. There is good news. There's water on this island. That means there's periodic visitation by people. There's an old lighthouse and the armaments of a super secret WWII US radar building, a thriving reef, and though no scheduled visitations this attracts occasional visitors so you could be rescued if you were so lucky to end up on the island paradise. Try to live there a year with no food, you're a dead man and this is one of the good deserted islands. Hard for inland people to think of, but this is actually real survival stuff. Tj |
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Sucks that I cant have what would most likely be needed and included in emergency rafts such as a satellite beacon, flares, heliograph, etc. But for the stereotipical island that usually comes along with a question like this:
1)Big knife, about 9" blade. 2)Firesteel 3)550 Paracord 4)steel pot 5)Quality Jacket oh right! throw Jennifer Lawrence in there as well!
FerFAL |
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All equally as important IMO.
1. Axe, must be medium bladed (a balance between chopping and splitting) and have a wooden handle (so you can make a new one when necessary). As much as I love my Gerber and Fiskars, they'd be staying home for that reason. 2. Knife, the bigger the better to an extent. Just a good one. 3. Canvas or something of the sort, and lots of it. Given we don't know conditions, this gives the opportunity to add more insulation, and will be much more useful than tarp when its time to make a new pair of clothes. 4. Paracord, as much as allowable. Can make fishing line with the strands, nets, baskets, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc 5. Steel pot. Id kick any one of these out if it meant I could take my SO in its place. Companionship should not be taken for granted, even if it weren't your SO, just someone to talk to and work with would make the biggest difference to me. The only assumption I've made about my island is that I could find rocks and trees. If theres no trees then Im entirely fucked, I'd probably just off myself with the axe. I don't know what Id do without fire, and Id be relying on that to make fire in the first place.. Im not sure I could survive without fire, period. . . Rocks for sharpening tools, possible sparker for fire, weapon, shelter, fire ring (heat source) etc. |
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Seriously?
1) big spool of strong monofilament fish line, make fish net, fish traditionally, use in mulitple wraps like you would paracord 2) fire steel 3) big stainless steel cooking pot 4) big tarp 5) good knife Not so seriously 1) Mary Ann 2) Ginger 3) What's left of the S.S. Minnow 4) Moonshine still 5) A shipping container full of toilet paper |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
... There is always that one guy...
Seriously, you way over analyzed this. Obviously this is not a realistic scenario. I mean really who's going to voluntarily go to a deserted island for 12 months with no supplies?
The main point was simply this... identify the 5 most important and useful survival items you could have other then food and water. I apologize, but you actually picked a scenario many of us who boat or fly prepare for. Might as well have included Mary Ann and Ginger waiting on us on the beach with a coconut alcoholic beverage and Gilligan to entertain us. I'll give you an example, one of the ways shipwrecked sailors stayed alive as long as they did was they had guns in shipwreck stations (along with food, water, and medical supplies). They'd use the guns to shoot birds. Reality is more akin to "Clipperton Island". This is one of the deserted tropical islands that actually has water. Its classic and has a nice lagoon in the center. At its peak, Clipperton had over 100 residents. It was a thriving community until the Mexican revolution in 1914 cut off its twice a month resupply. By 1915, most of its population was dead from scurvy. The governor which turned down a US ship offer to evacuate the island, died in a canoe during a desperate attempt to catch a boat to perform a rescue. A handful of people actually manged to live until 1917 when the last male went crazy raping and killing what women were left and was killed in return. 15, most of them children survived, picked up by the USS Yorktown that same year. These survivors survived from sporadic boat supplies in 1914, a US resupply after the massive scurvy kill off that killed most of the population (they called an outbreak like it was a caught disease) in 1915, then as the ohters died, they took their stores. The people started dying of scurvy about mid year 1914. The governor continued to hope Mexico would come to his aid, not forget him. That was in addition to coconuts, fishing, and WHAT IS NOT MENTIONED in our thread, eating the birds on the island. That's right, a gun is a critical piece of survival gear even on a deserted island. Though not mentioned one can assume the people also had rudimentary gardens at one time as well as pigs a staple on tropical islands. Anyway, 100 were on the island and only 15 came off, the majority dead the first year due to scurvy and you can't find an island in the world more Gilligan than this one. Most are barren rocks or beaches of sand with no water and no life other than fish and birds, maybe a lizard. This island had the best you can hope for, fresh water, coconut palms, fish, and birds. Well it also has a few rats left over from the ship visiting days. There is good news. There's water on this island. That means there's periodic visitation by people. There's an old lighthouse and the armaments of a super secret WWII US radar building, a thriving reef, and though no scheduled visitations this attracts occasional visitors so you could be rescued if you were so lucky to end up on the island paradise. Try to live there a year with no food, you're a dead man and this is one of the good deserted islands. Hard for inland people to think of, but this is actually real survival stuff. Tj What about northern islands (pine trees) or islands with citrus fruit? Besides, I think you're missing the point of the exercise. Let's say you'll be dropped into remote wilderness. What five things? |