Bombar, Allen

Alain Bombar is the first person in the world who sailed the Atlantic Ocean in an inflatable rubber boat, modeled on the rescue craft of his time, equipped with only a standard set for shipwrecked ^[1] and an untouchable stock of products, the safety of which was officially certified at the end of the experiment.

“Victims of the legendary shipwrecks who died prematurely, I know: it was not the sea that killed you, it was not hunger that killed you, it was not thirst that killed you! Swinging on the waves to the plaintive cries of seagulls, you died of fear , ”he said in the early 1950s. ^[2] He believed that a person was quite able to endure solitary transoceanic swimming without food, and decided to prove it personally.

Bombar already had sailing experience - from Monaco to about. Menorca (May 25 - June 11), from Tangier to Casablanca (August 13 - 20), and from Casablanca to Las Palmas (August 24 - September 3).

Initially, Alain planned to cross the Atlantic with the yachtsman Jack Palmer (Herbert Muir-Palmer, an Englishman, a Panamanian citizen) - a friend and fellow sailor of Monaco, but as a result he sailed alone - Palmer did not appear at the appointed time for the ceremonial departure. On the morning of October 19, 1952, Allen, seeing his newborn daughter, began his solo voyage across the Atlantic, and sailed on a 4.5-meter inflatable boat called the Heretic . In his book, Bombard writes that the reason for choosing such a name for the boat was that so many people regarded it as “heretical” to his claims, “that a person can live by the seafood and drink salt water”, as well as what can be achieved a certain point on an “unmanaged” boat.

Quote from Bombard's book:

I spent the whole Friday learning about these tricks on August 15th. There were few oncoming ships. Fortunately, Mr. Clemens's fishing tackle turned out to be excellent, and I caught several large castanoles or, as they are also called, “Brahma paradise”. I now have water and food. And in abundance. It’s only a pity that Jack is not with me. He lost his courage just when the most crucial moment came. After all, now I am a real shipwrecked man! Well, from now on, every day I will measure my blood pressure and count the pulse. Jack did not come because he lacked the courage.

During the voyage, Alain Bombard survived fishing, using fish as food and as a source of fresh water. A previously developed and personally designed hand press, he squeezed juice - fresh water from fish. In small quantities, he drank seawater, which proved to the world that in small doses, salty ocean water can still be drunk, alternating it with fresh. Over the 65 days of the transition, Alain Bombar lost more than 25 kilograms of own weight due to dehydration.

After Travel

In the second half of the 1950s. Bombard participated in the development of one of the designs of the inflatable liferaft, which was supposed to equip all French ships. On October 3, 1958, Bombard-led trials of this raft in severe weather conditions in the wide and deep river Ethel near the city ​​of the same name ( Morbian Department) ended tragically: nine people died - four test participants and five sailors of a rescue ship. As a result, Bombar survived a protracted depression until an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Then, however, entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Ricard invited Bombard to work at his private oceanographic institute on the Cote d'Azur, on the island of Ambier near the city of Sis-Fur-les-Plages . In 1967-1985 Bombar headed the laboratory of marine biology at this institute.

Since 1975, Bombard has served as environmental adviser to the Socialist Party of France . In 1979-1985 Bombard was a deputy from the canton of Sis-Fours-les-Plages in the general council of the Var department . In 1981, for a month (from May 22 to June 23), Bombard held the post of Secretary of State at the French Ministry of Environmental Protection, in the first government of Pierre Morois . During the reorganization of the government in June, it was not included in its composition amid disagreements on the issue of parfors hunting , which Bombar wanted to ban. From 1981 to 1994 Bombar was a member of the European Parliament .

The journey of Alain Bombar is mentioned in the story of Victor Dragunsky “ Friend of childhood ” (1972). The protagonist of this story, Denis Korablev, reflecting on his future profession, decided that " it would be nice to become a brave traveler like Alain Bombar and cross all the oceans on a fragile shuttle, eating only raw fish ." Subsequently, he abandoned this idea:

True, this Bombar, after his journey, lost twenty-five kilograms, and I only weighed twenty-six, so it turned out that if I also swim like him, then I will have absolutely nowhere to lose weight, I will weigh only one at the end of the trip kilo. What if I don’t catch one fish or another somewhere and lose a little more weight? Then I probably just melt in the air like smoke, that's all.

• Alain Bombar. Overboard of his own free will
• Kir Bulychev "Following the example of the Bombar"
• Yaroslav Korobatov. Get water from fish, and vitamins from sock (Russian) . Komsomolskaya Pravda (August 12, 2015). Date of treatment August 13, 2015.