Many people have watched the movie Mutiny on the Bounty and know about Captain William Bligh's phenomenal voyage of 3,618 nautical miles for 47 days in a 23 foot long open boat. All eighteen survivors reached land in the Dutch East Indies.
An equally extraordinary voyage occurred in the summer of 1866, when the clipper ship Hornet burned in the Pacific and its crew of thirty one abandoned ship. A long boat 21 feet long and two quarter boats carried the sailors, who were under the command of Captain Josiah Mitchell. Fifteen men, including the captain--all in the long boat--survived after a voyage of 4,000 nautical miles for 43 days. The quarter boats and their crews were lost at sea.
The sinking of the Hornet occurred on May 3, 1866 about 1,300 miles west of the Galapagos Islands. Each of the boats when launched carried food and water for 10 days. The sailors saved rain water, killed a few sea birds and fish, which were then added to their rations. Yet all fifteen survivors were starving when they reached shore in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) on June 15.
For those who wish to know more, a Google search of Mark Twain's autobiography, volume one, page 127, will describe the event in detail. Pages can be scrolled forward or back, and magnified for better viewing. It is part of Twain's essay: My Debut as a Literary Person. Additionally, click on http://twaintimes.net/popup/hornet.html for a short one page summary of the reporter's scoop.
There is a good book about this called Last Voyage of the Hornet by Kristin Krause.
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