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Quiz about RealLife Survivors
Quiz about RealLife Survivors

Real-Life Survivors Trivia Quiz


No cameras, no prizes. It's a matter of life or death for these castaways, maroons and lost souls.

A multiple-choice quiz by quogequox. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
quogequox
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
198,563
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
865
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Daniel Defoe's classic novel "Robinson Crusoe" was released in 1719. Ten years earlier the man who inspired the tale had been rescued from the tiny island of Mas-a-Tierra in the Pacific Ocean. He had stayed alone on this island for four and a half years. What was this man's name? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. On January 24 1972 Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi was discovered in the jungles of a Pacific Ocean island. He had lived hiding from the enemy in a cave since American forces invaded in 1944. Originally one of a group of ten Japanese soldiers, Yokoi and the others had split up when they realized no one area would provide them with enough food to survive. Which Pacific island had Sergeant Yokoi survived on for 28 years? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. In 1991 young Australian traveler James Scott found himself stranded in the Himalayan mountains when he was caught by the snows of the Nepalese winter. For 43 days he lived in a cave waiting for the search party. With him he had only one form of nutrition, do you know what it was? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. In 1823 a mountain man named Hugh Glass was injured while on an expedition led by Major Andrew Henry into the Rocky Mountains. Clearly at death's door the expedition waited patiently for him to die, however he refused to do so. Deep in hostile Arikaras territory, the major was keen to move on. He assigned two men to stay with Hugh until he had passed on. Glass refused to die and the two men, eventually decided to leave him and return to safety. They took with them Glass's pistols and personal items, to prove his death. Alone and unarmed Hugh Glass still refused to die, and now he was driven by revenge against those who had deserted him. Glass crawled and walked 350 miles to Fort Kiowa living off of berries and roots. What caused Hugh Glass's terrible injuries? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. A Lockheed Electra is struck by lightning flying over the jungles of Peru. Of the ninety-two passengers only seventeen-year-old Juliane Koepcke survives. She finds herself lying on the forest's floor still strapped to her seat. Juliane remembers some advice her father gave her about being lost in the forest. This advice saves her life. What was it? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The Old Christians Club rugby team was on its way to a match when the plane they had chartered crashed into mountains. Seventy days later the survivors of the crash were rescued after two of their number succeeded in trekking out of the mountains to find help.
The survivors had resorted to cannibalism to live through the ordeal. The story of their ordeal became a best selling novel and successful film. What mountain range did the plane crash in?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. One of the most famous acts of mutiny in history led to a remarkable feat of survival. Captain Bligh and his 17 loyal followers were thrown off the Bounty and set adrift in a small boat that sat only inches above the water. With rations limited to an ounce of bread each day Bligh took 47 days to cover 3600 miles of open water. He lost only one crewman, killed during a skirmish with natives. Where did Bligh guide his small boat? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. A Dutch ship runs aground on reefs off the west coast of Australia in 1629 leading to one of the bloodiest events in Australian history. The ship's captain and most of his officers leave the survivors and head north for Java. In the absence of the officers, Jeronimus Cornelisz takes control and begins a bloody reign of terror. Keeping a number of female passengers as concubines, Jeronimus and his men murder many of the survivors. Others die of thirst when fresh water runs out. Three months later when rescuers arrive 200 of the 300 castaways are dead. What is the name of the ship involved in this bloody incident? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. In 1935 a French author crashed into the Sahara desert. He survived in the heat of the desert along with a companion for five days with only a pint of white wine, a few grapes and an orange. Which French author found himself in this predicament? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. After spending over 300 days locked in the frozen embrace of an Antarctic ice floe, the ship Endurance succumbed to the crushing pressure and slid under the ice. Her crew, lead by Ernest Shackleton, found themselves caught on a drifting ice floe. Using the Endurance's lifeboats they set sail for solid ground and on April 12 1915 the crew landed upon the desolate shores of Elephant Island, the first land they had touched for sixteen months. They could not stay on the island indefinitely, however, and Shackleton set out to find aid for his men. Which island did Shackleton set out to reach? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Daniel Defoe's classic novel "Robinson Crusoe" was released in 1719. Ten years earlier the man who inspired the tale had been rescued from the tiny island of Mas-a-Tierra in the Pacific Ocean. He had stayed alone on this island for four and a half years. What was this man's name?

Answer: Alexander Selkirk

Selkirk had actually become marooned by choice. As sail master on the ship Cinque Ports he had come into conflict with the ship's captain over the condition of the ship. In a heated argument he declared he would rather be set ashore than go down with the ship. Glad to be rid of a troublesome subordinate Captain Stradling obliged Selkirk, setting him ashore with a sea chest containing his personal belongings. Selkirk was fortunate in that the island he had been nearest to when he made his demand was so hospitable. Many years earlier Jesuits had placed livestock on the island in the form of goats. They had even released cats onto the island in an attempt to kill the rats, which invariably fled visiting ships.
Selkirk was able to survive on shellfish, turtle, sea lions and goats. The island was also home to numerous trees suitable to construct shelter and by the time of his rescue Selkirk had not only built himself a small shelter but also a separate hut used as a kitchen and smokehouse.
Little is known of Selkirk's later life. It is believed he returned to sea and eventually died off the coast of Africa in 1723. In this respect he survived his former crewmates on the Cinque Ports which did indeed sink, taking with it most of its crew.
The island of Mas-a-Tierra was renamed Isle of Robinson Crusoe while an island some distance west on which he never set foot was named in Selkirk's honour.
2. On January 24 1972 Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi was discovered in the jungles of a Pacific Ocean island. He had lived hiding from the enemy in a cave since American forces invaded in 1944. Originally one of a group of ten Japanese soldiers, Yokoi and the others had split up when they realized no one area would provide them with enough food to survive. Which Pacific island had Sergeant Yokoi survived on for 28 years?

Answer: Guam

Yokoi had lived in a cave lit by a coconut oil lamp. At night he would emerge to search for wild nuts and fruits to add to his diet of pigeons, snails and rats. Yokoi was hailed a hero on his return to Japan. He was showered with gifts, job offers, even marriage proposals. Though glad of the improvements he saw in Japanese society, especially the reduction in poverty, Yokoi was not completely enamored with modern society. "The glories of nature that I used to know have all disappeared.

Instead up in the sky we have this thing called smog. On earth, cars are killing people faster than war.

The jungle of Guam may be the most peaceful place there is." Eventually Yokoi married an "old-fashioned" girl Mihoko Hatashin. They honeymooned in Guam!
3. In 1991 young Australian traveler James Scott found himself stranded in the Himalayan mountains when he was caught by the snows of the Nepalese winter. For 43 days he lived in a cave waiting for the search party. With him he had only one form of nutrition, do you know what it was?

Answer: Two chocolate bars

James Scott returned to Australia and a media storm. He obtained a media agent and gained exclusive deals for his story. It was said by rival media networks he had been offered two million dollars to name the brand of chocolate bar he had eaten during his ordeal. In reality Scott had eaten the chocolate by the second day he was stranded.
4. In 1823 a mountain man named Hugh Glass was injured while on an expedition led by Major Andrew Henry into the Rocky Mountains. Clearly at death's door the expedition waited patiently for him to die, however he refused to do so. Deep in hostile Arikaras territory, the major was keen to move on. He assigned two men to stay with Hugh until he had passed on. Glass refused to die and the two men, eventually decided to leave him and return to safety. They took with them Glass's pistols and personal items, to prove his death. Alone and unarmed Hugh Glass still refused to die, and now he was driven by revenge against those who had deserted him. Glass crawled and walked 350 miles to Fort Kiowa living off of berries and roots. What caused Hugh Glass's terrible injuries?

Answer: Grizzly bear

Fredrick Ruxton in his book "Life in the Far West", written in the 1840's, described Hugh Glass's bear attack: "Hugh struggled manfully, plunging his knife over and over into the beast, which ferocious with pain, tore with tooth and claw the body of the wretched victim, actually baring the ribs of flesh and exposing the very bones. Weak from the loss of blood, and blinded with blood from his lacerated head, Glass dropped his knife and sank down insensible and apparently dead." At one point during his journey to Fort Kiowa, Glass was forced to squabble over a bison carcass with wolves. Eventually Hugh Glass made it to Fort Kiowa, but his journey was not over.

At the fort he found the target of his vengeance gone. A 300-mile boat trip upstream ensued, followed by another 500 miles on foot, Glass arrived at Fort Henry on New Year's Eve, where he found the younger of the two men who deserted him. Seeing the remorse in the young man's eyes Glass merely scolded him.

A Reverend Clarke witnessed the encounter and offered his version of Hugh Glass' speech "Go, my boy. I leave you to the punishment of your own conscience and your God. If they can forgive you then be happy - I have nothing to say to you - but don't forget hereafter that truth and fidelity are too valuable to be trifled with."
5. A Lockheed Electra is struck by lightning flying over the jungles of Peru. Of the ninety-two passengers only seventeen-year-old Juliane Koepcke survives. She finds herself lying on the forest's floor still strapped to her seat. Juliane remembers some advice her father gave her about being lost in the forest. This advice saves her life. What was it?

Answer: Find running water and follow it.

Juliane headed downhill from the crash site until she found a stream. She followed the stream until it joined with a wider river. Recalling other advice her parents gave her, beware the small animals not the big ones, Juliane spent days waving a stick in the jungle ahead of her wary of spiders and snakes.

After ten days she stumbled upon a hut and collapsed. When Indian hunters found her the following day, they fed her pulped fruit, sugar and salt. They also poured gasoline onto her causing larvae and worms to crawl out from under her skin "I counted thirty-five worms that came out of my arms alone."
6. The Old Christians Club rugby team was on its way to a match when the plane they had chartered crashed into mountains. Seventy days later the survivors of the crash were rescued after two of their number succeeded in trekking out of the mountains to find help. The survivors had resorted to cannibalism to live through the ordeal. The story of their ordeal became a best selling novel and successful film. What mountain range did the plane crash in?

Answer: Andes

At first the survivors made no mention of their cannibalism saying instead that they had survived by eating fish from a lake and roots dug up from beneath the snow. When photographs of the crash site were released showing a human leg stripped of flesh the truth came out. Roberto Canessa a medical student had advised the idea of cannibalism.

He compared the process to that of an organ transplant, the deceased being used to save another life. After the fact many of the survivors related their experiences in a religious light, "if Jesus in the last supper, offered his body and blood to all disciples, he was giving us to understand that we must do the same." "We did things that in other circumstances could seem to be morbid or macabre.

They were unspeakable things that could never be told. Yet what we did was really Christian. We went right back to the very source of Christianity." Author Piers Paul Read was brought in to chronicle the story and he produced the international bestseller "Alive!".
7. One of the most famous acts of mutiny in history led to a remarkable feat of survival. Captain Bligh and his 17 loyal followers were thrown off the Bounty and set adrift in a small boat that sat only inches above the water. With rations limited to an ounce of bread each day Bligh took 47 days to cover 3600 miles of open water. He lost only one crewman, killed during a skirmish with natives. Where did Bligh guide his small boat?

Answer: Batavia

While Bligh's men survived, the mutineers were not so fortunate. Seventeen of their number returned to Tahiti where the Royal Navy caught up with them. Eight other mutineers led a group of men and women on from Tahiti to the uncharted Pitcairn Island. Eighteen years later an American ship arrived at Pitcairn to discover only one surviving male.

The others had succumbed to illness and murder.
8. A Dutch ship runs aground on reefs off the west coast of Australia in 1629 leading to one of the bloodiest events in Australian history. The ship's captain and most of his officers leave the survivors and head north for Java. In the absence of the officers, Jeronimus Cornelisz takes control and begins a bloody reign of terror. Keeping a number of female passengers as concubines, Jeronimus and his men murder many of the survivors. Others die of thirst when fresh water runs out. Three months later when rescuers arrive 200 of the 300 castaways are dead. What is the name of the ship involved in this bloody incident?

Answer: Batavia

These events took place on a group of islands called the Abrolhos archipelago. Of the men responsible for the bloodshed, seven were hanged on the islands, the ringleader Cornelisz had both hands chopped off first. Two others were left marooned. The remainder were sent back to Java where it is said they learnt to envy the fate of their dead companions.
The captain of the Batavia, Francisco Pelsaert was held responsible for the fate of the ship he was stripped of his commission, his wages and possessions were confiscated. He died less than a year later in September 1630.
9. In 1935 a French author crashed into the Sahara desert. He survived in the heat of the desert along with a companion for five days with only a pint of white wine, a few grapes and an orange. Which French author found himself in this predicament?

Answer: Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The author of "The Little Prince" spent his life writing and flying. He and his mechanic Prevot crashed into the Sahara as they attempted to break the record of 98 hours and 52 minutes for the Paris-Saigon flight. They survived for five days, drinking the condensation that formed on a parachute they had stretched out from the wreckage of his plane. At one point Saint-Exupery returned from searching for water to find his mechanic talking to a pair of Bedouin, he approached in jubilation only to discover he was hallucinating.
Saint-Exupery spent much of his flying life transporting mail. In World War II, however, he flew in a reconnaissance squadron. In 1944, on his final mission, he took off in a Lockheed Lightning and was never seen again.
In 1998 a fisherman found Saint-Exupery's bracelet, and in 2000 the wreck of his plane was found off the coast of Marseille.
10. After spending over 300 days locked in the frozen embrace of an Antarctic ice floe, the ship Endurance succumbed to the crushing pressure and slid under the ice. Her crew, lead by Ernest Shackleton, found themselves caught on a drifting ice floe. Using the Endurance's lifeboats they set sail for solid ground and on April 12 1915 the crew landed upon the desolate shores of Elephant Island, the first land they had touched for sixteen months. They could not stay on the island indefinitely, however, and Shackleton set out to find aid for his men. Which island did Shackleton set out to reach?

Answer: South Georgia Island

South Georgia was some 800 miles away and Shackleton was aware of a whaling station on the island. The journey took two weeks through blizzards and violent seas. Upon reaching the island, however, they were forced to land on the opposite side to where the the Stromness whaling station was situated and Shackleton and his men were forced to cross seventeen miles of the island's mountains.

They endured the night crossing with no sleeping bags or tents, suffering the island's storms at heights of up to 4000 feet. Shackleton was forced to retreat to the Falkland Islands and then Punta Arenas on the mainland before finding the funds and ship with which to rescue his men. On August 30th the steamer Yelcho arrived at Elephant Island to rescue the men 105 days after they had landed.
Source: Author quogequox

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