A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

Sophie Elmhirst’s A Marriage at Sea (2025) is a work of narrative nonfiction that reconstructs the true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, a British couple who survived for 118 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean. In 1973, eight months into a voyage from England to New Zealand, their yacht was sunk by a sperm whale. With no radio to signal for help, the couple endured starvation, storms, and despair on a small inflatable life raft and dinghy. Drawing on extensive archival research and the Baileys’ memoirs and diaries, the book examines their ordeal as an intimate study of a partnership under extreme pressure, exploring themes of Collaboration as Key to Survival, Marriage as a Shared Commitment to a Purpose, and The Allure and Cost of Escape.

A Marriage at Sea is the debut book by Sophie Elmhirst, an acclaimed British long-form journalist known for her work in publications such as The Guardian Long Read and The Economist. The book situates the Baileys’ story within the broader historical context of the 1970s amateur ocean-cruising movement, which championed an ethos of romantic escape and radical self-reliance. Upon its 2024 publication in the United Kingdom, Elmhirst’s account was longlisted for the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and was named a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times and The Times.

This guide refers to the 2025 Riverhead Books hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of animal cruelty, animal death, emotional abuse, suicidal ideation, mental illness, pregnancy termination, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

On March 4, 1973, eight months into a voyage from England to New Zealand, Maralyn and Maurice Bailey were on their yacht, Auralyn, in the Pacific Ocean. As Maralyn woke Maurice, a violent jolt struck the boat. On deck, they found a 40-foot sperm whale thrashing and bleeding beside them. The whale soon vanished, but it left a large hole in the hull. Their attempts to pump out the rising water and plug the leak failed. Realizing the boat was sinking and having no radio to call for help, they quickly gathered essential supplies, including a life raft, a dinghy, water, food, and navigational tools. They abandoned the Auralyn and watched as it sank beneath the waves, with Maralyn taking photographs of its final moments.

The narrative flashes back to 1962 in Derby, England, where Maurice was a lonely and self-conscious printer. A difficult childhood, marked by illness and a strained relationship with his mother, had left him isolated from his family. He found escape in adventurous hobbies like sailing and rock climbing. A friend asked him to accompany a colleague, Maralyn, to a car rally. The first meeting was a disaster, but Maurice apologized with a letter and flowers. Maralyn, intrigued by his adventurous spirit, called him at work, and they began a relationship.

Maurice and Maralyn fell in love. He introduced her to his outdoor pursuits, and she proved a capable partner. When he proposed, he set conditions: no religious ceremony, no children, and freedom to continue his hobbies. Maralyn, who also desired an unconventional life, agreed to everything. They married in 1963 and settled into a suburban bungalow, but they soon grew restless. In 1966, Maralyn suggested they sell their house, build a yacht, and sail to New Zealand. Maurice embraced the idea of escaping his past.

For years, they planned their voyage, using sailor Eric Hiscock’s book Voyaging Under Sail as a guide. They moved to Southampton, lived frugally, and spent four years building their yacht, the Auralyn, while living aboard the unfinished vessel. Insisting on self-reliance and isolation, Maurice decided against installing a radio transmitter. They formed a close friendship with another couple, Colin and June Foskett, who became regular helpers and sailing companions. 

On June 28, 1972, they departed from England. They sailed down the coasts of Spain and Portugal, crossed the Atlantic, and spent months in the Caribbean before passing through the Panama Canal. On February 26, 1973, they left Panama for the Galápagos, beginning the fateful leg of their journey.

After the Auralyn sank in the Pacific Ocean, Maralyn methodically organized their salvaged supplies in the small inflatable life raft, while Maurice, in the dinghy, was crushed by guilt. Maralyn established a strict routine, rationing their meager food and water. Maurice calculated that they were too far north to drift to the Galápagos and suggested they row south. After four nights of exhausting effort yielded little progress, Maralyn took charge, rigging a makeshift sail on the dinghy to hopefully carry them into a shipping lane.

On their ninth day adrift, they spotted a ship, but their emergency flares were duds, and it passed without seeing them. Surrounded by marine life, they made the brutal decision to kill a turtle for food. When they discovered their fishhooks were missing, Maralyn ingeniously fashioned new ones from safety pins, establishing a new diet of raw fish and turtle meat. A whale peacefully approached and observed their raft before swimming away. 

Over the following weeks, they endured storms, collected foul-tasting rainwater, and suffered from saltwater sores. They saw a total of seven ships, but all their attempts to signal for help failed, leaving them devastated. To combat Maurice’s deepening despair, Maralyn invented games and began meticulously planning their next boat, Auralyn II, filling her diary with designs and menus for future dinner parties.

Their equipment began to fail. Both the life raft and the dinghy developed punctures that required constant pumping. After more than two months, their health deteriorated. Maurice fell gravely ill with a fever and a severe respiratory infection. During a massive storm, a giant wave capsized the dinghy and threw Maurice overboard, but Maralyn managed to haul him back into the raft. They learned to catch booby birds and sharks to supplement their diet. By the end of June, after 118 days adrift, Maurice was emaciated and lapsing in and out of consciousness. As he hallucinated, Maralyn shook him awake, shouting that she saw a ship.

On June 30, 1973, the Korean tuna fishing boat Wolmi 306, captained by Suh Chong-il, spotted the raft and investigated. The crew was shocked by the Baileys’ skeletal appearance and helped the weak couple aboard. They were cleaned, clothed, and given food and water. The ship’s engineer, Pae Sok-dong, treated Maurice’s severe sores. News of the rescue spread, and the story became an international sensation. The Wolmi was ordered to divert to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Baileys to receive medical care.

They arrived in Honolulu on July 13 to a media frenzy. They spent weeks recovering in Hawaii before being flown to South Korea, where they were treated as national heroes. After a tour of the country, they returned to England in August 1973. They sold their story to the Daily Express for £10,000 and a contract to write a book, 117 Days Adrift, to fund their next boat and invited their friends Colin and June to join them on a voyage to Patagonia. They moved to the island of Alderney for this project and to oversee the construction of Auralyn II.

The Patagonia voyage was difficult, marked by Maurice’s tyrannical leadership, and their second book sold poorly. After the Patagonia voyage, they lived for a time in Spain. They eventually sold Auralyn II and settled in a bungalow near Lymington, England. 

Years later, Maralyn was diagnosed with cancer and died on May 21, 2002. Maurice was consumed by grief and depression. He became a recluse, his life structured by routines, including bell-ringing and Sunday lunches with Colin and June. To cope with his loneliness and preserve Maralyn’s memory, he wrote a series of long letters to a friend recounting their life at sea, which became his final, self-published memoir. His health declined, and he died in a nursing home on December 15, 2017. An epilogue recounts a final interview in which he reflects on his love for Maralyn and describes their ordeal as a “marvellous” experience that brought him closer to nature than ever before.