Given up for Dead?

"We never lost hope because up there there’s God Almighty and I have a lot of faith in Him, and I knew He was going to help us... We prayed together all the time."

Jesus Vidaña, who with Lucio Rendon and Salvador Ordoñez survived 9 Months adrift at Sea in their Meixcan Fishing boat. They survived on raw fish, raw seagulls, and rain water – miraculously it rained every day, and kept their spirits up by reading the Bible daily. Once they went 15 days without food. Their boat ended up half way between Hawaii and Australia. They had been given up for dead.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2315617,00.html