Florentino Das

Das and his wife moved to Mindoro where his wife took on teaching job with the Divine Word College of San Jose. He attempted once more to sell his boat to the Philippine government for it to be preserved in a museum, but sadly Lady Timarau sank in Pasig River in one of the storms. On the seventh anniversary of his feat, he celebrated by sailing solo once more, on a 27-footer utility boat from San Jose, Occidental Mindoro to Manila, but by this time he was already suffering from diabetes and was losing his vision because of glaucoma. Das was admitted to the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Hospital for glaucoma surgery, but by 1964 his health was deteriorating and he lost his sight.

Das died on October 7, 1964, at the age of 46 due to uremia at a hospital in Manila. During his funeral, he was accorded Navy Honor Guards, and was buried at the Manila North Cemetery.

On February 22, 1956, Das was able to secure clearance from the local authorities and sailed off towards the Philippines. Along the way, Das passed Truk Island, the Hall Islands, as well as Yap Island, and finally on April 25, 1956, after almost 12 months into his personal adventure, he saw the Philippines for the first time in two decades, landing Siargao Island at Masayay, Alegria, in the town of Santa Monica, Surigao del Norte. The locals did not know who Das was, nor what he achieved, but he became a local curiosity. However, the news of his arrival soon spread and the Philippine Navy dispatched a ship to escort Das on his plan to return to his hometown of Allen, Northern Samar, where he was welcomed as a local town hero.

In Manila, President Ramon Magsaysay received Das on May 11, 1956, with a fluvial parade along Pasig River, and conferred him an honorary rank of Commodore of the Philippine Navy, as well as the Philippine Legion of Honor rank of Officer [OLH]. The Mayor of Manila Arsenio Lacson received a letter from his counterpart from Honolulu as hand carried by Das, and gave the latter Keys to the City.

On May 14, 1955, Das slipped out of Kewalo Basin in Honolulu in front of family and friends, and sailed into open ocean without modern communication or navigational systems, except for a compass. A month into his adventure, after encountering a number of storms and damage to his boat, he came across a Japanese fishing vessel, Daisan Shinsei Maru, who offered to tow him to Ponape in Micronesia. His sponsor had requested that he return to Hawaii, but Das instead took on odd jobs for the next eight months to generate funding for the continuation of his trip.

In February 1934 he boarded the English freighter Silverbeam as a stowaway, but was discovered after a few days en route to San Francisco. The captain put him and his fellow stowaway to work, and by the time they arrived in Hawaii he was given a choice whether to offload or continue to San Francisco with a guaranteed work on board the ship. Das opted to disembark, and arrived in Honolulu at the age of 16.

Florentino R. Das (August 19, 1918 – October 7, 1964) was a Filipino yachtsman and immigrant to the United States who holds the earliest record of Single-handed sailing from Hawaii to the Philippines on a 27-footer homebuilt sailboat.