Critical Thinking Exercise

LOST AT SEA

Instructions: You are adrift on a private yacht in the South Pacific. As a consequence of a fire of unknown origin, much of the yacht and its contents have been destroyed.

The yacht is now slowly sinking.

Your location is unclear because of the destruction of critical navigational equipment and because you and the crew were distracted trying to bring the fire under control.

Your best estimate is that you are approximately one thousand miles south-southwest of the nearest land.

Following is a list of fifteen items that are intact and undamaged after
the fire.

In addition to these articles, you have a serviceable, rubber life raft
with oars. The raft is large enough to carry yourself, the crew, and all the items
in the following list. The total contents of all survivors’ pockets are a package
of cigarettes, several books of matches, and five one-dollar bills.

Your task is to rank the fifteen items that follow in terms of their importance
to your survival.

Rank each item by its importance: 1 being the most important item, 15 the least important.

__Sextant
__Shaving mirror
__Five-gallon can of water
__Mosquito netting
__One case of U.S. Army C rations
__Maps of the Pacific Ocean
__Seat cushion (flotation device approved by the Coast Guard)
__Two-gallon can of oil-gas mixture
__Small transistor radio
__Shark repellent
__Twenty square feet of opaque plastic
__One quart of 160-proof Puerto Rican rum
__Fifteen feet of nylon rope
__Two boxes of chocolate bars
__Fishing kit

You are welcome to discuss your ranking in the comments section. Send me an email with your final ranking and I’ll send you an email of what experts said the proper ranking is.

Good luck!