Could you survive for a week on bubblegum, crackers, and dirty water?

Tressel Hawkins, 43, of Markham; Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios; and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing, Texas were rescued Saturday after their boat filled with water and capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. The men clung to the top of the overturned catamaran 180 miles from land for an entire week eating nothing but crackers and bubblegum; they used a hose to siphon off fresh water from their internal washdown tank. Boaters use the washdown tank to remove slime and debris from their boats when they are out at sea. The water is fresh, rather than saltwater, but it is not usually considered potable. Many are calling their Saturday rescue by another small vessel which just happened to pass by miraculous since the Coast Guard had called off their search Friday after searching over 86,000 square miles of water and believing the men to be dead.