After sailing for two hours we stepped ashore at a remote valley beneath Nalunaq mountain, where the firm is drilling for gold.

“It will eventually move ashore, and all the projections keep it fairly south of Los Angeles County,” Kittell said, “so the chance of rain is very minimal.”

Within hours of being brought ashore, survivors say they were subjected to what one described as "an interrogation", some from their hospital beds, by people they were told were judges.

"There are probably some 50,000-plus still lying on the seabed, some making their way ashore, others heading into deeper waters."

Last month a human skull and bones washed ashore in the same area.