As the Mayflower was crossing the Atlantic in 1620, passenger John Howland was swept overboard during a storm. He managed to sieze a trailing halyard and was pulled back to safety. His descendants in the New World have included:

Franklin Roosevelt

George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Joseph Smith and Brigham Young

Humphrey Bogart

Benjamin Spock

Sarah Palin

Chevy Chase

Christopher Lloyd

Alec Baldwin

If Howland had lost his life in that storm, none of these people would have existed.