A great story of survival is Lone Survivor, about SEAL Team 6 in Afghanistan in 2005. Amazing story of survival. My hat's off to those guys, along with the others who serve(d) our country.
Stephen Ambrose, the "Band of Brothers" guy, wrote a great biography of Lewis and Clark's expedition. It is called Undaunted Courage. These pioneers made their own clothing, housing, boats, etc. Only one man died on the journey, and that was in the winter before the expedition set out.
Sir Ernest Shackleton was captain of the Endurance when it was stuck in an iceflow for about a year in Antarctica back in 1916 or so. They abandoned ship, lived on the ice, killed seals and penguins. Over the 18 months they were lost, not a man died, and all made it safely back. There have been several books written about this event. A huge bonus, the ship's photographer disobeyed orders and did not leave his camera and film behind like he was told. They have great pictures from this disaster.