Ocean Pioneers

OCEAN PIONEERS
Robbert Das
 Author:
Robbert Das

Animations:
Robbert Das

Translation:
Joost den Haan

Ink up and colour:

Monique Le Coint-Tweehuysen

Lay-out:
Unbound, IJmuiden, The Netherlands
Dokmar, Vlissingen, The Netherlands

Cover:
Peter Schotvanger, Beverwijk, The
Netherlands

Published by:
DOKMAR Maritime Publishers BV
P.O.Box 5052 Vlissingen, The Netherlands.
http://www.dokmar.com/

© Copyright 2012,
DOKMAR Maritime Publishers BV
Vlissingen, The Netherlands

ISBN 978-90-71500-09-1

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Great care has been taken with the investiga-

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In case of omission the rightful claimant is
requested to inform the publishers.

4
Table of Contents

Table of Contents 5
 Introduction
Tales of yachtsmen sailing the oceans tend to
fascinate. They particularly stir the imagina-
tion when they are about adventurers doing
something that has never been done before.
About men making long and dangerous voy-
ages in tiny boats with hardly a navigation aid
at their disposal.
Courage, stamina and willpower were key to
their achievements.
6 Introduction
For instance, William Hudson, the first to
cross the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny nutshell
Red White and Blue.
Or the man without fingers, Howard Blackburn,
who in spite of his handicap set out on a soli-
tary voyage, sailing from America to Europe.
And Tom McNally, doing the same in a little
boat, no more than a yard and a half long. Once
in a while such adventures were disastrous.
Take for instance Hans Maurenbrecher, who
in 1964 set out from The Netherlands, in his
Takebora for a voyage around the world. The
ship foundered somewhere near Australia and
the skipper perished.
This is a book of drawings and stories about
such ocean pioneers.
Alongside the realistic illustrations, there are
sailing plans and ship measurements. Moreover,
every chapter has a globe clearly showing the
sailing route taken by each pioneer.
The stories are arranged chronologically, with
a single exception - the first one. The book
starts out with the man I regard to be the ‘god-
father’ of all yachtsmen, Joshua Slocum.
As a pioneer, he serves as a shining example
for the entire yachting world and so merits
extra credit and attention. No doubt yachtsmen
had crossed the ocean before him, but no one
had ever sailed solo around the world, until in
1898, Slocum proved that this was possible.
Robbert Das
Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
Introduction 97
 1. Slocum and his Spray
Skipper It is now more than a century ago that
Joshua Slocum
Joshua Slocum, a former captain of a large
Ship merchant ship, set out to sail around the
Spray
world. He was in fact the first person to
Crew attempt this, and at that time people found
none
it extraordinary.
Year What is more, he had made up his mind to
1895–1898
undertake this venture single-handedly in
Particulars a fairly small boat, which was then consid-
Solo around the
ered downright suicidal. But Slocum was
world
an experienced sailor who knew what he
was doing.
He was, in fact, totally convinced that a
sailing vessel’s seaworthiness had little to
do with its size and everything to do with its
captain’s ability.
He substantiated his conviction during two cel-
ebrated sailing voyages in boats built with his
own hands. The first he called the Liberdade,
and in her he sailed from the coast of Brazil
to New York. But the second one, the Spray,
provided his greatest adventure.
Ostensibly an unwieldy and heavy ship, he
nevertheless, accomplished his famous round-
the-world voyage in her.
Slocum not only proved a courageous and
intelligent seafarer, he also wrote a book
about his undertaking which became a best-
seller. Additionally, he devised certain sailing
techniques for solo yachtsmen that still prove
valuable today.
Due to his voyages and his book, Slocum
became world-famous, and over the years hun-
dreds of copies of the Spray were built.
The initial years
His beginnings were humble.
On a freezing winter’s night, Joshua Slocum
was born into a seafaring family in a desolate
part of Nova Scotia. In this region of Canada,
fishing was the main source of income.
8 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
Slocum loved to tell stories about his father, an
old salt, the type of man who, after being ship-
wrecked, could escape from any desert island
as long as he had a good knife with which to
build a boat.
At an early age, Slocum went to sea to become
a cook on a fishing schooner and afterwards
an O.S. (ordinary sailor). He quickly moved
through the ranks. At thirty, he was in com-
mand of the Northern Light, which in the
1880s was regarded as the world’s fastest
and most beautiful full-rigged three-master.
Besides serving as captain, he was also the
joint proprietor of the ship.
Later on he bought a small wooden bark which
he called Aquidneck. With it, he was ship-
wrecked and stranded on the coast of Brazil
together with his wife and two children.
All that was left of his ship was some flot-
sam and jetsam. But acting upon his father’s
maxim and with the aid of his family, he built
something resembling a large canoe with sails
from the remains of the wreckage and man-
aged to return to New York in this.
His adventure on this ship, which he called the
Liberdade, was in fact a tremendous achieve-
ment and is described in chapter 9 of this book.
Yet, what Slocum told the press was that the
journey had been uneventful!
However, back in America in 1892, captains
of sailing vessels were becoming obsolete and
one increasingly witnessed beautiful barks and
full-rigged ships being towed between harbors
as coal lighters or else laid up in the harbor.
Slocum thought about becoming a shipbuilder,
but lacked the capital to buy himself into a
shipyard. However, this disappointment gave
rise to the greatest sailing adventure of his life,
due to which he would go down in history as
the first person to sail solo around the world in
a tiny, self-built boat called the Spray.
The Spray
One day Eben Pierce, a former whaler cap-
tain, told him that he had a boat for sale in
Fairhaven, which was lying out there in the
countryside under a tarpaulin. When Slocum
saw the thing, he was not in the least discour-
aged in spite of its appearance. He bought the
boat and when nosy parkers inquired whether
he was going to scrap her, he answered, ‘No,
I’m going to build her up.’ Nobody understood
what he intended to do with this positively pre-
historic vessel, but Slocum told everyone that
he would prove that refurbishment was worth-
while. During the spring and summer of 1893,
the ship that would become the Spray was
nearly entirely reconstructed. Slocum said it
was an honor to provide her with a new future
on such ‘hallowed ground’. He was referring
to the plot of land next to his boat,
full of spring wildflowers, a plot that also held
the ashes of John Cook, a very famous Pilgrim
Father. From the deck of his boat, he could
pick the cherries growing over Cook’s grave.
Within a year’s time, the ship, formerly called
Jane, gradually became his Spray. This rugged
sailing sloop with a mast and a long bowsprit
‘floated like a swan’ – according to Slocum
– on her rusty anchor in Fairhaven.
In total, he had spent $553.62 on materials,
and had worked on it alone for thirteen months
in the company of his faithful dog Bruno.
A test trip across Buzzard Bay with her former
owner, Pierce, went impeccably.
The next season Slocum took the boat out fish-
ing without much success, however. After this
bit of hard luck, he decided to sail his Spray
around the world.

Slocum had to
almost totally
reconstruct the
old oyster boat
Jane from top
to bottom, as it
had been sitting
on land in the
neighborhood
of Fairhaven
for years. Many
people wondered
whether it was
worthwhile.

Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray 9

 Slocum and his Spray
A voyage around the world
On the morning of the 24th of April, 1895,
Joshua Slocum raised the Spray’s anchor and
sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, where his
boat had been laid up for the winter.
While the factory hooters sounded the noon
hour, the Spray headed under full sail for the
future, her American flag flying.
According to his own statement, Slocum felt
a ‘thrilling pulse’ at the thought that there was
no way back.
His first destination was Gloucester, northeast
of Boston, where the Spray put in under sail
during a raging storm. In the storm, Slocum
managed to get the boat to tack against the
wind at the right moment, by letting go of the
wheel and lowering the jib.
The sailors at the ship yard where she moored
were deeply impressed, but according to
Slocum, it was sheer luck.
A few weeks later he reached Westport Harbor
in Nova Scotia, from where he eventually set
out for Gibraltar on the 1st of July.
After 18 days he reached the Azores, and by
that time he had discovered two things.
In the first place, with a belayed wheel, the
Spray kept well on course. This gave Slocum
the opportunity to relax and give all his atten-
tion to trimming the sails, which was mainly a
question of reefing the mainsail in and out.
Secondly, he found it rather difficult to get
used to the loneliness.
During periods of despondency he eventually
started to sing or prepare a good meal in his
pantry in the forecastle.
When the weather was fine, he did his washing
in his tender, read some books and at five o’
clock had a glass of good wine.
Apart from porpoises, he only met two sailing
merchantmen, which he overtook with ease in
fair weather.
10 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
Pirates
On the stretch to Gibraltar, he was hit by a
storm from the north and lost a jib, which he
then used as waste cotton. The voyage took
eleven days. Slocum’s health was excellent,
although as usual, he was as thin as a rake,
though not overworked or tired. In Gibraltar,
Slocum and his Spray were received hospita-
bly by the naval commander, Admiral Bruce.
The British gave him all he needed and made
him a new jib. This was indispensable when
the Spray left Gibraltar on the 25th of August.
However, the Atlantic off Africa could be rath-
er dangerous territory. A couple of days later,
he was pursued by pirates in a felouk, and
Slocum set course for the west. The pirates,
however, were right on his heels, so that he
had to sail for his life.
To make matters worse, it also started to get
stormy and Slocum had to reef sail. During
this race, the Spray broke her boom, but
Slocum managed to sail on with two jibs, at
the same time repairing the boom. Luckily the
pirates then lost their mast in the storm due to
too much sail.
When he had eventually shaken them off, he
went on to the Cape Verde Islands and from
there to Pernambuco in Brazil.
From the time he left Gibraltar, he had been at
sea for 40 days.
Storms and Indians
In South America, Slocum had many friends
and colleagues. With the aid of a couple of
skippers in Rio de Janeiro, the Spray was
made into a yawl. Before leaving for Cape
Horn, Slocum was given an anchor and some
cable by his friend captain Jones.
This present saved the Spray from founder-
ing many times. Still, it didn’t stop the little
boat from becoming stranded on the Uruguay
coast.
Under difficult circumstances, he first rowed Australia
through the surf in his tender, taking the anchor Twelve days later, Slocum was on terra firma
with him and casting it behind the breakers. once again. He was given a hospitable recep-
Subsequently, by using the winch, he managed tion on the small island of Juan Fernandez,
to get the Spray afloat again. From then on, his made famous by Robinson Crusoe. The island’s
adventures were underway. 45 inhabitants had read about the Spray in the
Chilean newspapers. On the 5th of May, with
On the 26th of January, 1896, the Spray sailed a trade wind blowing, the Spray headed west,
from Buenos Aires. A couple of days later, the and for a month the ship kept on course. Every
boat was hit by a gigantic roller. Slocum heard night, Slocum saw the Southern Cross to one
the tremendous roar approaching, lowered all side; every morning the sun came up from
the sails and climbed up onto the mast. behind, setting at the bow in the evening. As it
His ship was totally engulfed, but remained in was constantly overcast, Slocum was only able
one piece. After this, he sailed with much dif- to determine his exact position with his sextant
ficulty through the Straits of Magellan against after 43 days. He discovered he was a mere
the storm and the current. five miles off his dead reckoning, exemplify-
As if this were not enough, before reaching ing what an experienced navigator he was.
the Pacific, he also warded off some raiders In mid-July he landed on Samoa, where he
with his gun and was given a tow by a big spent his time mainly being pampered by the
man o’war. island’s young ladies. On the 20th of August,
he continued his voyage and made a stormy
Then, in the Pacific, he was struck by another crossing to Australia within 42 days.
storm from the north that drove the Spray Here, he went from Newcastle to Sydney,
bare-poled back to Cape Horn. For four long arriving on October 10, 1896.
days Slocum struggled against the tempest,
with the jib as the only sail, finally reaching
land somewhere near Tierra del Fuego.
With a great deal of perseverance and a bit
of luck, the Spray was again at anchor in a
bay off the Straits of Magellan on the 8th of
March. Here he was constantly threatened by
nightly raids from the local Indians.
Aggravated by this nuisance, Slocum scattered
some tacks on deck before going to sleep.
At midnight he was awoken by terrible howl-
ing, which sounded like a pack of wolves. In
the pitch-dark, the Indians had stepped on the
tacks!
Even this did not end the attacks; afterwards
he was threatened and beset by rebels as well.
So it was with some relief that the Spray
finally set sail on the 14th of April.

Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray 11

 Slocum and his Spray
1. T
 he wheel was worked by cables
running to a short helm under-
neath. However, this was not
used during the greater part
of the voyage, as it was mostly
belayed on a set course.
2. 
The compass stood behind a
window in the cabin and could
be checked from either side.
3.
The tender was ‘half a dory’.
It lay upside-down during the
voyage between the pantry’s
superstructure and the cabin.
On deck, Slocum also used it as
a washtub and a bath.
3 9
12 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
4. T he navigation mainly involved
dead reckoning and took place
on the cabin’s raised sole.
5. Slocum kept a double-barreled
rifle, a carbine and a pistol, and
also quite a bit of ammunition
within reach.
6. There was a library of 80 books
on board.
7. Slocum used the portside berth
to reach the deck more quickly
in an emergency and also for a
better view of the outside world,
as there were no portholes in
the cabin hull.
2 12
4 5
8. Slocum kept clothes, money
and personal documents in a
strong sea chest, which also
served as a table.
9.  The cargo hold was full of
provisions and drinking-water
in barrels.
10. The bilge pump was rarely used
and was removed in Australia
as Slocum had noticed that the
Spray remained bone-dry.
7 10
6
8
13
11
 11. M ost of the provisions were
stored in barrels, but during
his voyage Slocum happened
upon dozens of barrels con-
taining pitch, which he sold in
Australia.
12. There were two water butts on
deck to replenish the stock of
drinking-water.
13. The Spray had two watertight
bulkheads in order to partition
off the hold.
14. In Rio de Janeiro, Slocum was
given a stove made out of an
oil barrel.
15
16
14
 He cooked many a good meal
on this very welcome gift and
gathered wood at various
moorings.
15. The Spray’s kitchen would not
have looked out of place in a
small hotel of the time, as it
had all sorts of convenienc-
es. However, the sink had no
drain and was simply emptied
overboard.
16. Rigging and a couple of spare
sails were stacked in the
fo’c’sle. Furthermore, it con-
tained an extra berth, which
was hardly ever used.
17
Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
17. T
he weighty anchor was a
present from a clipper cap-
tain. Together with its long
and heavy hawser (also a
gift), it met the most stringent
requirements for the adven-
ture. It never dragged, nor
was the hawser ever lost. That
the slender Slocum was able
to winch in this stock anchor,
weighing 35 kg, on its two-inch
hawser of 80 m, was not so
surprising. Slocum had all the
time in the world and weighed
anchor whenever the weather
was ideal.
13
 Slocum and his Spray
Africa
After a voyage around Tasmania and with a
new coating of underwater paint, the Spray
headed northwards, crossing the Indian Ocean,
during which the skipper remained at the wheel
for 23 days on end. On the Cocos Islands, he
almost lost his life while being taken back to
the anchored Spray in a rickety little boat. In a
squall, the sail of the open sloop, navigated by
a native, was blown to shreds.
The only thing in the little boat was in fact the
negligent native; there was no oar and the tiny
anchor had hardly any line at all.
Sketch of Joshua Slocum
14 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
By rowing with the boom, Slocum managed
with difficulty to get back to the beach.
He thus escaped a watery grave by the skin of
his teeth, as Africa’s lee shore, was 3000 miles
away. After this, the Spray sailed to the isle of
Rodriguez, a mid-ocean realm of plenty and
then via Mauritius to Durban, South Africa.
During Christmas 1897, the Spray was strug-
gling against raging cross seas, heading for
Cape Town. The captain of a British steamship
– a real wit – signaled ‘Merry Christmas’ after
Slocum, clutching his bowsprit, had disap-
peared into the waves three times.
At last he reached Cape Town, where for three
months he entrusted the Spray to the port
warden who put her in dry dock while Slocum
made excursions around South Africa.
Here, he met Paul Kruger, the president of
Transvaal. Kruger corrected Slocum when the
latter told him that he was sailing around the
world. ‘In the world, you mean.
The world is flat’, the president said with great
conviction. ‘The Bible tells us so.’ Supported
by the authorities, Slocum held a few talks for
full houses, which earned him enough money
for his return voyage.
Thus, on March 26, 1898, he set out again..
The return voyage Then a very high breaker appeared and he The Spray, which
Slocum enjoyed every minute of his journey. suddenly saw a large sweeping light on the had once been a
sloop, became a
He was full of confidence, logging miles horizon. It was the lighthouse of Trinidad, 30 yawl about halfway
across white-capped waves, reading and miles away, creating the illusion of crests on through the voyage.
The shorter bow-
watching the dolphins and flying fish, until he the waves! sprit, the mainsail’s
woke on the morning of April 11 to the sound shorter boom and
the spanker all
of a rare bird. Close to Long Island, the Spray met with dif- made it easier to
The raucous cry of a booby (gannet) told ficult weather and towering waves. Slocum belay the boat on a
chosen course.
him: ‘Skipper, land ho!’ And indeed, straight was attached to a sea anchor for a couple of Also when anchored,
ahead, there was a tiny dot on the horizon – St. hours in the fiercest storm of the voyage. He the reefed and
stretched flat-
Helena. reached New York on the 27th of June, 1898,
trimmed miz-
after a journey of 46,000 miles that had taken zen served
Slocum got out his bottle of port and drank three years and two months. Considering all against swing-
ing on the anchor.
a toast to his invisible helmsman. The tiny his adventures and all the difficulties he had Furthermore, with
little island was only 15 kilometers off and he overcome, one could well say: its second mast,
Slocum had a hal-
headed straight towards it. what a man, what a ship! yard at his disposal
On May 8, 1898, on the leg to Brazil, Slocum for signaling, which
he often used.
crossed the point he had passed on the way out
on October 2, 1895. The voyage around the
world had been accomplished.

However, the return journey further north was

also not uneventful. Slocum all of a sud
den thought he saw a reef where he had not
expected shallows or land of any sort. It was
night, and tacking against a strong swell, he
tried to keep his faithful Spray from becom-
ing stranded. The surf drew nearer and nearer.
The skipper concluded that a nasty current
was driving him onto a coral reef and he said
a quick prayer.

Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray 15

 Slocum and his Spray
Joshua Slocum’s seamanship
Slocum was a dyed-in-the-wool captain who
had spent his whole life at sea.
He knew every ocean and most islands like no
one else, could interpret various meteorologi-
cal conditions and was a flawless navigator.
Nevertheless, he said he acquired greater
navigational skill during his voyage around the
world than in the 40 years prior.
Perhaps it is a good idea to see what tips this
great yachtsman has to offer.
For instance, he used to advise young people
who wanted to make a voyage around the
world not to be daunted.
To his mind, all those tall stories about dangers
were for the most part exaggerated, just like
the expression ‘the treacherous sea’.
Of course there are dangers at sea, but it is no
different on land. To reduce risks to a mini-
mum, one naturally needed a sound under-
standing of navigation and the elements.
16 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray
Therefore, it was important to be familiar with
the sea, taking the attitude that oceans are
meant to be sailed. And a yacht’s size was of
less importance than her skipper’s self-confi-
dence and know-how.
According to Slocum, prolonged ocean-sail-
ing, even solitary, could afford tremendous
satisfaction, as long as one was armed with the
necessary knowledge and a self-confidence
born of experience.
A few times when Slocum was in dire straits,
he relied on his experience and reacted quick-
ly. He knew what he had to do. And in fact this
is what seamanship is all about, or as Slocum
himself said: ‘It is not about a row of shiny
buttons on a smart uniform or the stripes on
a sleeve’.
More’s the pity that our tale must end on a
somber note. Several years after sailing around
the world, Slocum disappeared without a trace
on the Atlantic Ocean.
Neither captain nor ship was ever seen again
and the cause will always remain a mystery.
One thing is certain: every lone sailor risks
being run down in the night by ships that are
completely unaware of their often unlit nut-
shells.
Slocum seldom used navigation lights and
without exception, slept at night, which may
well have proved fatal.
It is believed that he must have been run down
by a steamship in 1909, somewhere along the
busy shipping route east of New York.
The pantry was in the forecastle.
The stove, which used mainly wood, was a
gift from friends in South America. Slocum
loved good food and drink and had plenty
of potatoes, dried meat, fish and all sorts
of beans on board. He regularly made
coffee and at every opportunity cooked a
healthy variety of square meals.
Note the row of aluminum pans, which
were a novelty at the time, hanging from
the fore’s partitioning.
Drinking-water was kept in barrels and
seawater was drawn from the faucet.
 Slocum used a dory sawn in half as a tender,
as there was no room on deck for a whole one.
When he needed to cast anchor in order
to get his stranded Spray afloat, the ten-
der proved somewhat on the small side.
Slocum almost drowned on such an occasion.
Later on, he had a regular little sloop
on top of his cabin’s superstructure.

For weeks, the Spray steered a predetermined course. The lone yachtsman enjoyed his faithful boat night and day,
which crossed the Pacific unruffled, blown along by the trade wind. Slocum himself had had no precursors, but
many yachtsmen were to follow him.

Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray 17

 Slocum and his Spray

View of the Spray’s cabin

towards the rear.
The ‘fine-weather berth’ is on
the right.
In difficult circumstances
and generally when the wind
exceeded force 6, Slocum
used his ‘sea berth’, which
had a leeboard with a slip-
knot, so that he could get out
of bed fast.
The bed was also located so
he could see the sails and the
sky through the companion-
way.

Slocum used the raised sole as

a chart table, from which he
was also able to see his com-
pass. Weapons and ammuni-
tion hung within reach over
his ‘anchor berth’, and prob-
ably it was the deck support
in the middle that kept the
boat from foundering when
tons of water washed over
the deck due to the giant sea-
quake wave or tsunami.

It was her shape that made the Spray so

seaworthy.
The secret of her stability on course lay in the
balance of displacement at the front and back
of her main frame, also when under heel.
This prevented the boat from becoming off-
balance when yawing. Furthermore, when
crammed with provisions, the ship had
a great deal of stability and mass inertia
for her size, countering course deviations.
Finally, the cross-section explains why the
Spray, with so little displacement, did not
have more drift.
The hull above the waterline was almost ver-
tical, meaning that, when sailing under heel,
the freeboard to leeside served as an ‘anti-
drift surface’.
Together with the hull’s harmonious shape,
the long, shallow keel gave rise to her almost
incredible course stability.
Yet many people believed that the broad,
heavy Spray would capsize at a heel greater
than 90 degrees, never to right itself again,
as happens with catamarans.
Who knows if this might have been Slocum’s
fate?

18 Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray

 Due to newspaper
articles, Slocum
became world-
famous and mil-
lions of people saw
him as a hero.
When sojourning in
inhabited regions,
the Spray and
its hero drew the
attention of young
ladies in particu-
lar, who wanted to
see and talk to this
celebrity at close-
quarters.

Chapter 1: Slocum and his Spray 19

 2. Red White and Blue
Skipper Although some doubt was cast upon the
William Hudson
veracity of the first Atlantic crossing by
Ship the tiny sailing dinghy Red White and
Red White and
Blue
Blue, setting out from New York to Dover
in 1866, it can be safely assumed that the
Crew
sources are reliable. At the time however,
Fred Fitch
there were those who maintained that the
Year
boat made the crossing on a three-master’s
1866
deck, only to be launched somewhere near
Particulars
Great Britain, while others insisted that it
First crossing
from New York had been towed by a large vessel.
to Dover in a
tiny boat
These rumors arose due to its rather unusual
rigging. The Red White and Blue was, in fact,
a genuine full-rigged three-master, though a
miniature one, not even 8 m long. Subdividing
the sail’s surface into many little sails is of
course not ill-advised, but here the entire sur-
face of 28 m² was fragmented into as many
as 16 tiny sails, the largest mainsail having a
surface of a single square meter.
All these sails were hoisted by means of a
complicated system of halyards and stays,
woven between three tiny masts less than six
meters high. One indeed wonders how the
crew, consisting of two men and a dog, man-
aged to maneuver the contraption. Probably,
they just climbed up into the rigging in order
to belay the top sails and then secured them to
the yards.
The boat’s owner was also the designer of
this ‘rattletrap’. William Hudson envisioned
his design as a new type of lifeboat with an
unconventional construction. The iron dinghy
had overlapping planking in order to stiffen it
and later on, many lifeboats were constructed
in this manner. Hudson intended to finance the
crossing by way of publicity and realized that
it wouldn’t be any good to anyone if ship and
crew vanished without a trace. He, therefore,
had four watertight compartments built into
the boat - two side-tanks and a closed-off fore
and aft peak.
20 Chapter: Red White and Blue
However, this made the whole thing rather
weighty - 2.8 tons of displacement when empty.
With his sailing companion Fred Fitch and his
Keeshond, the intrepid yachtsman left New
York on July 9, 1866. Below deck, there was
hardly any room. There was one bed with the
foremast sticking right through the foot, a
couple of low seats, a stove and a dog basket.
Otherwise, it must have resembled a kind
of warehouse below, with tinned provisions,
water and spare rigging. The ballast consisted
of beach rocks, and one’s personal belong-
ings were probably hung in kitbags on deck.
It would certainly not have been comfortable,
but the exact situation can no longer be recon-
structed. On deck it was a question of rough-
ing it because the tiny boat with a freeboard of
51 cm did not have a railing. The helmsman
sat in a small cockpit all the way in the back,
where he had a large compass.
At the beginning of its voyage, the Red White
and Blue was sighted by many ships, but then
all contact was lost. On August 14, the boat
was seen in the English Channel on its way to
Dover. By that time, it had covered a distance
of 3000 miles in 35 days! A daily stretch of
85 miles means an average sailing speed of
more than 3.5 knots, a considerable amount for
such a heavy, intricate little ship. So we may
safely assume that the weather favored the
yachtsmen a good deal, though they must also
have been extremely able-bodied seamen to
survive this adventure. Their voyage received
much publicity. The boat was exhibited at the
World’s Fair in Paris and was later shown at
Crystal Palace in London.
Looking back upon this adventure, William
Hudson and his mate Fred Fitch inspire noth-
ing but the greatest admiration for being the
first men who dared to sail the Atlantic in such
a tiny vessel.
The Red White
and Blue during
stormy weather.

Chapter: Red White and Blue 21

 Red White and Blue

22 Chapter: Red White and Blue

The Red White and Blue:
The three-master was a strange
miniature of the large 19th cen-
tury sailing freighters.

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 7.92 m
L.w.l.: 7.46 m
W.: 1.98 m
Displ.: 2.8 t
Sail surf.: 28 m²

Key to the abbreviations used in

this book:
L.o.a.: Length overall
L.w.l.: Length waterline
W.: Width
D.: Depth
Displ.: Displacement
Sail surf.:Sail surface

Chapter 2: Red White and Blue 23

 3. Nonsuch
Skippers: The first trimaran to cross the Atlantic Ocean
John Mikes
George Miller
was in fact a kind of rubber raft. When on
Jerry Mallene July 25, 1868, a strange contraption drifted
Ship:
into the harbor of Southampton, hardly a
Nonsuch soul believed that the three Americans on
board had come from the other side of the
Crew:
none Big Pond.
But their two months of facial growth, as
year:
1868 well as the barnacles on the raft’s three rub-
ber floats, eventually convinced the authori-
Particulars:
Atlantic crossing ties that it was indeed true.
in rubber raft
John Mikes, George Miller and Jerry Mallene
had sailed from New York on their 7.62 m long
raft Nonsuch on a non-stop Atlantic crossing.
This made them the first men in the world to
sail from continent to continent on a raft with
inflatable floats.
Their vessel consisted of three rubber floats
supporting a system of beams and planks.
There was a tiny tent on deck, fixed between
two masts. One no longer knows exactly how
the floats and platform were held together, but
ropes were thought to be used.
What we do know is that the crew had a small
bellows in order to inflate a leaking float and
that there were two months of provisions
stacked on deck. It was absolutely impossible
for the raft to move in any other direction than
along with the wind, and considering this, the
crossing was certainly a gamble.
The adventurers kept a kind of dead reckon-
ing, assisted by positions given them by pass-
ing ships.
During the crossing, the Nonsuch was hit by
seven storms, which the tiny vessel managed
to survive by means of a sea anchor, without
getting a single drop of water on deck.
What is more, these weekly, westerly gales
blew the Nonsuch in the right direction, even
though sailing was out of the question.
24 Chapter 3: Nonsuch
We surmise that the crew members were able
to belay the two rudders by means of a tackle,
thereby achieving a stable course.
In order to clearly display the construction,
the drawing only shows a small portion of the
deck load.
In reality, there was hardly any room to move
on deck, keeping in mind how much space is
taken up by spare parts and two months of
provisions to sustain three men.
And of course we must also subtract the tent’s
surface.
Once the raft’s bold and auspicious voyage
had been made, many adventurers were under
the impression that crossing the Atlantic was
in fact, a piece of cake, as long as one had
something that kept afloat and would not
capsize.
After Mikes, this optimistic misconception
became fatal to a considerable number of
yachtsmen.
Some of these rash and badly prepared dare-
devils disappeared beyond the horizon without
a trace.
The Nonsuch is regarded as a precursor of suc-
cessful ocean rafts such as Alain Bombard’s
L’ Hérétique, Eric de Bisschop’s Kaimiloa-
Wakea and various rafts of the Kon-Tiki type.
In any case, the Nonsuch was way ahead of
its time, and even today we still come across
rubber boats with circular pneumatic hulls like
the ones on this raft.
However, to call the Nonsuch the first ocean
trimaran is taking things a bit too far. In no
way was this vessel independent from the
prevailing wind!
The raft sailed slowly and was driven across
the Atlantic by the wind and the waves.

Chapter 3: Nonsuch 25
 Nonsuch

26 Chapter 3: Nonsuch
1 Seven cross beams
2 Five longitudinal
beams supporting the
deck
3 Two interconnected
steelplate rudders
4 Two strong, back-
ward-tilting masts of
equal length
5 Staysail on bowsprit
6 Sprit’s mainsail or
asymmetrical square
sail
7 Gaff-sail spanker
8 Two-man tent
9 Rubber floats
10 Connection between
platform and floaters
by means of liners
and ropes.

Sail plan and view of the

Nonsuch
from above and side.

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 7.62 m
L.w.l.: 7.62 m
W.: 3.80 m
L. platform: 6.40 m
W. platform: 3.80 m
Diameter floats: 0.76 m
Draft: 0.38 m
Displ.: 4.75 t
Sail surf.: 24.27 m²

Chapter 3: Nonsuch 27
 4. City of Ragusa
Skipper This was the very first little yacht to cross
John C. Buckly
the Atlantic from east to west. Some years
Ship before this historic feat, it had been a life-
City of Ragusa
boat on board of the bark Breeze, which
Crew foundered during a storm in the Irish
Nikolas Primoraz
Sea. It safely carried the 14 survivors of
Year this shipping disaster to the Isle of Man.
1870
Here John C. Buckly, an American from
Particulars New York, subsequently bought the already
In adverse wind
famous little dinghy.
across the Atlantic
He acquired it from the insurance company
with a clear objective in mind.
For quite a while, he had entertained the
notion of sailing to America against the pre-
vailing winds. Apart from using sails, he had
come up with an idea to accomplish this feat
with an invention of his own.
He believed it was possible to turn a propeller
under the ship by means of a large windmill
on the mast. In this ingenious manner a ship
would be able to sail against the wind.
In theory the idea seemed brilliant and the
London Illustrated News disclosed drawings
of this project called ‘the windmill ship’.
Nowadays, we know that this way of propul-
sion is indeed possible, but in 1870 it rather
reminded one of Jules Verne. Buckly appears
to have carried out a number of experiments
with his windmill, but clearly without any
great success.
The City of Ragusa was never fitted with
such a contraption because, according to the
drawings, it would have stuck out above the
mizzen mast.
Still, the enterprising American was sensible
enough to thoroughly refurbish his little life-
boat, making it into a yacht that could success-
fully sail against the wind.
He had it fitted with both a deck and a super-
structure, but he had never heard of a self-
draining cockpit.
28 Chapter 4: City of Ragusa
Below deck, a reasonably comfortable berth
was created to starboard, while on the other
side of the tiny cabin there was a small pantry
with an oil cooker and storage space for food.
Realizing that his little boat would get some
hard knocks, he took in a great deal of ballast,
though according to many people, it was far
too much.
But Buckly seems to have been afraid that his
boat would keel over, as had happened to John
T. Ford in 1867.
The result of this was that, even before provi-
sions and drinking-water arrived on board, the
City of Ragusa rode low in the water.
For a crew, Buckly took along the Austrian
Nikolas Primoraz and a small white Keeshond.
The value of a pet during such adventures has
never been proved, and perhaps the yachtsmen
simply wanted something to take their mind
off their hardships or were too attached to the
animal to leave it behind in England.
The tiny two-master had a considerable rig.
However, when it had also taken on two
months of food, some equipment and two
barrels of drinking-water (belayed on the fore-
deck), the little boat did not look very seawor-
thy with its dipped bow.
Still, the initial test trip outside Liverpool har-
bor proved that it sailed well, if not very fast,
but that it shipped over quite a bit of water.
One can only admire Buckly’s courage for
still wanting to attempt his great voyage in this
little yawl.
Of course, we must not forget that it is often
impossible to cancel such plans once they
have received a certain amount of publicity.
In Buckly’s case, the press had already written
about the adventure with ‘the windmill ship’,
and it seems that the unfortunate American
was simply unable to call the whole thing off
without losing face.
 When it was blustery,
the heavy little boat
sailed much better than
Buckley had expected.

Chapter 4: City of Ragusa 29

 City of Ragusa

30 Chapter 4: City of Ragusa

Chapter 4: City of Ragusa 31
 City of Ragusa
Yet providence would lend him a helping hand.
During the test voyages, the skipper decided in
any case, to fit the helm cockpit with a large
bilge-pump in order to get rid of the huge
quantities of spray that came on board.
Eventually, this decision appeared to consti-
tute the difference between disappearing upon
the ocean without a trace and a safe arrival in
the United States.
When, during the actual voyage, the City of
Ragusa started leaking like a sieve after a few
days of difficult sailing, these seafarers kept
their boat afloat with this bilge-pump.
They departed from Liverpool on the 2nd of
June, 1870 and reached Queenstown close to
Cork, which they left again on the 16th of July
for the great crossing.
The next day, they passed the Fastnet Rock
and slowly but surely disappeared beyond the
horizon. Many sailing vessels and steamers
reported the voyage’s progress.
The City of Ragusa attained an average speed
of one and a half knots against the wind and
of almost five knots when tacking was not
necessary.
In the beginning of the voyage, it became
apparent that the boat was practically bursting
at its seams due to overloading.
She started leaking severely and even in good
weather it was soaking wet on board.
In order to protect their dog, Buckly and
Primoraz attached its basket to the mast above
the cabin floor. In spite of this precaution, the
creature suffered severely and died after four
weeks.
It is not clear whether the crew put the corpse
overboard or made a meal of it. No more than
in our present day and age, was it a custom in
the 19th century to eat one’s pets, at least not
in the ‘civilized’ world.
32 Chapter 4: City of Ragusa
But in view of the need to survive, a fresh bit
of dog must have been very tempting after all
those months without meat.
Whatever the case, the short-tacking little boat
remained afloat due to continuous pumping
night and day and managed to cover between
11 and 153 miles a day in the right direction.
At the beginning of September, 1870, the City
of Ragusa was hit by a heavy storm.
For days on end, the boat lay on a sea anchor.
At this point, it was close to Newfoundland.
After the storm died down, Buckly indeed
caught sight of the island’s coast, where he
could have chosen to conclude his hazard-
ous journey. But the boat sailed on towards
the south and reached Boston on the 6th of
September, 1870, after 84 days at sea, with no
less than 8000 miles covered.
The persevering yachtsmen had set a record,
with the City of Ragusa going down in his-
tory as the first tiny sailing yacht to cross the
Atlantic from east to west.
We do not know what happened to the ship
afterwards. Possibly it disappeared into the
depths of the Boston harbor, while Buckly
and Primoraz were being welcomed as heroes,
as their boat was leaking heavily upon their
arrival.
Looking back upon this strange little vessel,
which initially did not cause much excitement,
it may be stated that this record was attained
by an almost incredible capacity for endur-
ance.
For practically three months, it was a question
of either keeping the pump going or drown-
ing!
Sail plan of the
City of Ragusa

Chapter 4: City of Ragusa 33

 5. Centennial
Skipper Who was the very first yachtsman to cross the
Alfred Johnson
Atlantic single-handedly? There is no shadow
Ship of a doubt that, in this respect, honor is due to
Centennial
a young American fisherman from Gloucester,
Crew MA, USA. Alfred Johnson performed this dare-
none
devil feat in 1876, in an adapted Newfoundland
Year
1876 dory.
Particulars
Solo across the Originally, the dory was a type of rowing boat
Atlantic
used for fishing. Six of these boats, six meters in
length, could be carried on the deck of a Grand
Banks schooner. Johnson was a crew member on
such a fishing schooner, and he came up with the
idea of making the crossing to Britain when the
mother ship was in dock for a year, undergoing
drastic repairs.
He fitted his dory with a low deck, leaving open
a small cockpit that could be closed off with
sailcloth. A single hatch was made, and to be on
the safe side he turned the fore and aft peak into
watertight compartments.
This saved his life, for during the crossing – start-
ing out from Gloucester on June 15, 1876 – he got
caught in three gales. The first hit the Centennial
at the beginning of July, while the second struck
the tiny boat some two weeks later. Both boat and
skipper endured the onslaught without too many
problems and even made good headway.
The third storm, exactly two weeks later, was a
hurricane. The wind grew so strong that Johnson
decided to take in his entire rigging, including the
mast. In spite of these precautions, he found him-
self in a life-threatening situation. The Centennial
was overturned by a huge breaker and subse-
quently remained upside-down for twenty minutes.
The folded mast and the inherently stable shape of
the capsized boat (even though it only had a small
amount of ballast) afforded an almost insurmount-
able problem, as it was practically impossible to
turn it right-side-up again. The lonely, freezing
yachtsman clasping the rudder was not able to do
very much about his predicament.
34 Chapter 5: Centennial
However, because of its watertight compartments
the boat did not go down and another enormous
wave came to his rescue, turning the dory upright
again. The ship was filled with water up to its
deck, and a lot of the equipment had disappeared or
become useless. By a superhuman effort, Johnson
succeeded in baling out his boat. The hurricane
died down during the night and the Centennial
continued its course. Without provisions or water,
the lonely yachtsman, hoping to encounter some
big ship, had still not run out of luck.
Twice – a week after the capsizing and again three
days later – two large merchant sailing vessels
provided the brave solo yachtsman with all he
wanted [vague]. Close to Britain, he met with con-
tinuous headwind. However, on August 17, 1876,
after 64 days at sea, he finally reached the port of
Abercastle in Pembrokeshire. Thus, this coura-
geous soul became the first to cross the Atlantic
single-handedly from west to east. Subsequently,
Alfred Johnson sailed to Liverpool, where he
received many honors. Almost twenty years later,
he became the captain of a Grand Banks schooner
whose home port was Gloucester.
To this very day, such dories are used in Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland for fishing the Atlantic.
Might not the name of this small green ves-
sel, the Centennial, have been inspired by the
tough Canadian and American fisherman’s mental-
ity, which only values things that prove durable?
Due to Johnson’s adventure, the dory’s seaworthi-
ness received a lot of rather over-the-top publicity,
so that soon other seafarers, like William Andrews
with his Nautilus in 1878 and the Swede Ivar Olsen
in 1881, also attempted the crossing in deck-fitted
dories. They too succeeded; yet these later voyages
were made in boats with either centerboards or
keels, and moreover, with two men on board.
In light of these later crossings, it could be
said that Johnson was lucky enough to meet
with an auspicious wind for reaching Britain.
Chapter 5: Centennial 35
 Centennial

Sail plan

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 6.10 m
L.w.l.: 5.12 m
W.: 1.83 m
Displ.: 1.07 t

Sail surf.:14.30 m²

1 Watertight rear compartment

2 Cleats for belaying the tiller
3 Bailer and pan for (cold) food
4 The dory’s flat bottom
5 A hook for southwester
6 60 liters drinking water in a
barrel
7 Personal gear and clothing in
kitbags
8 Medicine chest
9 Fischerman anchor on deck
10 Yard with square-rigged sail
for use on running courses
11 Oil lamp
12 Barrel with bully beef
13 Primus cooker
14 Spare ropes

36 Chapter 5: Centennial
Chapter 5: Centennial 37
 6. New Bedford
Skipper What possesses a woman to want to set a
Thomas Crapo
dangerous record together with her hus-
Ship band? Perhaps it is a question of an enter-
New Bedford
prising spirit or profound love. When, in
Crew 1877, Thomas Crapo decided to sail together
Joanna Crapo
with his wife from America to England in a
Year tiny yacht of his own design, this stunt soon
1877
received publicity. A year earlier, in 1876,
Particulars a New England fisherman had succeeded
Husband and wife
in making the crossing single-handedly in
cross the Atlantic
his dory, the Centennial. Crapo wanted to
equal this feat and possibly even better it.
Crapo was an experienced seafarer and had
married the enterprising Joanna, of Scottish
descent, in Marseille in 1872. As a married
couple, the Crapos traveled all over the world
aboard large sailing vessels - he as first mate
and later on as captain, she as housekeeper-
stewardess. With their savings, the couple
had a beautiful little boat built by Samuel
Mitchell, the owner of a small shipyard on
Fish Island near Gloucester. This counter-stern
sloop, christened the New Bedford, was des-
tined to make a tremendous voyage. When the
press got wind of the fact that Joanna intended
to accompany her husband in this very small
craft, the project was dismissed as totally
ridiculous. At that time, it was simply ‘not
done’ for a civilized woman to go living like a
pig in some floating sty, not even three-quar-
ters of a meter high below deck, even though
she was accompanied by her own husband.
Moreover, in sailing circles, the New Bedford’s
rigging was considered very unusual. Crapo
had installed two short masts one behind the
other, each with a small triangular sail of
approximately seven meters. Gaffs, staysails
and a bowsprit were absent in the sail plan,
and no one gave twopence for the sailing per-
formance of this six meter long sloop.
38 Chapter 6: New Bedford
But once the New Bedford was tested, quite
the opposite appeared. Its ‘cat-ketch rigging’
enabled it to be easily close-hauled, and when
reaching, it could also be perfectly managed
with its sails at both starboard and port, while
reefing with the spanker. Crapo hadn’t even
discovered yet what the greatest advantage of
his invention was. It was not until later that he
discovered that with a small tip of sail set flat
behind the second mast the boat would keep
on a sea anchor beautifully, so that one really
did not need any navigational skills.
This ‘pennant effect’ made it a lot more likely
that such an insignificant little cockle-shell
would be able to survive storms.
Yet there were still not many people prepared
to make even the smallest wager as to the ven-
ture’s successful outcome. Apparently turning
defiant due to a critical press, Joanna was not
to be dissuaded from her plan to accompany
her husband. She knew from experience what
his willpower and endurance were like, though
she probably also realized that the whole thing
was very risky. Finally, she stated that she
was going along because drowning together
with her husband was preferable to remaining
behind a widow in America.
This point of view brought her a lot of support,
a fact she was to put to good use. Previous to
the great crossing, the New Bedford sailed,
via Massachusetts and Vineyard Haven, to
Chatham on Cape Cod, while Thomas sold
pictures of the doomed little vessel, signed by
himself and his doomed little wife.
This brought in enough to supply the boat
with 40 kg of salt meat, 20 kg of hard tack,
35 kg of tinned goods, some tea, coffee and
condensed milk, and no less than 400 liters of
drinking-water.
In order to survive storms, the New Bedford Whenever husband and wife were below deck,
remained patiently on a sea anchor with its this was managed by a bit of sail at the back
bow facing into the wind. of the family boat.

Chapter 6: New Bedford 39

 New Bedford

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 5.97 m
L.w.l.: 5.66 m
W.: 1.88 m
D.: 0.36 m
Displ.: 1.5 t
Sail surf.:3.75 m²

40 Chapter 6: New Bedford

Chapter 6: New Bedford 41
 New Bedford
Once all this was aboard, with another 90 kg
of stones as extra deadweight, there remained
less than 50 cm of freeboard, so that Joanna
could barely stretch out in the small starboard
berth below deck.
On the morning of July 2, 1877, its name pen-
nant was hoisted and the New Bedford sailed
out of Chatham harbor, sent off by a huge,
curious crowd.
In the beginning, the voyage itself proved a
great deal better than expected. The couple
took the helm in turn, and Joanna even man-
aged to heat up a little something now and then
over a paraffin lamp, brought along at the last
minute. Then they encountered a period of rain
and fog with hardly a breath of wind. Joanna
did not have oilskins or anything similar, so
she got drenched.
Moreover, it started to get moldy below deck,
and they longed for a breeze. But after a
couple of days, they were begging for less
wind, as the New Bedford encountered its first
storm. This was also when Thomas discovered
that a small tip of mizzen and a sea anchor
make things a lot safer. On the huge comb-
ers, the tiny, weighed-down vessel remained
neatly with her head into the waves and
hardly took over any spray. For more than
24 hours, Thomas locked himself below deck
with Joanna, warming his afflicted wife, who
was by now not quite convinced of a favorable
outcome.
Later on, the New Bedford and her crew were
to be tried by an even more violent gale. But
then Thomas knew what to do. In order to resist
the most dangerous breakers, he stood in the
fore hatch for hours, ‘steering’ the boat head-
first into the waves by way of two anchor lines
attached to the sea anchor. Under these circum-
stances, it must have been indescribable below
deck - soaking wet, pitch-dark and stifling.
42 Chapter 6: New Bedford
Indeed, the voyage almost came a cropper.
On July 12, the New Bedford found itself in
the middle of the Atlantic. It was midnight,
and Joanna had taken over the helm from
Thomas who was dead-beat from steering in
bad weather. They were close to the direct
shipping route between London and New
York. At that moment a steamship approached,
and the navigating officer naturally did not see
the puny little sailing yacht, which was only lit
by a single tiny oil lamp.
Also, Joanna did not notice a thing, for she
had fallen asleep. Thomas awoke with a start
at the sound of the approaching steamer, and
in the nick of time the New Bedford escaped a
gruesome collision in the middle of the ocean.
This gave Thomas Crapo such a shock that
afterwards he refused to let Joanna take the
helm for even a second.
It meant going for days without sleep, subse-
quently having to lay hove to heave to out of
sheer necessity in order to regain strength. To
avoid collision, the boat sailed at night, while
its skipper only rested during the daytime
when visibility was good.
On the evening of the 21st of July, 1877, these
brave persistent sailors put into the port of
Newlyn in Cornwall, exhausted but highly
relieved. Here, there was no one to welcome
them. The New Bedford was moored safely
alongside a fishing boat, and Joanna now sug-
gested making a nice cup of hot, strong tea.
We can imagine what it must have tasted like
to them.
The next day lying in was out of the ques-
tion, for the fishing village got wind of what
an extraordinary little boat had moored there.
The reception in the UK was overwhelming.
The New Bedford was taken to London by
train, where it was exhibited for six weeks at
Alexander Palace.
The tiny vessel, which now had become
world-famous, subsequently made a public-
ity tour along many British harbors, naturally
with Joanna at the helm.
This brought in enough money to return home
by luxury steamer, with the New Bedford
neatly stowed on deck. Once they were back in
the United States, even more publicity, exhibi-
tions and talks by Thomas provided consider-
able capital, with which the couple bought an
old schooner.
The money was then invested in a larger ship,
the brig Manson, which Crapo acquired in
1895. Unfortunately, he lost this ship after
only three years due to a stranding. From the
insurance, Thomas was able to buy another
boat. This schooner, the Gustie Wilson, was
lost during a storm off Cape Hatteras, and the
Crapos then ran into financial foul weather.

In May, 1899, Thomas decided upon a new

publicity stunt in order to escape the doldrums.
He had a small boat built, not even four meters
long, called the Volunteer on which he intend-
ed to sail from New York to Cuba.
This time there was no room for Joanna,
though we do not know whether this brave
Scottish lady still fancied putting out to sea
after so much misery.

Whatever the cause, no one saw Thomas alive

again. A few weeks after his departure, his
body was washed ashore in South Carolina.
Of his Volunteer, not even a sliver of the hull
survived. Still, the weather had been beautiful
in the area of the crossing.
Probably exactly the same thing happened as
almost became fatal to the New Bedford 22
years earlier. The sleeping skipper was prob-
ably bashed to smithereens when run down by Sail plan
a steamer.

Chapter 6: New Bedford 43

 7. Nautilus
Skipper During the 1870’s, the crossings from
William Andrews
Walter Andrews
America to England in tiny sailing yachts
received wide publicity. Both Johnson and
Ship
Nautilus
the Crapo couple enjoyed a fame compa-
rable only to that of today’s sport heroes.
Crew
It must have been this desire for fame that
none
prompted the Andrews brothers in 1878 to
Year
try their hand at such an adventure.
1878
They were certainly no experienced yachts-
Particulars
men, though they knew the sea from their
Piano maker
and artist cross time as fishermen aboard the Grand Banks
from Boston schooners. William Andrews was 35 and
to Le Havre
worked as a piano maker in Gloucester. His
brother, twelve years younger, was an artist
who made wood-carvings.
Their plan for a crossing was bold and perhaps
a little rash, for both were rookie sailors. In
any case, they started out with the assumption
that their boat would have to be smaller than
Thomas and Joanna Crapo’s, which had man-
aged to cross the Atlantic in 1877.
They knew the dory from experience and
had something similar built in Gloucester in
preparation for their voyage. It was fitted with
a deck and a low superstructure, and they
believed that, with the wind from the aft, a tri-
angular ‘Latin’ sail would be sufficient to get
them to England. They christened their vessel
Nautilus and painted a French tricolor on it,
as their intention was to make straight for the
west coast of France.
After stowing sufficient provisions for 60
days, including 270 liters of drinking-water,
the boat left Boston on the 7th of July, 1878,
but was soon back again in America. In
Beverly, a number of repairs had to be done
to the rigging with which the brothers were
totally unfamiliar. Probably their lack of expe-
rience with Latin sails had proved a handicap.
However, not in the least discouraged, the two
set out again five days later.
The little boat meticulously followed the usual
44 Chapter 7: Nautilus
shipping route across the Atlantic, encoun-
tering no less than 37 ships that faithfully
reported the little blue, white and red vessel’s
progress and position by telegraph.
As long as the wind was abaft, all went well
aboard. The Nautilus was absolutely unable to
sail close-hauled, for this dory had neither a
keel nor a centerboard. As soon as the wind’s
direction became unfavorable, the brothers
put their boat on a sea anchor and took a nap
below deck. Luxury it did not have.
There was no room at all for bunks or anything
resembling this, so one simply slept on the
boat’s bottom, in the bilge water. One may
certainly wonder whether the brothers ever got
out of their oilskins. The health of the young-
est, Walter, became cause for alarm, for he
hardly ate and started vomiting a great deal of
blood. There was no doctor at hand, and soon
Walter was hardly able to keep the helm.
Still, the boat’s progress was not bad at all.
Aided by favorable weather, the Nautilus had
days when it covered more than 100 miles at
a stretch. It was navigated with a sextant and
a chronometer. Unfortunately the chronometer
fell into disrepair, and thus it became hard to
arrive at even an approximate orientation.
After this, the brothers sailed eastwards on the
off-chance, gradually drifting further and fur-
ther from their goal, the west coast of France.
Just before land appeared ahead, the Nautilus
was hit by a violent storm. William had to use
oil to calm the waves assailing the little boat on
its sea anchor. Fortunately, the brothers were
not aware of their exact position - England
was close at lee rail. To their surprise, they saw
the lighthouse of Cape Lizard looming ahead
the morning after the storm. They decided to
make for Mullen Cove, where they remained
for three days to catch their breath.
Afterwards, they sailed further down the
Channel, reaching Le Havre two days later.
Their actual crossing had only taken 48 days,
and in that sense they had beaten Crapo by more
than three days - and in a smaller boat to boot.
Unfortunately, this fact did not really cause a stir.
True, the Nautilus did go on exhibition in Paris
and London, but the general public found Joanna
Crapo a great deal more interesting.
Due to lack of funds, William Andrews was
forced to leave his little boat in France, where it
soon fell apart due to neglect.
Within a few years, almost everyone had forgot-
ten the record they had set, yet this is precisely
the reason why they should be included in this
book of ocean pioneers.
If one sees their tiny boat with its strange rig-
ging and knows that Walter hardly counted for
anything on board, one is left with the greatest
admiration for that forgotten piano maker from
1878, Williams Andrews from Gloucester and
his Nautilus.
Chapter 7: Nautilus 45
 Nautilus

46 Chapter 7: Nautilus
Chapter 7: Nautilus 47
 8. Pacific
Skipper The tiny boat that Bernard Gilboy ordered
Bernard Gilboy
at the small shipyard of Burns & Kneass in
Ship San Francisco was something special.
Pacific
More than a century ago – in 1882 to
Crew be exact – Gilboy’s aspirations were sur-
none
prisingly revolutionary. He wanted to sail
Year single-handedly from San Francisco to
1882 – 1883
Australia in a sailing yacht that was a mere
Particulars 5.50 meters long. This trip he intended to
Nonstop solo from
accomplish without any stops, thus by-pass-
San Francisco to
Australia ing all the Polynesian enchantments and
remaining totally self-reliant.
His venture aroused great public interest, for
it was regarded as quite impossible and det-
rimental to the development of sailing as a
sport, which at that time was still the preroga-
tive of a small, well-to-do group.
There was the fear that many daredevils would
follow Gilboy’s example and subsequently
vanish together with their little ships, without
a trace and without ever attaining their goal.
The bad publicity of such suicidal undertak-
ings might be disastrous for the future image
of sailing as a noble sport.
If Gilboy could only have suspected what his
reckless enterprise had in store for him, he
would perhaps not have attempted it. It was to
turn into a real adventure, and it was simply
due to good luck that he lived to tell the tale.
Still, the solitary yachtsman had not neglected
to prepare himself seriously.
Gilboy was an experienced seafarer who real-
ized that one has to be very careful on a small
boat and should leave little to chance.
As he did not have much money, Gilboy was
unable to have a big yacht built. He, there-
fore, chose a small so-called ‘whaling sloop’,
constructed in 1882. The 5.5 meter boat had a
small schooner’s gaff rig, with a surface of a
little over thirteen square meters.
48 Chapter 8: Pacific
Compared with its displacement of 1.3 tons,
it was highly under-rigged. Therefore, it was
not to be expected that the planned distance
of more than 7000 miles would be covered
easily. He estimated doing it in four months’
time, presuming that his average sailing speed
would be 2.4 knots. As a precautionary mea-
sure, he had a watertight bulkhead fitted in
the middle of the boat, besides placing two
unstayed little masts in watertight trunks.
Gilboy set out on the 18th of August, 1882,
for a nonstop voyage to Australia. He had 560
liters of drinking-water on board and provi-
sions to last him for four months. All went
smoothly at the outset of the trip. For days
on end, the Pacific did her maximum speed
of five knots. A strong running wind saw to
it that, after five days, Gilboy had covered
more than 700 miles, completing a tenth of
the intended stretch. Not long afterwards, the
Pacific ran into the doldrums, in which Gilboy
drifted around helplessly for a month.
The hull became largely covered in growth,
and with so little wind the speed was alarm-
ingly slow. Also, it was impossible to sail the
Pacific close-hauled as it did not have a keel,
while its skipper moreover, was unable to
belay the helm without running into problems
with his course. In order to get some sleep, the
only solution was to heave the boat to.
It was agonizingly slow, but the brave skipper
deliberately kept on navigating far from the
alluring islands. Thus, he skirted Tahiti and
even when passing right by Tonga did not give
up his venture, but simply waved to the people
on the beach. Gilboy was a man of great char-
acter and drive, and on the 13th of December
there were only 1450 miles left to Australia.
Then fate caught up with him. Sailing before a
strong dead-aft breeze, the skipper’s attention
flagged for a second and the Pacific began to
broach on a huge wave.
The boat capsized and continued to float
upside-down, with Gilboy next to her in the
water. In order to right the boat, Gilboy dived
under the deck and wrested the two masts out
of their trunks. After struggling for more than
an hour, he got the Pacific upright again, but
she was a sorry sight. Her mainsail, helm and
compass had disappeared, and she was half-
filled with water, so that the hard tack had
become inedible.
Because the front hatch was gone, a consider-
able number of tins had also vanished. The
skipper bailed out his boat and put together a
small jury-rig from an oar and a storm staysail,
fitted on the rear mast’s trunk.
In doing so, he was left with only nine square
meters of sail! To make matters worse, a
swordfish rammed into his battered little boat,
causing a bad leak that compelled Gilboy to
keep on bailing night and day.
He ate the barnacles slowing down his little
boat below the water line and caught the odd
flying fish, becoming weaker by the day.
It was the beginning of January, 1883, and the
seafarer found himself in a hopeless position.
He hardly made any progress at all, was fam-
ished and ‘all at sea’, without any compass or
food. And at that point, he was still 1200 miles
from the safety of the Australian coast.
Less than 300 miles from the Australian coast,
Gilboy was accidentally discovered by the
crew of the three-master Alfred Vittery.
By that time, the poor Bernard Gilboy had
already lost consciousness, and it was the
ship’s doctor who saved him.
The Pacific completed the last 500 miles of her
voyage on the deck of the merchantman.
Still, Gilboy’s feat – sailing non-stop for 164
After having
days, all on his own – deeply impressed the
lost one of her
world. On average, he had done a little under masts, the
two knots, but considering both his unfortunate Pacific drifted
helplessly on
adventures and the boat’s size this was still an the ocean in the
admirable achievement. burning sun.
Chapter 8: Pacific 49
 Pacific

Sail plan

50 Chapter 8: Pacific
Chapter 8: Pacific 51
 10. Neversink
Skipper Contrary to many other ocean pioneers who
Josiah W. Lawlor saw their crossing as a challenge but had
Ship very little money to finance their adventure,
Neversink the Neversink was a sponsored affair. There
Crew: Norwegian were funds galore, as the Norton Company
sailor had initiated and financed the whole enter-
Passenger: the prise.
Norton Company’s
financial director
The Norton firm was working on an invention
Year: 1889 for stabilizing lifeboats. In the 1880s, these
Particulars: came in two types: first, rowing-cum-sailing
Sponsored cross- boats that overturned at the drop of a hat, but
ing from Boston to
Le Havre
which soon righted themselves due to their
deck shape. These were lightly built and could
be easily launched from the beach with a horse
and cart. The second type was all too stable
because of excessive deadweight in the keel,
and it took a lot of time and effort to get them
into the water.
In 1885, Captain Norton invented a displace-
able water-ballast system for lifeboats. In
order to test it, the Norton company had a
sturdy sailing yacht built in the fashion of
the day and fitted this with two water tanks
along the side-decks. The idea was that after
launching, 50% of these ballast tanks would
fill up, simply by means of an outboard valve.
There was, furthermore, a duct interconnect-
ing the starboard and the portside tank. Also,
in between these water tanks, there was an air
pressure tank with valves, pressurized by a
hand-operated air pump.
Because of the air pressure system and the
valves, the whole starboard or portside tank
could be filled with water, thus emptying the
reservoir opposite. Also, it was thus possible
to clear out both water tanks. This was the
lifeboat’s secret principle. In short, we have
here what any competitor in the Vendée Globe
has today: a fluid crew on the high side.
58 Chapter 10: Neversink
The boat was named Neversink, as it was esti-
mated that, with empty tanks and watertight
bulkheads fore and aft, this sloop (weighing
more than eleven tons) would be unsinkable
– provided it wasn’t run down by a steamer,
smashed to smithereens by a whale, or torn
to bits by heavy seas on some inhospitable
coast.
These latter apprehensions made the headlines
when Norton announced that his firm wanted
her to cross the Atlantic with three people on
board. The designer’s son, Josiah W. Lawlor,
was appointed skipper. His father, Dennison
J. Lawlor, had drawn the Neversink entirely
as a luxury sailing yacht, so that after the
enterprise he would not be left with an unmar-
ketable ship at the quay. Also the company’s
financial director was to come along, probably
as financial security. This ‘passenger’ with no
sailing experience whatsoever did, of course,
not count as a real crew member, which is why
an able-bodied Norwegian sailor was hired as
well.
Well-equipped, thoroughly prepared and fully
confident in the Norton system, the conspicu-
ously painted yacht left Boston very early
one morning for France. It was the 22nd of
May, 1889. In the calm, rather misty weather,
the Neversink soon disappeared from view.
Although the journey across the Atlantic was
certainly no pleasure trip for the passenger, the
whole thing was neatly organized. Every day
there was a wholesome hot meal, prepared by
the Norwegian sailor in his own fo’c’sle. The
bunk-cum-bedroom and saloon were comfort-
able and cozy.
Thanks to the water ballast, the Neversink sailed remarkably fast.
A day of 150 miles was not unusual

Chapter 10: Neversink 59

 Neversink

60 Chapter 10: Neversink

The Neversink’s Norton system.
The water tanks at the sides could be emptied via the air-pressure tank under the
bridge deck.
At the feet of the helmsman, the duct connecting the reservoirs had been fitted with
a portside valve.
Two air valves (on either side of the pressure tank) could shift the water ballast from
one tank to the other, or could dump all the water into the sea.
The sailor on the payroll slept in the fore in a hammock and cooked a good meal.
Apart from the Norton system, the Neversink was also remarkable for being a com-
fortable and well-constructed yacht, ahead of its time.

Chapter 10: Neversink 61

 Neversink
Lawlor proved to be a calm and able captain,
expert at assessing danger and thanks to the
displaceable deadweight, the Neversink made
good headway. With averages of 150 miles a
day, a record crossing seemed within reach.
But inevitably, at a certain point, she landed
in a heavy storm. Under bare poles and with
warps astern, Lawlor tried to keep the boat
on course. But this was not enough and he
decided to ride out nature’s violence on a sea
anchor. At that point, a double-reefed little
spanker proved a blessing, for it turned the
heavy Neversink into a comfortable, closed-
off buoy, impervious to the storm.
The principle of the Neversink’s water ballast tanks is that the
water is lifted when under heel. This deadweight reduces the
boat’s angle during a constant wind.
Because the ship has more depth due to the water ballast, the
side with the empty tank has extra up-thrust.
62 Chapter 10: Neversink
A few days later during a north-westerly storm,
a breaker coming from the rear shattered the
tiller. There was no one in the cockpit when
it filled up, so they lived to record this event
for posterity in the journal. On June 28, 1889,
the yacht reached Le Havre. She subsequently
sailed up the Seine to Paris, mooring there on
the 4th of July.
It was in Paris that she was exhibited at the
world fair of 1889, and so both the ship and the
Norton system got the limelight the firm was
looking for. One had to admit that this system
could make a ship very seaworthy, but it also
had a disadvantage. The tanks took up quite a
bit of room, and there was the fear that, with
this water ballast, not everyone would be able
to react in time.
Perhaps such critics had some foresight. Two
years later Norton, his relatives and a few
friends disappeared from the face of the earth
while crossing the Atlantic in a steamer fitted
with the Norton system.
The cause of their disappearance was never
known, but it spelled the end of the water bal-
last tank and its inventor.
It is remarkable that it took the yachting world
almost three quarters of a century to rediscover
this old invention.
The Neversink sailed from Boston to Le
Havre in a month and six days, and in doing so
set a record for such a relatively small yacht.
Water ballast tanks provide a ship with a great
sail-bearing capacity, conducive to speed.
Now that they have proved useful for round-
the-globe voyages, it should not be forgotten
that it was Norton who invented this system.
Measurements:
L.o.a.: 10.98 m
L.w.l.: 9.14 m
W.: 3.66 m
D.: 1.38 m
Displ.: 11.4 t
Sail surf.:86.20 m2

Sail plan

A typical American yacht from the end of the nineteenth century with a large amount of water displacement,
not very deep and rather broad.
In many respects a very well-balanced and effective design, which calmly resisted two storms on a sea anchor.
The yawl rigging was of great help here because of its wind-vane characteristics.
The high bow was able to manage the seas effectively.

Chapter 10: Neversink 63

 11. Sea Serpent
Skipper: In the nineteenth century, challenges and
Joshia W. Lawler
wagers played an important part in the
Ship: development of ocean sailing. It was a time
Sea Serpent
when no one in his right mind set out to
Crew: sea in a tiny boat. One did so in big, rather
none
comfortable yachts at least twenty meters in
Year: length, and with a well-trained crew to take
1891
care of the work on deck.
Particulars: However, those who had crossed the ocean
First transatlantic
in small boats certainly received wide pub-
solo race
licity and became heroes once their venture
was successful. The piano builder Andrews
was just such a hero who, together with his
sick brother, managed to reach Europe in
the Nautilus (see chapter 7).
Stimulated by his fame in the United States,
he continued his maritime activities.
Andrews started designing unusual boats, one
of which was a real treasure trove of new
ideas. The Dark Secret was less than 4.30 m
long and had watertight compartments, a hol-
low keel for 160 liters of drinking-water, and
100 kilos of under keel ballast that Andrews
could cast off by means of a butterfly nut.
He surmised that removable ballast might
prove useful in an emergency.
The boat’s equipment contained various nov-
elties as well, and in her he intended to sail
single-handedly from America to England.
The New York World wrote that Andrews had
small torpedoes at his disposal to scare away
the whales, a novel waterproof suit, a rocket
installation to shoot waterproof envelopes
with reports of his latest experiences to pass-
ing ships and furthermore a float with a flag
on it.
The idea behind this was that, should the Dark
Secret and her skipper disappear without a
trace, the latter contraption would be discov-
ered and the ship’s last position could be deter-
mined. One thing is certain - Andrews wanted
to become news even after his death.
64 Chapter 11: Sea Serpent
The project did not turn out well.
The solitary yachtsman was plagued by a
constant head wind, so that his badly tacking
yacht hardly made any progress at all towards
England. After 62 days of miserable, wet sail-
ing in his heavily leaking little vessel, he gave
up the struggle halfway across the Atlantic and
accepted a return trip on board the Norwegian
barque Nor.
Not in the least discouraged by this failure, he
then announced that he dared anyone to cross
the Atlantic in competition with him.
With a view to this, he put up 5000 dollars of
prize money and a silver cup for the one who,
in a solo voyage in a yacht no longer than 4.50
m, managed to reach England first.
He then went on to build his tiny Mermaid.
His new idea was to try it in a small center-
board dinghy. He was overjoyed when his
challenge was taken up by another American
pioneer, Joshua Lawlor, who only recently
had made a successful crossing from west to
east in the peculiar little Neversink (chapter
10). Lawlor had his father, the well-known
designer and ship builder Dennison J. Lawlor,
construct the Sea Serpent.
Probably the name was rather tongue-in-cheek,
for once she hit the water the chubby little
counter-stern sloop, with her prescribed length
and deep ballast keel, didn’t look a bit like a
serpent. But during several sea trials, her funny
rigging very soon proved to work excellently.
When there was little wind, Lawlor attached a
kind of kite to the big triangular mainsail’s aft,
supported by a long sprit.
This gave the yacht about 25 percent more
sail, so that she became slightly luff where
before she had been leeward. Moreover, the
Sea Serpent’s course appeared very stable and
she tacked expertly.
Meanwhile, Andrews had also launched his The wind increased and, without any under
Mermaid, and so the first transatlantic solo keel ballast, the barely seaworthy Mermaid
race was ready to start surrounded by a great capsized twice.
deal of publicity. On the 21st of June, 1891, Andrews had a lot of trouble getting his little
two tiny boats left Crescent Beach near Boston ship upright again and drying it.
destined for Mullion Cove close to Land’s
End, where the Nautilus had landed years In the meantime, the Sea Serpent soon had The solo yachts-
before - all in all, a distance of 2500 miles. a considerable lead, but Lawlor also over- man was over-
turned twice when,
The race turned out very differently from what turned twice when his tiny counter-stern sloop
due to a huge
the contestants had imagined. Andrews’ plan broached. Thanks to the ballast keel nothing wave, his boat
was to steer more southerly than Lawlor. went really wrong; Lawlor did not go over- broached to.
Afterwards, the
However, a persistent south-easterly wind in board and the little boat righted itself. ship proved to be
fact favoured the Sea Serpent, which because More and more wind spelled serious problems practically undam-
aged and had
of her keel and ballast could steer a higher for Andrews and his Mermaid, which then hardly taken in
course. capsized no less than five times! any water.

Chapter 11: Sea Serpent 65

 Sea Serpent
One time the brave yachtsman truly
found himself in a predicament
when she remained floating upside-
down, with Andrews flat against the
underside of her submerged deck.
With great difficulty, he managed
to open his sliding hatch and so
escaped drowning.
It took him more than half an hour
to get his Mermaid upright again.
By then a great deal of provisions
had been lost.
What is more, the storm continued to
rage and Andrew’s situation became
more desperate by the hour.
On the 20th of August, 1891, the
numbed, wet and famished yachts-
man, who had completed only 600
miles of his intended trip, was saved
by the steamer Ebrus, sailing for
Antwerp.
The brave little boat was abandoned
to the elements, and it was with
relief that the world heard the news
that Andrews was still alive.
Elsewhere on the Atlantic, the Sea
Serpent had had an encounter with
a big shark that started gnawing her
bow. According to reports of the
time, Lawlor got rid of the beast by
a very cool-headed action.
He wrapped a signaling cartridge in
a newspaper, lit the fuse and threw
the package at the shark’s head.
The voracious monster devoured it
in one gulp, whereupon it exploded.
After this adventure, the Sea Serpent
reached the finish in England on the
44th day of her crossing.
66 Chapter 11: Sea Serpent
She had covered 2800 miles, at an
average of 2.7 miles a day.
Andrews wanted revenge and time
and again attempted to reach Europe
in ever-smaller vessels. Andrew’s
frenzied attempts would cost
Lawlor, the winner of the first race,
dearly. In 1892, he decided to sail
against Andrews again, this time
from Newfoundland to Ireland.
After leaving in his boat the
Christopher Columbus, his adver-
sary decided to change his destina-
tion.
Andrews coursed with his col-
lapsible little folding dinghy, the
Sapolio, from Atlantic City to Palos
in Spain, where the celebrations of
Columbus’ discovery of America,
400 years ago, were in full swing.
When Andrews finally arrived there
after ten weeks, he got a hero’s
reception. Here he learnt that his
competitor Lawlor had gone miss-
ing and that not even so much as a
sliver of the Christopher Columbus
had reached Ireland.
 The Sea Serpent was a
seaworthy little vessel.
The helm cockpit was
watertight, but not self-
draining.
A deep ballast keel
made this tiny clinker-
built counter-stern sloop
uncapsizable.

Design:
Dennison Lawlor

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 4.48 m
L.w.l.: 4.12 m
W.: 2.06 m
D.: 1.45 m
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Displ.: 1.3 t
Sail surf.:28.4 m2

1 Hurricane lantern on a bare mast as a small
point of reference.
2 Escape hatch.
3 The ‘auxiliary engine’ consisted of two long
oars in the rigging.
4 The cabin floor was painted in the colors of
navigation lights (red/green), so that Lawlor
might orient himself very quickly as to the
direction from which danger threatened.
5 Both provisions and drinking-water for emer-
gencies under the cabin sole.
6 Cast-iron under keel ballast weighing 800 kg.
7 Five-hundred kilos of interior deadweight in
the form of pebbles.
8 A barrel containing 200 liters of distilled
water.
9 Wardrobe-cum-sail maker’s workshop. Note
the horn with sail maker’s needles hanging
from the mast.
10 Storm jib and a sea anchor with 100 m of
anchor chain.

Chapter 11: Sea Serpent 67

 12. Great Western
Skipper: Howard Blackburn lost the fingers of both
Howard
Blackburn
his hands when, in 1883, as a young fisher-
man in his dory he was separated from his
Ship:
Great
mother ship, the schooner Grace L. Fears,
Western some 60 miles from Newfoundland.
For him and his chum Tom Welch, it was
Crew:
none touch and go.
They devised an impromptu sea anchor,
Year:
1899 and had to keep on bailing out and chop-
ping the ice off their dory for two days and
Particulars:
Solo crossing by two nights in order not to founder.
a man with no The exhausted Tom Welch died of hypo-
fingers.
thermia. When the storm settled, the moth-
er ship had vanished.
The only thing Blackburn could do was try and
row to the Newfoundland coast.
He had lost his gloves in the storm and his fin-
gers were totally stiff, but he bravely remained
at the oars for three days, fighting for his life
with frozen hands.
More dead than alive, he was found by a local
family. Blackburn had not had anything to
eat or drink for a week, was exhausted, and
his hands and feet were seriously frostbitten.
It cost him all of his fingers, half of his two
thumbs and most of his toes.
It was a miracle that he survived at all.
In 1898, he went to see Hugh Bishop, a
designer of fishing schooners who had made
a name for himself with the fastest Gloucester
sloops in Nova Scotia.
And that was what Blackburn ordered,
although one reduced in size to about 10 m.
In this, he intended to cross the Great Pond all
on his own.
Bishop tried to put him off the idea, explain-
ing that, without fingers, he would be unable
to manage even a diminutive Gloucester sloop
all by himself, but Blackburn could not be
persuaded to abandon his plan.
68 Chapter 12: Great Western
Bishop’s shipyard built a beautiful little yacht.
Blackburn refused to interfere with her propor-
tions and did not want a cabin superstructure,
however low.
Because of this, there was only crawl space
below deck, but that was all he needed.
He maintained that what he did on board was
entirely his own concern.
For, there would be no one to witness his pecu-
liar way of going about things. ‘An invalid
like me does everything aboard just a little dif-
ferently than usual.’ Still, a few things below
decks had been adapted.
Thus drawers and doors did not have grips
or handles, but instead apertures into which
Howard could insert his whole fist.
With his knee, he could lift the lid of the
portside bench, the underside of which then
became a navigation table.
Seated on a thwart, leaning on his elbows, pen-
cil in mouth, the skipper worked here, setting
out his course and establishing his positions.
Above deck there were also facilities for the
fingerless yachtsman. All halyards and sheets
could be belayed from the helm.
Blackburn was in the habit of winding the
ropes around his waist and then securing the
hauling part of the line over a clamp, thus put-
ting pressure on the line by shifting his body.
What ingenious feats Howard performed to
light his paraffin stove or get a noon altitude,
he never disclosed. He simply said ‘no one
likes to see such fumbling’.
With 250 liters of water in a tank under
the bridge deck plus victuals for 90 days,
Blackburn left for England on Sunday the 18th
of June.
During the daytime, skipper Blackburn let his Great Western drift on a sea anchor.

Chapter 12: Great Western 69

 Great Western

70 Chapter 12: Great Western

The Great Western was a miniature
Gloucester sloop.
With no shelter whatsoever, but
with a very good view, the fingerless
Blackburn often sat at the steering
wheel for more than 30 hours on end.
Below deck, there was a lot of ‘knee
grip’, but it was barely high enough
there to sit up straight.
The interior ballast consisted of iron
bars.

Chapter 12: Great Western 71

 Great Western
It soon appeared that the Great Western was
not entirely suited to the crossing with an
invalid yachtsman as the sole person aboard.
The boat was in need of constant attention,
over rigged, could not be kept on course and
was highly luff.
After a series of experiments, Blackburn
replaced his 53 m2 mainsail by a storm sail
of 12 m2.
Now the boat was better balanced, but with
5 m2 of sail per ton of displacement was, of
course, greatly under rigged.
To make matters worse, the weather was very
calm - a persistent lull - relieved occasionally
by a faint wind from the east.
It became a protracted and fatiguing journey.
One night Howard managed to dodge, more by
luck than by skill, the sharp bow of a steamer.
After this, he decided not to heave to at night,
but to sail then instead, keeping a sharp look-
out for any lights drawing near.
During the daytime, he thus left his boat to
drift on a sea anchor, hoping that the little
storm sail on his topping lift would be spotted.
Unfortunately, Howard then encountered a
very windy and rainy period.
Under such circumstances, he was practi-
cally invisible even during the daytime, and he
therefore decided to sleep as little as possible.
At the end of the voyage, Blackburn often kept
himself tied to his steering wheel for more
than 30 hours on end, fighting sleep.
Miraculously he succeeded!
On the 16th of August, he sighted the Scilly
Isles. Two days later, the exhausted Blackburn
moored at King’s Road in England. He didn’t
get any sleep then either, for the journalists
came thronging to see the invalid solo yachts-
man.
72 Chapter 12: Great Western
Thanks to this publicity, Blackburn was able to
sell his Great Western very profitably.
Twelve months after his superhuman perfor-
mance, Blackburn made a two-year cruise
through and around the United States in a boat
some seven meters long.
During this voyage, he and an assistant did
not hesitate to drag their vessel through the
muddy, 60 kilometer-long Chicago Drainage
Canal.
When using the towpath along the canal banks,
where no one had walked for years, Blackburn
came upon hundreds of snakes, some of them
coiling around his feet.
According to his companion, many of them
were six or seven feet long.
In 1903, Blackburn tried twice more to make
an Atlantic solo crossing, this time in a five
meter-long dory called the America.
His little boat was overturned practically in the
same spot where he had lost his fingers. After
the ship had righted itself, the equipment and
food for the crossing were lost.
Blackburn returned to Clark’s Harbour in
Nova Scotia for new equipment.
A few days later, he set out once more, but
again his boat capsized in a storm.
It was only because he just managed to grab
the main boom that he did not drown.
He got the dory upright and continued his
voyage.
Alas, a couple of days later his knee became
septic, so that he was forced to give up the
Atlantic and return to Nova Scotia.
Design: Hugh Bishop

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 9.58 m
L.w.l.: 8.10 m
W.: 2.66 m
D.: 1.30 m
Displ.: 7.43 t
Sail surf.:53.50 m2

Chapter 12: Great Western 73

 13. Tilikum
Skipper: With Voss and his passenger, the Tilikum
John Claus Voss
was sailing in the dead of night towards
Ship: the harbor of Port Nicholson, where the
Tilikum
Pencarrow lighthouse usually indicates the
Crew: eastern entrance. The light there is very
The journalist John
high and is therefore visible from a distance
Luxton, among others
of 30 sea miles.
Year:
However, there was bad weather due and
1901
the wind freshened, so Voss decided to do
Particulars:
what any sensible yachtsman would in such
Around the world in a
small fishing canoe a case: he changed course and, in order to
ride out the storm, sought room off the New
Zealand coast on open sea.
A few hours later the wind subsided and the
air seemed to clear.
Voss then decided to steer in the direction
of Wellington again. Yet, to his surprise
Pencarrow Light was nowhere to be seen, not
even when, according to his dead reckoning,
he was supposed to be clearly in sight of the
harbor.
In a time without satellite navigation, this was
a mystery. He put his passenger at the helm
and stood at the bow of his ship keeping his
eyes peeled.
Still, there was no light visible, whereupon he
decided to turn around and wait for dawn, for
he certainly smelled land and could hear the
surf. Then, a couple of hours later, Pencarrow
Light suddenly appeared almost right above
the masts, and he realized that low clouds had
been blocking it.
In 1901, John Claus Voss, a Canadian captain
of a barque, was without work in Victoria,
British Columbia, when the journalist Luxton
challenged him: ‘Do you think you could
sail around the world in a boat smaller than
Captain Slocum’s Spray?
There’s a stake of 5000 dollars, and if we cross
three oceans half of it is yours.
What is more, I’ll publish a book about our
voyage and we’ll also share the royalties.’
74 Chapter 13: Tilikum
Voss was surprised that Luxton wanted to par-
ticipate in the voyage. The journalist was far
from ‘seaworthy’ and no yachtsman at all. But
the adventure was tempting and he decided to
accept.
From an Indian tribe on Vancouver Island Voss
found a fishing canoe nine meters long, made
from a hollowed-out tree trunk.
This he converted into the Tilikum seen here.
As such, it was an enormous achievement,
for in doing so the tiny boat became a highly
seaworthy vessel.
Contrary to the famous Spray, which was
broad, heavy and unwieldy, Voss had chosen a
narrow, strong little boat.
Her rigging was the invention of the age. From
the helm cockpit, Voss could hoist, handle and
take in his four little sails.
During fine weather, he had one tiny reef at
the most, and when the wind started blowing
and he had to sail against it, he could simply
manage by taking in a bit of sail to start with
at the rear.
At more than wind force 7, he had the Tilikum
heave to under the jib and the reefed fore
mainsail. When the wind freshened, all sails
were lowered, with the exception of a mere
two square meters of cloth right at the back.
Voss then cast out his sturdy sea anchor on a
40 meter long hawser and left the high seawor-
thy bow – which had lots of displacement – to
struggle with the storm.
Compared with the bows we see nowadays,
the Tilikum’s high stem was far better suited
to cleaving the breakers.
Furthermore, due to her slight width, the
canoe’s course appeared to be very stable.
When trimmed, the four little sails enabled one
to find an excellent self-steering balance. This
also worked well when reaching.
A century ago, Voss took a leisurely voyage
around the world in his hollowed-out tree trunk.
He braved three gales and put in at fifty differ-
ent ports and islands.
The small three-master achieved something quite
incredible thanks to her very experienced sailor,
who wanted to prove that a ship’s size has noth-
ing to do with her seaworthiness.

Chapter 13: Tilikum 75

 Tilikum
From an Indian canoe to a worldwide sail-
ing yacht.
In September 1901, Voss acquired – for a
reasonable price and a bottle of whiskey – a
fifty-year old canoe built by Indian fisher-
men in the southwest of Canada.
Additionally, he was given the skull of a
great Indian ancestor as protection against
adversity.
Voss started to rebuild his possession, first
furnishing the hollowed-out tree trunk with
a solid keel containing deadweight.
76 Chapter 13: Tilikum
Then he made curved frames and built up
the hull. Together with eleven floor plates
and three watertight bulkheads, the canoe
was thus seriously reinforced.
Subsequently, he put in a deck with a super-
structure, and after adding a few primitive
furnishings it became an inhabitable little
ship.
Finally, Voss came up with a rigging consist-
ing of three small poles and four sails.
1 Good-luck charm Indian skull in the fore 10 Steering cables to the rudder
2 Curved frames 11 Rigging consisting of four small sails
3 Floors 12 Indian figurehead
4 Overall heavy keel member 13 Copper tank with drinking-water
5 Hollowed-out log’s skin 14 Voss’ narrow bunk
6 Hatch to the fore 15 Tinned foodstuffs under a bench to portside
7 Coach roof 16 Small galley with coal stove
8 Cockpit 17 Stone ballast
9 Simple rigging 18 Attached rudder

Chapter 13: Tilikum 77

 Tilikum
It would take us too long to describe all of Voss’ Captain Voss in front
of his Tilikum
adventures during his three-year voyage around the
world. One thing is certain - never was there a bet-
ter little boat for such a gigantic undertaking.
And it is also certain that very few people nowa-
days would be able to cope for three years on end
with the Tilikum’s lack of modern conveniences
below deck. However, Voss and his various crew
members lived there happily and contented.
The achievements of Voss and his Tilikum made
him a worldwide celebrity, but oddly enough there
were not many people latching on to the ‘secrets of
seaworthiness’ that the tiny yacht brought to light.
In Victoria, the Tilikum is kept as a monument at
the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, which
is now this 150-year old ship’s safe haven.
She is an ocean pioneer to remember.

Sail surfaces:
Boom jib 3.00 m2
Mainsail 1 6.30 m2
Mainsail 2 5.20 m2
Spanker 2.50 m2
Overall surface 17.00 m2

78 Chapter 13: Tilikum

Time for a hot meal.
During a storm, Voss took in all
sails and put the ship on a sea
anchor.
Then, as a wind vane, he hoisted
a bit of sail behind his tiny
spanker and retired to his cabin.
There he made a drink and pre-
pared the stove to cook a hot
meal.
In this way, the Tilikum endured
the most severe breakers, with
her skipper enjoying a well-
deserved rest.
Chapter 13: Tilikum 79
 14. Sea Bird
Skipper: Yacht builders have always been looking Once the boat was his, he made a few altera-
Thomas Fleming Day
for the ideal boat shape. This has been tions to the underwater body. The vessel
Ship: going on for thousands of years, and each had a deeply protruding centerboard, with an
Sea Bird
time something a bit better is designed. enormous casing in the middle of the saloon.
Crew: At the dawn of the 20th century, Thomas However, in spite of this she was still so unsta-
R. Goodwin and Fred
Fleming Day, co-founder of the American ble that with her owner on the side-deck, she
B. Thurber
magazine Rudder, wrote in his editorials heeled 20º. At first, a considerable amount of
Year:
that the quest for beautiful proportions was stones were used to stabilize her, but the only
1911
of no consequence. He was convinced that noticeable effect was that the skin’s planks
Particulars:
a simple hard-chine boat offered all a sea- came apart at low tide.
In a record time of 32
days from Nantucket farer could desire.
to Gibraltar To substantiate this, he pointed out that the
many ‘sharpies’ in his native country were
perfectly serviceable as fishing boats, fer-
ries and pleasure boats.
Beautiful shapes are expensive shapes, but
any regular carpenter can put together
hard-chines.

No wonder therefore, that Fleming Day owned

a yacht that had been built as a hard-chine in
a shed behind a farm in New Rochelle, New
York. This Sea Bird was created on L.D.
Huntington’s drawing board in New Rochelle
in 1901.
To be honest, the original design was by one
C.D. Mower. Together, the two men drew the
Sea Bird, and Huntington then started build-
ing it.

One day, the Rudder reported on the design’s

construction. As was to be expected, Fleming
Day profusely praised those who had the guts
to build such an ‘ugly’ ship.
However, the editors got a lot of criticism from
the ‘powers that be’.
Yachts were, of course, the realm of the rich,
and the Sea Bird was called a ‘cheap freak’ a
number of times.
Fleming Day grew so irritated by these snob-
bish letters from his readers that he decided to
buy the hideous thing.

80 Chapter 14: Sea Bird

So, in consultation with Huntington, to cope with a great deal of wind. After During the Atlantic
Fleming Day then fitted a long wooden having sailed her for a couple of years, crossing, a good wind
was blowing day and
keel under the Sea Bird, containing 320 Thomas had fallen in love with her. He night, sometimes even
kilos of deadweight. This appeared a tre- improved many things unnoticeable from exceeding force 6.
And the tiny hard-chine
mendous improvement. the outside. One of these modifications ketch made good time!
was building in a Knox oil engine. With a mizzen staysail
and a reefed mainsail,
The bit of ballast under her keel made her This auxiliary engine had a capacity of 3 the little yacht managed
altogether a different ship. hp. It was extremely heavy (no less than to do days of around
150 sea miles.
With well-trimmed sails, one could leave 130 kilos), but could always be relied
Her experienced crew
the helm, and the vessel was then able upon. turned it all into an
ardent race.

Chapter 14: Sea Bird 81

 Sea Bird
In 1911, Fleming Day sailed in his
Sea Bird from Nantucket via the
Azores to Gibraltar in record time.
This was an ‘ugly’, inexpensively
built little boat, yet she proved to be
very seaworthy.
At a time when yachts were the pre-
rogative of the rich, the publisher of
the sailing magazine Rudder caused
a great deal of discussion by this
crossing. However, hard-chine boats
like the Sea Bird never became very
popular among yachtsmen.

82 Chapter 14: Sea Bird

1. Ratlines up to the cross-tree, which sported big oil
lamps as navigation lights.
2. In the low foreship, there was a single bunk and
stowage for an anchor, sails and ropes.
3. The foreship had a pump closet to starboard.
4. The low saloon contained two sofa bunks.
5. The small galley to portside was Spartan and with-
out cooking facilities. The three men now and then
prepared something hot with a primus stove on the
cabin floor.
6. The 230-litre paraffin day tank was next to the very
heavy Knox auxiliary engine.
Under the cabin sole were storage tanks for
water, paraffin and petrol (to start the engine with).
7. The Sea Bird had a long wooden keel with a
wrought-iron under keel ballast of 320 kilos.
8. In the stern, the provisions for the journey were
secured behind a carefully watertight deck hatch.
9. A small niche in the cabin contained the compass.
The arrangement, invented by Slocum for his
Spray, enabled one to consult this crucial naviga-
tional aid both below and above deck.
Chapter 14: Sea Bird 83
 Sea Bird
Once on board, the Knox engine considerably
improved the Sea Bird’s stability. With a big
tank for 230 liters of oil and a second one for
135 liters of petrol under the floorboards, the
boat – which empty weighed a little over two
tons – was almost 450 kilos heavier.
For those wondering what the petrol was for,
the Knox was started on petrol and only then
switched to oil.
Thomas continued to be irritated by the atti-
tude of most members of the New York Yacht
Club. Even many of his close friends failed
to understand what his purpose was with this
tacky little ship. So Thomas Fleming Day
decided to show what his Sea Bird was worth.
He made the cockpit smaller and created three
watertight hatches on deck. With 230 liters of
drinking-water, the Sea Bird left Rhode Island
on June 10, 1911, destined for the Old World.
On board were owner Fleming Day and two
of his best friends, R. Goodwin and Fred B.
Thurber, all three of them experienced yachts-
men who were not greatly attached to luxury.
On the quay, many spectators shook their
heads as they watched the Sea Bird sail off.
‘We’ll never see them again’, was the general
comment. Due to provisions, spare parts, fuel
and water, the yacht lay so low that practically
no one believed the adventure would succeed.
The first ten days of the crossing were very
hectic. One had to reef in and out on average
five times a day. The gentlemen were in fact
racing. Close-hauled, the yacht did more than
five knots and sailed very dry. After 18 days at
sea, the Sea Bird reached the Azores. It was a
fast crossing, doing an average of between 135
and 143 miles a day. There was a favorable
wind blowing day and night, a bit more than
force 6 and reaching. The little ketch did not
have a spinnaker, though there was a mizzen
staysail aboard.
84 Chapter 14: Sea Bird
This sail certainly helped the small, heavily
loaded ship on her way, and the three yachts-
men even enjoyed two days of stormy weather
with wind forces exceeding 30 knots.
The next lap of the trip, from the Azores to
Gibraltar, went a bit slower. They did 2104 sea
miles in 20 days, which boils down to a daily
average of 105 miles. During a thunder storm,
the Sea Bird went on her beam ends, in spite
of the fact that the crew had taken down all the
sails. The top of the mast tipped into the water,
and after righting herself the Sea Bird raced
along with bare masts ahead of the storm at
five knots an hour.
On the 17th of July, Thomas proudly moored
her at Gibraltar. She had accomplished the
transatlantic crossing in 32 days.
By this feat, the three men proved to the world
that an inexpensive little hard-chine boat could
be just as seaworthy as a big, elegant round-
bottom yacht. In spite of this ‘proof in the
pudding’, the Sea Bird-type design did not
become popular. And even today, the vast
majority of water sports enthusiasts are not
really into ‘cheap sharpies’. I’m afraid this
will never change. Especially in our day and
age, the trend is ‘rounded’, whether we’re talk-
ing flat-irons or cars.
But between 1921 and 1937, Harry Pidgeon,
perhaps the most famous solo yachtsman ever,
time and again showed without doubt that
angular guys can manage perfectly well in
angular little ships. Cool, calm and collected,
he went around the world twice on his own in a
slightly larger Sea Bird. This Islander appeared
more seaworthy than anything, and survived
many a storm with no problem at all.
After all these years of development, it is
strange that a yacht’s appearance is all-impor-
tant. Hard-chines, however up to the mark,
remain commercially unfeasible!
Measurements: There was a time when that simple wood-
L.o.a.: 7.81 m en hard-chine little boat used to have a
L.w.l.: 6.10 m centerboard, but due to this she had no
W.: 2.47 m initial stability or stability of course.
D.: 0.90 m Later, she was fitted with a long keel.
Displ.: 2125 t This angular little ship appeared to be
Sail surf.: 34 m2 highly seaworthy.

Chapter 14: Sea Bird 85

 15. Detroit
Skipper: In the days previous to the First World War,
Fleming Day
a car industry arose in Detroit which was
Ship: to become a trend-setter for the rest of the
Detroit
world. Its car engines were powerful, using
Crew: petrol for fuel.
three crew members
A well-known engine brand at that time was
Year: Scripps, invented by W.E. Scripps.
1912
To increase its renown and particularly
Particulars: to prove its reliability, this entrepreneur,
Crossing in a tiny
who was also the commodore of the Detroit
motor yacht
Boat Club, came up with the idea to have a
motorboat designed and built for him that
could sail from Detroit to St. Petersburg.
The designers, the Matthews Boat Company
of Port Clinton (Ohio), copied the shape from
the lifeboats of the period.
These were slender, deeply protruding ves-
sels with streamlined hulls. It was generally
accepted that motorboats with rounded shapes
were more seaworthy than ships with chines.
Later, this was proved to be untrue.
The designers drew a boat that, as later became
apparent, swayed terribly. In order to remedy
this problem, she was fitted with anti-yawing
chines under water, while on deck she had a
mast with three anti-yawing sails.
These sails were certainly not meant to propel
the Detroit, but solely to quell her tremendous
yawing. Later on, this rigging appeared to be
no more than a stopgap in subduing this very
unstable ship.
The boat consisted of three watertight parts:
the foreship being the crew’s quarters, the
middle part where fuel was kept and the rear
engine room.
A total of 5000 liters of diesel could be stacked
between the two watertight bulkheads. But in
fact the Detroit’s design was totally wrong.
Actually, at that point Scripps ought to have
given up the whole idea, but as quite a few
86 Chapter 15: Detroit
dollars had gone into the project, this was no
option for the commodore.
However, he was sensible enough not to make
the trip across the Atlantic himself. Instead,
he appointed Thomas Fleming Day, who had
become famous with his hard-chine Sea Bird,
as skipper.
Furthermore, three staff members of the
Scripps firm were to join him. Still, these
adventurous men could not surmise what
ordeals awaited them!
The departure from New Rochelle, New York,
was on the 16th of July, 1912. Yawing, the
Detroit slowly disappeared out of sight at a
speed of about four knots.
The last thing the press and spectators saw was
the thick plume of smoke that the slowly rev-
ving diesel sent up into the sky.
Many people feared that the Detroit would
never survive foul weather and she really only
managed to do so by a hair’s breadth.
To start with, the crew became so violently
seasick that Thomas Fleming Day wanted to
return to New York.
However, in that case his contract stated that
he would receive no salary, and of course
the humiliation would ruin his public image.
Therefore, the skipper organised a watch sys-
tem in which the helmsman, at least the sick
crew members, was on duty for no longer
than an hour. And thus the captain could only
remain below deck for three hours at the most.
Afterwards, he took a nine-hour watch to spare
the genuinely exhausted crew.
In this way, the voyage went reasonably well
until the first storm reached them. When the
depression drew near, the Detroit started to
yaw like hell on the long swell, and as there
wasn’t really much wind the sails were of
little help. The interior deadweight started
sliding and the boat heeled to an angle of 45º.
Violently yawing to and fro, the Detroit accomplished the
Atlantic crossing with good seamanship and a bit of luck.

Chapter 15: Detroit 87

 Detroit

The Detroit crossed the Atlantic successfully.

However, her design was unwieldy, causing this
slender, round-bellied ship to yaw dangerously.
Moreover, it had a low middle deck and the skip-
per was the only one with any ocean experience.

88 Chapter 15: Detroit

1. Cooking was done in the foreship.
2. Toilet bucket.
3. There were three beds in the saloon.
4. Wardrobes on either side of the cabin companion-way.
5. Large steel fuel tank containing 4360 liters of diesel.
6. Steering position on deck under a removable hood.
7. Engine room with Scripps diesel engine.
8. Silencer and smokestack.
9. Anti-yawing sail.

Chapter 15: Detroit 89

 Detroit
This meant that the starboard deck remained
immersed. It was then that Thomas discovered
that this deck caused the ship to make water.
And so the much tormented crew had to pump
incessantly to keep the boat from sinking.
During these critical hours midway through
the voyage, the engine went on throbbing, so
that the Detroit, although in severe danger,
could still keep on course against the storm’s
breakers.
When the storm died down, Thomas again
set course in a north-easterly direction. They
moved as many of the supplies to portside
as possible, and shifted the interior ballast to
the foreship and counter. Of course, then, one
could not get at the ballast under the big fuel
tank.
Under a heel of 30º and still rolling greatly,
the Detroit arrived at Blackpool on the 17th of
August, 1912. She was then the smallest motor
yacht to ever conquer the ocean!
The voyage had taken 28 days, at an average
speed of 4.1 knots, which is not bad at all for
a motor yacht weighing 12 tons. We do not
know what the Scripps diesel’s performance
was, but the Detroit’s screw was no less than
60 cm in diameter and must have been doing
about 500 revolutions a minute.
Furthermore, a little over 2000 liters of fuel
had been used, amounting to less than 3 liters
an hour. This shows that the Scripps cannot
have delivered much power, and we wonder
whether it was the Detroit’s slender, whale-
shaped hull that created so little resistance.
In England, the boat was refurbished. The
large fuel tank was given a very thick steel
bottom instead of the loose ballast under-
neath it. Within a few days, the Detroit left
England again, continuing on her voyage to
St. Petersburg.
90 Chapter 15: Detroit
After a press conference in Southampton, she
sailed non-stop and effortlessly to her destina-
tion. And so, on the 21st of September, the
Detroit lay ‘dressed’ along a St. Petersburg
quay. The target had been reached, which
in total had taken 58 days and 6360 liters of
diesel.
The engine had passed its exam with flying
colours, but whether the Detroit had in fact
been the ideal ship for this voyage was very
much doubted. The low middle deck was obvi-
ously a mistake.
Due to the high, heavy tank with its fluid con-
tents and also the hull’s shape, which provided
no stability, the boat rocked fiercely at the
slightest swell.
In doing so, one of the sides of this low middle
deck dipped into the water every four seconds.
It was clear to everyone that this caused extra
sailing resistance and moreover, interfered
with life on board.
In Russia, it was decided to send the Detroit
back to her native country by freighter.
Subsequently, the ship served for years in
inland waters. However, after their ordeal,
Thomas Fleming Day’s three companions
steadfastly refused to step aboard another
motorboat.
The Detroit was not the first motor yacht to
successfully cross the Atlantic. Ten years
earlier, in 1902, the American William C.
Newman and his 16-year old son had suc-
ceeded in reaching England in 36 days with a
sloop-like vessel, driven by a 10-hp oil engine.
Five times, their Abiel Abbot Low had to
struggle against a storm behind a sea anchor,
her tanks leaking. After great perseverance,
the two oil-drenched adventurers eventually
reached England. A decade later, the Detroit
made the voyage in exactly the length of time
that Newman had predicted - 28 days.
The nearly circular cross sec-
tions of the Detroit hull under
water promoted a rolling
motion of the vessel during her
Atlantic crossing.

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 10.66 m
L.w.l.: 10.06 m
W.: 2.74 m
D.: 1.10 m
Displ.: 11.56 t
Sail surf.:22.85 m2

Chapter 15: Detroit 91

 16. James Caird
Skipper After being caught in the pack ice on the
Ernest Shackleton
15th of April, 1916, during a South Pole
Ship expedition, the Endurance got crushed by
James Caird
the ice and was lost. The expedition’s leader,
Crew Ernest Shackleton, and his crew of twenty
5 crewmembers
found temporary shelter on a desert island
Year called Elephant, north of Antarctica. The
1916
position they found themselves in was not
Particulars to be envied; the nearest harbor was Port
Setting out to get
Stanley on the Falklands, about 500 miles to
assistance in a
seven-meter long the north of the island, which they had man-
sloop in the freezing aged to reach in three of the Endurance’s
cold Antarctic.
whaling sloops. Yet it was impossible to
undertake the voyage to Port Stanley in
these small open dinghies. The prevailing
wind direction was north, and one gale fol-
lowed another.
Shackleton concluded that their only chance
of survival was to sail to the island of South-
Georgia, about 800 miles northeast of their
encampment, in one of the whaling sloops. He
decided to convert their best boat, the James
Caird, into a seaworthy yacht. In view of
this, the ship’s carpenter was ordered to make
use of the Endurance’s remains. The whaling
sloop’s freeboard was raised 25 cm and the
boat was decked over.
92 Chapter 16: James Caird
Because the deck planks were of crate wood,
it was decided to cover them with canvas. Two
manholes were made in the deck - one for the
helmsman and one for an ‘ice-breaker’ located
at the mainmast.
Shackleton foresaw that the voyage to South-
Georgia would not be an easy one and selected
five men to sail along with him. The rest
remained behind in a small hut in the bitter
cold on Elephant Island. The James Caird was
their only chance of survival, and she set out
to sea on the 25th of April, 1916, in the direc-
tion of the whaling station at Stromness Bay.
After seven days, the James Caird reached the
uninhabited island Deception, 380 miles from
the rest of the shipwrecked crew.
On the 11th day of the voyage, something
happened that the crew would remember long
afterwards. They were sailing under highly
reduced canvas before a gale, with Shackleton
at the helm. It was night-time and it was dry.
The temperature was 10 degrees centigrade
below zero, so at the mast they were busily
engaged in chopping away the spray which
froze the moment it hit the deck. Suddenly,
Shackleton saw a bank of clouds appear to the
fore, rather high above the horizon.
He did not understand these abrupt clouds,
until in a flash he realized that this was no
cloud. He was looking at the foaming crest
of a giant wave, which had probably caught
up with him a couple of minutes before. Like
a shot, the yachtsmen put the James Caird on
a sea anchor, thus surviving a storm of unsur-
passed violence. The boat remained above
water due to continuous pumping. The four
men below deck only had a height of 80 cm in
which to crawl, sharing this space with 500 kg
of ballast consisting of rocks and sand, 250 kg
of frozen drinking-water and an equal amount
of spare parts and equipment.
All this was relentlessly flooded by freezing
water that had to be pumped out.
Chapter 16: James Caird 93
 James Caird
On the 10th of May, after a voyage of 16 days,
during which 800 miles had been covered, the
James Caird reached the island of Annewkow.
They landed at King Haakon Bay. The settle-
ment was on the other side of this mountain-
ous island, so Shackleton and his men had to
make a three-day expedition across the moun-
tain ridges. Eventually, the miraculous news
reached the world that the lost Shackleton
was still alive. Thus, a rescue expedition was
assembled to save the men on Elephant Island
who had been waiting there for 137 days.
Sailing a sloop of seven by two meters in the
Antarctic regions during autumn gales takes
quite a bit of courage and know-how. The
James Caird, weighing over three tons when
loaded, only had 15 square meters of sail, was
no more than a small jury-rig and was hardly
a seaworthy sailing yacht. That this adventure
had such a happy ending is mainly due to
the vigor and endurance of the six men who
finally managed to beat the odds.
2

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 7.06 m
L.w.l.: 6.72 m
W.: 2.07 m
Displ.: 3 t
Sail surf.:14.91 m²

94 Chapter 16: James Caird

 13

9
11
4
5

7 8

6 3

10
1

12

1 Raised freeboard, 20 cm fore and aft, 25 cm in the middle

2 Manhole for helmsman 8 Tinned provisions
3 Deck planking made from crate wood and covered by sail- 9 Oars serving as ‘auxiliary engine’
cloth 10 Sea anchor
4 Manhole for second crewmember 11 Compass
5 Bilge pump 12 The boat had neither keel nor centerboard
6 Ballast; 500 kg of rock and sand 13 U
 nstayed masts with a view to the danger of ice on the
7 Blocks of ice for drinking-water, totaling 250 kg rigging

Chapter 16: James Caird 95

 17. Dauntless
Skipper: This little ship, which we now dredge up
Ira Sparks
from the depths of a valiant, adventurous
Ship: nautical history, is truly remarkable.
Dauntless
A Japanese cabinetmaker had knocked her
Crew: together in Honolulu in 1924, commissioned
none
by an Islamic drifter from San Francisco
Year: who called himself Ira Sparks.
1924
Particulars: Sparks seems to have been driven by a desire
From Honolulu
to see the sacred stone in Mecca. In 1922, as a
westwards across
the Pacific, des- stowaway, he managed to hide on a passenger
tined for Mecca. ship with the help of ‘friends’ who had him
pay for their services. According to them, the
ship was sailing for Aden. Once he was on his
way, Sparks fell ill and was forced to leave his
hideout. He reported to the captain, asking to
be allowed to work on board in order to cover
his passage to Aden.
The officers on the steamer’s bridge were
in stitches at this joke. They told Ira that
their destination was not Aden but Honolulu,
Hawaii, and that the last thing they wanted
was for the passengers to catch sight of a very
sick Ira Sparks. The ex-stowaway landed in
the sick-berth and was put ashore in Honolulu
a couple of weeks later without further ado.
However, Sparks was still determined to reach
Mecca no matter what. After having worked
as a dishwasher for a couple of months, he
found the hull of an old lifeboat belonging to a
whaler. Diligently, Sparks started to restore the
sloop, but was soon confronted with an almost
impossible task.
The vessel he had bought for his trip to Mecca
was ready to be scrapped, for however much
he tried to make the totally corroded iron sloop
watertight, it was to no avail. One attempt to
repair it with a mixture of bitumen and red
lead seemed successful, but a few weeks later,
when full of hope, Ira was sewing a sail, it
again appeared as leaky as a sieve.
96 Chapter 17: Dauntless
Then he did something that made the papers.
Perhaps inspired by stories about the Vikings
who literally gave their deceased leader a ‘fiery
send-off’ by burning his body in his ship, Ira
came up with something similar for his failed
project. He sent the half sunken sloop out of
the harbor unmanned, adorned with the sail he
had just finished. He had poured a few dozen
liters of petrol into it and tied a rocket with a
long fuse to the steering-wheel.
Ira found this fiery finale highly satisfactory
and was about to withdraw into anonymity
again, when there was an investigation into
the mysterious fire. And so Ira became news.
In general, people felt compassion for the man
who seemed so haunted by bad luck, and an
initiative arose to get him a new boat by way
of donations. However, the funds eventually
amounted to a mere 200 dollars.
When no one was prepared to build a seawor-
thy ship for such chicken feed, Ira Sparks sunk
back into anonymity again.
Then a Japanese cabinetmaker appeared on the
scene, completely ignorant of how to design
a ship. Presumably, Sparks knew very little
about boats and sails himself.
Despite this, the odd contraption, the Dauntless,
came into being – a wooden ship with a sturdy
V-shaped underwater body, while above water
she resembled a box.
Below deck, all ‘coziness’ was totally lack-
ing, as Ira had the notion to stack away his
provisions under a couple of burlap sacks
here. Actually, this was not his worst idea.
For empty, this little hard-chine boat was so
shaky that one had only to step aboard for her
to overturn. But now the considerable stock of
tinned victuals and water in demi-johns pro-
vided some deadweight below the waterline.
Chapter 17: Dauntless 97
 Dauntless
The rigging shows how little Sparks knew
about sailing vessels. There was a very long
main boom, a strange mainsail with a short Sail plan

gaff and a tiny jib on the bowsprit.

On the 9th of January, 1924, Ira Sparks com-

menced on his great voyage to Mecca. There
was hardly a soul to see him off when the
Dauntless left Honolulu heading west.
A couple of days later, a Japanese fisherman
reported spotting her about 250 miles south-
west of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands.
After 73 days Ira reached Tandag, on the east-
ern side of the Philippines.
Swept along by a northeasterly trade wind, he
had crossed an impressive stretch of the ocean
even though his boat could only sail by reach-
ing, for she hardly had any keel.

Undaunted, he continued on his spectacular

voyage. An unexpected gybe swept Ira over-
board, but he managed to grab the line with
the loops dragging behind his ship.
This adventure he described on a postcard to
his relatives in America. Unfortunately, that
was the last anyone ever heard of Ira Sparks.

It was not until many months later that the

boat was found drifting south of Mindanao
with no one aboard, though still in good condi-
tion. And so the Dauntless ended her strange
life on the beach of Zamboanga.

It is assumed that the solitary yachtsman sim-

Measurements:
ply fell overboard a second time and did not L.o.a.: 7.01 m
succeed in grabbing the life-saving line. L.w.l.: 6.10 m
W.: 2.44 m
That this peculiar little ship had managed to Displ.: 3.95 t
cross the Pacific in 73 days – which means Sail surf.: 27.55 m2
doing an average of 70 miles a day – shows
that Sparks had more or less managed to learn This drawing shows that the
how to sail reaching. boat’s shape was just as bizarre
as her sail plan, with a very long
Who knows, he might even have made it to his main boom and a little gaff sail
promised land, had Fortune smiled upon him. 20 centimeters in length.

98 Chapter 17: Dauntless

Chapter 17: Dauntless 99
 Deutscher Sport
Skipper: Now and then, certain dare-devil attempts In order to answer the call of nature ‘below
Franz Romer
to set a record have a lethal outcome. At deck’, he would undo the watertight kayak
Ship: the end of the twenties of the last century, a ring around his waist and close it above his
Deutscher Sport
boat was considered seaworthy if someone head with a zipper. On terra firma, Romer suc-
Crew: had crossed the Atlantic in it. Both the per- cessfully managed to cook, navigate, sleep and
none
son who achieved this feat and the vessel in use his toilet bucket. To increase the canoe’s
Year: which it had been done were then famous broadside stability, it was fitted with two floats
1928
and revered. alongside the helmsman. In practice, none of
Particulars: these fine schemes worked.
Solo crossing in a
Klepper, a German firm that manufactured
sailing canoe.
folding canoes, had of course a commercial
motive in wanting to promote its wares by way
of some stunt. So, someone came up with the
idea to design a special sailing canoe and do
a solo crossing of the Grosse Teich in it. The
designers were insufficiently convinced that
sailing canoes are very light and extremely
small vessels. And that for a trip of many
months, a seafarer, however Spartan, also
needs quite a stock of water and provisions.
Squeezing hundreds of kilos of supplies into a
small boat would obviously turn it into some-
thing like a submarine.
However, Klepper light-heartedly designed a
sailing canoe weighing a mere 150 kilos for
this Atlantic crossing.

Franz Romer, a professional captain from the

Hamburg-America line, accepted the chal-
lenge. When on the 28th of March, 1928, the
Deutscher Sport left Portugal with a lot of
hullabaloo heading for the Canary Islands, she
had hardly any freeboard left.
The stern was just 25 cm above water and the
helm, only 10 cm above water.

The organizers of the whole thing had made

Captain Romer practice on land how to cook
and rest in a mock-up of the canoe. The idea
was that during foul weather the captain would
cast a sea anchor, belaying a little spanker
closely reefed in the middle position.

100 Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport

 At a faint to moderate wind, the canoe, having
5 m2 of sail and a displacement of more than
half a ton when freighted, was so slow that
Romer had to paddle to make any headway at
all. When there was a strong wind blowing, the
Deutscher Sport managed to sail, but then took
in so much water that the kayak oilcloth around
Romer was permanently flooded and crawling
under it was impossible.

During the first part of the crossing, the cockpit’s oilcloth seal tore. Desperately Romer kept his folding canoe, which
was full of water, on course. With his paddles, he had to prevent it from overturning for four days and four nights.

Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport 101

 Deutscher Sport
We do not have all the particulars about
this sailing canoe from 1928.
The German Klepper firm only built a single
prototype, wanting to get a lot of publicity
for the Klepper canoes’ seaworthiness by
crossing the Atlantic Ocean in one.
Captain Franz Romer of the Hamburg-
America line took up the challenge and set
102 Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport
out to sea from San Vincente in Portugal
in this contraption when he was already
worn-out.
The second lap to the Antilles became a
nightmare, and on his last stretch to New
York he finally went missing.
1 Romer could easily read the Walker log.
2 In the counter, all provisions were stored in
waterproof sacks, but it took a lot of trouble
to get at them and to cook.
3 For months on end, Romer sat on this
tiny cushion.
4 During the protracted crossing, the
over loaded canoe grew a ‘beard’ ten
centimeters long.
5 On deck, there was a cardanic steering
compass at the helm, right at the water-
tight oilcloth seal.
6 The boat had two board casings.
The foreship was fitted with a watertight
oilcloth seal.
7 Both side-decks had floats filled with
kapok for better stability.
8 The construction consisted of linen lined
with rubber, stretched over beams and
frames.
9 The mainsail could be reefed. When weather
circumstances were unfavorable, Romer
used the spanker to keep his puny canoe in
the wind.
Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport 103
 Deutscher Sport
Romer knew he would sink if he stopped serv-
ing as a ‘live cork in his bottle’!
During storms all hell broke loose. Then
Romer had to work like mad, using his paddle
and a tiny little sail to keep the vessel from
capsizing. Resting, cooking and navigating
were simply out of the question.
And it so happened that Franz Romer had to
remain seated on his drenched cushion (which
of course also served as his toilet seat) for
eleven days and nights in a row.
Driven along by a new mainsail from his
sponsor and an irrepressible desire to suc-
ceed, Franz Romer left the Virgin Islands on
the 12th of September for New York.
It was the cyclone season.
The last thing one saw of the Deutscher Sport
on that early morning was her little sail bob-
104 Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport
When on the 9th of April, they dragged him
from his boat more dead than alive at Las
Palmas, no one even dreamt that Romer would
continue his journey.
While he was recuperating in a hospital, the
Klepper firm implored him to forget about the
rest of the trip. But the brave captain down-
right refused. In his opinion, this lap had been
mere Übung (practice). And so, on June 2, he
started on his great crossing.
bing up and down.
Tragically, this was also the last one saw of
the brave captain Romer.
Somewhere in the West Indies, he must have
found a watery grave.
Not a scrap of the tiny boat was ever washed
ashore or fished out of the water.
One can barely imagine what went on during
the almost two months that the sailing canoe
had no contact with anyone, before the totally
exhausted Romer was finally welcomed in
St. Thomas on the Virgin Islands on the 30th
of July. The canoe was covered in sea grass
ten centimeters long, and Romer was covered
in ulcers due to having to sit upright for 58
days in the same drenched clothes.
Only after several weeks in the hospital was
Franz Romer able to tell journalists about
his experiences. He could recall only a few
details of this terrible nightmare. One stormy
night a large breaker rent his kayak sail,
while the water came up to the canoe’s deck.
Romer then mended the tear with his mizzen
sail and had to keep on bailing out for almost
eight hours to survive. He told the press how
he hated all this adversity, as it prevented
him from doing his 60 miles a day, for he had
calculated that this was his daily average in
order not to perish of hunger or thirst.
Half of his hard tack provisions and other dry
foodstuffs had been lost.
the last anyone would ever see of Captain
Romer and his Deutscher Sport. He never
arrived in New York. Neither he nor his
peculiar Klepper canoe was ever found again.
However, it is certain that in this month, three
tropical storms passed over Romer’s course.
It was the hurricane season, which the experi-
enced sailor, of course, knew very well when
he set out. The fact that he accepted this risk
only shows that the quest for fame sometimes
blinds a person, even to the point of death.
Measurements:
L.o.a.: 6.40 m
L.w.l.: 6.40 m
W.: 0.99 m
Displ.: 600 kg
Sail surf.: 4.97 m2
Sail plan

Captain Romer’s miraculous resurrection,

after the newspapers had declared him dead
weeks ago, made him a national hero. In the
eyes of the press, such a man might achieve
anything. They predicted that he would most
certainly manage his last lap from St. Thomas
to New York – less than half of his Atlantic
crossing. Also, Klepper started to gain confi-
dence in his success again, and the canoe was
totally restored.
Driven along by a brand new red sail and a
skipper determined to succeed, the Deutscher
Sport set out for the third time.

The crowd of spectators, who watched the

sailing canoe disappear from sight on the In the Klepper laboratory, the ideal sitting
ocean’s high swell on that early morning of position was tested by means of models.
In practice, the oilcloth sealing in particu-
September 12, were unaware that this was lar was not sufficiently watertight.

Chapter 18: Deutscher Sport 105

 19. Elaine
Skipper: The story of the Elaine is about an assertive
Frederic Rebell
fellow who had no reason to grumble about
Ship: his luck.
Elaine
Paul Sproge was born in Ventspils (then
Crew: called Windau), Latvia, on April 12, 1886,
none
as a farmer’s son.
Year: From there he emigrated to Australia.
1931-1933
Particulars: However, Paul was not content with his life on
From Sydney
a remote Australian farm, and so he decided to
to America in
a 5.5-m open boat. push off into the wide world, aiming for the
United States of America.
However, to his disappointment, he was
refused a visa because of his Latvian origin.
All further attempts to get out of his new
homeland the legal way amounted to nothing
due to red tape.
Then, by pure coincidence, he found a passport
in a bar of one Frederic Rebell, an Australian
who, judging by the photograph, might have
been his brother.
From that moment on, he took the name
Rebell. He realized that if he applied for a
visa again, he would be found out, but he still
longed to cross the ocean. Although he had
never done any sailing, let alone on the sea,
this did not keep the enterprising Rebell from
looking for a boat.
Within 12 months, he had saved up enough
money to buy a rather decrepit little vessel
5.50 m long. This clinker-built dinghy, which
he named Elaine, did have a centerboard,
though it was of course far from ideal for an
ocean voyage of almost 20,000 kilometers.
Fred started by covering a large part of the
boat with a canvas hood. He reduced the gaff
rigging by almost half and fitted the foreship
with a watertight bulkhead.
Hearing of his plans, friends with some nauti-
cal experience helped Fred purchase 500 kilos
of tinned foodstuffs. After having stored 180
liters of water in demi-johns below deck, the
Elaine lay precariously deep in the water.
106 Chapter 19: Elaine
Her displacement was estimated to be 1700
kg. For her propulsion, she had 17 m2 of
totally threadbare sail. Unperturbed by his lack
of nautical skills, Fred left the Sydney harbor
on the last day of 1931, witnessed by a few of
his friends, the only ones to worry about his
scant freeboard.
He intended to cross to New Zealand first. But
even though this is not what one might call a
small island, he missed it by more than 500
kilometers!
When his home-made nautical instruments
(including a log) convinced him that he had
passed to the north of New Zealand, he com-
pensated for the primitive compass and on
March 15, 1932, he stepped ashore on one of
the Fiji Islands.
After more than two months at sea, Fred had
taught himself to sail and navigate. He longed
for some fresh fruit, but was nevertheless a
bit apprehensive of disembarking on the isle
of Yanutha, as the official nautical guides that
he had read before starting out, had mentioned
cannibal islands in the Fiji area.
Fred had not realized that this was 19th-cen-
tury information, which even then was quite
outdated. But as he did not know any better, he
decided to approach the island at sunset, with
the low sun at his back.
Sporting a loaded rifle, Fred hoped to surprise
his foes. Instead of cannibals, he was wel-
comed by cheerful young islanders who threw
him a spontaneous and animated party on the
beach.
After this, it was no problem for Rebell to sail
on to the town of Suva, 30 miles from there,
on the isle of Viti Levu.
Here the adventurer was so pampered by the
daughters of local chieftains that he stayed for
two months.
Chapter 19: Elaine 107
 Elaine
The legendary Fred Rebell with his Elaine. In this
tiny open boat, a man with no sailing skills sailed
from Australia to America in two years’ time.

1 The Elaine only had as little as 20 cm free board at the bow.

2 The foreship was partitioned off and had a watertight hatch.
3 The open cockpit had a canvas hood.
4 The galley consisted of a chest and a primus stove.
5 Tinned food and provisions were stacked under the floor boards.
6 Two oars served as an auxiliary engine.
7 Hourglass for logging.
8 Fred Rebell’s own construction: a log line with a bit of wood at the end.
9 Due to its great depth, the dinghy kept well on course and was self-steering.

108 Chapter 19: Elaine

Chapter 19: Elaine 109
 Elaine
After 25 days at sea he then landed on
Christmas Island.
It took him another 36 days to reach Honolulu,
arriving there on September 26, 1932.
He had now been sailing for nine months
towards his new country, but the greatest dis-
tance had yet to be covered.
On the 3rd of November, the Elaine set out to
sea again, even though people pointed out the
inauspicious time of his departure.
In this region, you could count on a few tropi-
cal cyclones at this time of year, which he was
not likely to survive in his little ship.
And then, from the 10th to the 12th of
December, it happened. He put the Elaine on a
sea anchor, but this proved to be too small.
It caused the dinghy to broach to, so that it
filled with water. Whereupon Fred, as tautly
as possible, put three reefs in the mainsail and
tried to gain momentum again.
According to his travelogue, he managed to
survive the cyclone on that four square meters
of sail.
Had the wind-force been a tropical cyclone’s,
ocean experts are convinced that this would
have been impossible.
Still, there is no doubt that the Elaine had land-
ed in quite a storm, which of course is perilous
to such a deeply loaded open vessel.
In the days between Christmas and New Year’s
Eve, the Elaine was hit by a storm again.
After this, the mainsail hung in tatters and the
helm had been smashed to smithereens.
With only his foresails, Rebell managed to
reach the Costa Rican coast. However, he did
not step on land there, but only repaired his
mainsail.
110 Chapter 19: Elaine
On the 8th of April, the Elaine put into the
harbor of Los Angeles. Fred was made an
honorary citizen and was celebrated as a hero.
Nobody found out that he was Paul Sproge
until he published a book about his sailing
adventures.
That no one had discovered his identity switch
was again a matter of luck. The man whose
passport he had found seemed to have van-
ished into thin air.
However, today there are still people who
think this is no coincidence and who put a dif-
ferent slant on the story of the found passport.
But until proved otherwise, it is assumed that
what Fred Rebell wrote is true.
Still, some of the events he mentions on
board his little dinghy seem a bit exaggerated.
Storms become cyclones, and it also seems
doubtful that he climbed up into the mast to
look out for land.
On the other hand, one should realize that the
Elaine was not an ordinary open boat.
What we have here is a very heavy, highly
under rigged vessel. So, indeed, why wouldn’t
he have climbed up into her short little mast?
Moreover, his sailing adventure proves once
and for all, that, as long as fortune smiled on
this brave fellow – brimming with self-con-
fidence – he could perform great feats. And
of course we all know the saying ‘beginner’s
luck’.
It was also lucky that real tropical cyclones
did not cross the Elaine’s course. With a little
guardian angel on his shoulder, Fred Rebell
survived simply because he was unaware of
all the dangers.
Measurements:
L.o.a.: 5.48 m
L.w.l.: 5.45 m
W.: 2.13 m
D.: 0.46 m
Displ.: 1.7 t
Sail surf.: 17.50 m2

Chapter 19: Elaine 111

 20. Kaimiloa
It was a French anthropologist who designed
Skipper: the Kaimiloa, a 10-meter long vessel, con-
Eric de Bisschop
sidered by many to be a floating coffin.
Ship: In 1932, Eric de Bisschop attempted to
Kaimiloa
establish what ocean currents had been
Crew: of influence on the population migrations
Joseph Tatibouet
from East Asia to the many islands in the
Year: Pacific.
1937-1938
Particulars: It was in China that this enterprising scientist
From Hawaii
had befriended a businessman called Joseph
via Indonesia to
France Tatibouet. ‘Tati’ played an important part in
Eric’s life. Not only did he finance the almost
19-meter long junk Fou Po, on behalf of scien-
tific research into the Pacific’s so-called ‘cross-
currents’, but he also joined Eric as its crew.
The Fou Po went down after being stranded
on the north coast of Taiwan, where the two
adventurers in the cause of science had a
new, smaller junk built, designed by Eric de
Bisschop. From February 1933 until October
1935, the Fou Po II roamed between the
Pacific islands.
The Fou Po built
in China
The Fou Po II
constructed in
Taiwan
The two wrecked junks preceding the Kaimiloa.
These were hardly seaworthy vessels and certainly not suitable for a scientific expedition.
112 Chapter 20: Kaimiloa
It was not a very seaworthy ship and, after a
series of adventures, the two men on board suf-
fered from exhaustion and malnutrition, mainly
due to bad preparation and bad weather.
More dead than alive, Eric and Tati were car-
ried from their ship by inmates of the leper
colony on the isle of Molokai in the Hawaiian
archipelago. While being nursed, a storm dur-
ing the night of the 26th of October, 1935, put
an end to their second junk.
The Fou Po II was smashed to bits on the rocks
of the island. Together with the ship, all of
Eric’s notes on his discoveries went down to
the bottom of the sea.
Mentally and physically, the two men, nursed
by French missionaries, were at the end of
their tether. Almost a year later, they had their
third boat built under their supervision. It
was a strange catamaran, the Kaimiloa, with
which they intended to sail via Indonesia and
the Cape of Good Hope to Cannes in France.
Within eleven months, they accomplished the
30,000 mile voyage from Honolulu to Tangiers
in North Africa.
From what is still known about the details of
this peculiar boat, one may conclude that De
Bisschop started out with two hulls, which
were no problem at all to build, joined by a
construction of heavy beams and boards.
 There was apparently, a sort of semi-flexible Sail plan
link with springs, though no one knows where
these were located, or even if they existed at all.
During her voyage, the Kaimiloa weighed no
less than 9.2 tons. So, it was something quite
different from the ultra-light cats of today.
Upon his arrival at Cannes, the French press
celebrated Eric de Bisschop as a nautical hero.
He had actually invented a reasonably seawor-
thy catamaran, though as a designer he was
not in search of novel ways of ship building.
He was far more inspired by the multi-hulled
vessels of the Pacific, the boats that a thousand
years ago had carried people from the continent
of Asia to the tropical archipelagos.

The heavy catamaran sailed with belayed rudders and was steered by the trim of the sails.

Chapter 20: Kaimiloa 113

 Kaimiloa
Measurements:
L.o.a.: 10.00 m
L.w.l.: 6.40 m
W.: 5.95 m
D.: 0.98 m
Displ.: 9.20 t
Sail surf.: 28.80 m2

114 Chapter 20: Kaimiloa

1. Heavy foundation of the rudder
cables and main sheet
2. Window of the compass binnacle
3. Drinking-water barrel
4. The rudders could be hoisted
5. Bilge-pumps in both hulls
6. A few bits of rock served as interior
ballast
7. Each hull had a kind of saloon
8. Heavy anchors and hawsers
were onthe platform in the fore
9. The deck had been made watertight
with tarpaulin.
Chapter 20: Kaimiloa 115
 21. Harry Young’s boat
Skipper: We do not know what impelled Harry
Harry Young
Young, a 38-year old British sailor sojourn-
Ship: ing in New York, to make the Atlantic
Name unknown
crossing. And it is also not known why he
Crew: did so in a little boat that he himself had
none
designed and built, but which he left name-
Year: less. Perhaps Harry had been up to some
1939
mischief in the United States and wanted to
Particulars: leave hush-hush.
Across the Atlantic
He had neither registered nor insured his
in a home-made
boat tiny vessel. We do, however, know exactly
what it looked like.
It was very light and had a curiously tulip-
like shape, a lot of sheer and hardly any
room under its flimsy 6-mm deck, which
had been made watertight with tarpaulin.
The boat was 4.27 meters long. As a keel, it had
a 91-kilo iron T-bar under it, and when empty
the boat only weighed 880 kilos. For rigging,
Young had more than 12 m mainsail and a
2 shape lent itself very well to cleaving big
little jib of less than 3 m . All this looked very
2 waves coming head-on.
run-down and un-seaworthy and clearly had
an amateurish stamp. No one among Young’s
acquaintances took the secretive sailor’s plan
to cross over to England in his nameless little
ship seriously. It was regarded as a drunk’s
reckless ranting, for Harry tended to be partial
to a drink or two.
However, in 1939 the boat put out to sea, leav-
ing the United States behind. Then a constant
headwind brought to light the vessel’s great
defect. As it lacked any reasonable surface
below the waterline, it was unable to tack. The
whole thing appeared so shaky that Young
could hardly keep her rigged during anything
exceeding wind-force 3. After three weeks, the
ocean pioneer returned disappointed.
But in a second attempt on the 5th of June
the following year, Young sailed past Staten
Island.
116 Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat
He had boosted the stability of his design by
stowing many bottles of red wine, cans of beer,
tinned foodstuffs and the necessary spare parts
under the sole. He also had taken the precau-
tion of firmly screwing down the boards, so
that not all would be lost if he capsized.
The underwater body and the rigging he did
not alter. One wonders why nobody advised
him to fix his little jib to a short bowsprit for
a better balanced ship, but Harry was probably
one of those people who always thought he
knew best.
During the first night, Young waited as cool
as a cucumber behind his sea anchor at the
lightship, Ambrose, for the next day to dawn
– a test which the yachtsman, who was indeed
experienced, carried out with a purpose.
He had noticed that his boat was totally inca-
pable of steering itself, but that the hull’s
When sea conditions got tough, Harry took in
the sails, cast his sea anchor, which was far
too big, and cheerfully withdrew into his pitch
dark little wine cellar that was hardly high
enough to sit up in.
The first ten days, the boat did not encounter
any adverse weather.
There was a slight wind from the west and
Young made a lot of headway.
On June18, a storm started blowing from the
southeast, but with the sea anchor all went
well. The funny little boat with her low free-
board and high, fanning-out stem appeared
ideal for braving the seas.
Harry must have concluded that he had come
up with a beautiful design. What he had cre-
ated was small in comparison with everything
that sailed the oceans, but whether by chance
or not, it was nevertheless able to cope with
the worst weather conditions.
For most of the voyage, the little boat bobbed to her scant stability, yet very seaworthy
on the grey breakers, with Harry Young because of her shape, Harry Young’s creation
reclining below deck. Rocking heavily due easily withstood three storms.

Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat 117

 Harry Young’s boat

118 Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat

The amateur designer and sailor Harry Young had
one great dream in his life: to create an unequalled
‘survival ship’.

Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat 119

 Harry Young’s boat
From the 26th of June to the 6th of July, this
nutshell bobbed upon the ashen waves behind
her sea anchor, while Young remained below
decks. On July 13, he sighted land, and the
next day went ashore on the island of Flores
in the Azores.
The Atlantic crossing had taken 39 days, of
which at least a week had been spent on a sea
anchor.
After this, Young had sailed between the
Portuguese islands of Horta, Pico and São
Miguel, where he had moored on the 2nd of
August.
A photograph of this occasion, showing Harry
with his little boat, is one of the few bits of
solid evidence of Young’s bold sailing ven-
ture.
Sea anchor
Harry Young’s sea anchor consisted of a strong canvas cone, with a chain attached to the
tip. The whole thing weighed 23 kilos and was half a meter long.
120 Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat
Subsequently, his yacht was taken aboard a
Portuguese freighter destined for England, and
no one ever saw or heard anything of Harry
Young again.
Why would the sailor have concluded his
crossing in this manner? It has been sug-
gested that Harry was scared of publicity if he
actually reached the United Kingdom in his
insignificant little boat. Others think that the
yachtsman was afraid to sail through the Gulf
of Biscay, where there is not enough room to
lee shore for a boat which, for its seaworthi-
ness, relies on slowly drifting backwards.
Whatever the case may be, because he achieved
his feat with such paltry means, Harry Young
most certainly deserves a place amidst our
illustrious ocean pioneers.
Measurements:
L.o.a.: 4.27 m
L.w.l.: 4.20 m
W.: 1.80 m
D.: 0.88 m
Displ.: 0.88 t
Sail surf.:15.20 m2

Sail plan
The imbalance between the mainsail and But thanks to the long main boom and the
the tiny jib is striking. This explains why gaff sail at her counter, the rigging was
one could not get the boat to be self-steer- ideal for an object drifting behind a sea
ing. Harry Young’s design would have anchor with a taken-in straight sail.
benefited greatly by a bowsprit and more
sail before the mast.

Chapter 21: Harry Young’s boat 121

 22. Takebora
Skipper: On the 14th of July 1964, a tiny red sail-
H.A. Maurenbrecher
ing yacht left IJmuiden in the Netherlands,
Ship: with only one man on board. This was the
Takebora
53-year old Dutch lieutenant-general H.A.
Crew: Maurenbrecher, who was a bachelor and
none
a nature lover and had been pensioned off
Year: early. He intended to sail around the world
1964
at his leisure, doing whatever he felt like.
Particulars: He was a good organizer and had a great
Attempt to sail
deal of sailing experience. What is more, for
around the world
single-handedly his voyage he had chosen an excellent little
boat – a 9-meter long flushdecker-type ves-
sel called Oranjebloesem – built by the firm
of Mulder & Rijke. This ship he named the
Takebora.
Maurenbrecher preferred this fiberglass mass-
produced boat, as he regarded it as an ideal
yacht for a solo trip. For almost eight years
prior to his departure, the yachtsman had been
planning this trip. At first he had a steel boat
in mind, but during a visit to the shipyard of
Mulder & Rijke he found the design by Baron
Van Hoevell so suitable that he chose the fiber-
glass. He remembered that the Starfighters he
once purchased for the air force also had syn-
thetic noses and that these remained neatly in
one piece – so why not a plastic boat?
For around USA $32,000 he had the ship
delivered in August 1963 with a few adjust-
ments. As a safety measure against the break-
ing seas, the windows were fitted with strong
panels that had tiny portholes. Furthermore,
the boat was fitted with a double forestay for
two steering jibs. The latter invention proved
a great success later on, as Maurenbrecher
did not want automatic pilot. He was of an
opinion that if you wanted to cross the oceans,
you were far better off with two jibs working
the rudder. And he was proved right. For more
than three-quarters of his fantastic voyage, the
Takebora steered herself at a speed of four or
five miles in the desired reaching direction.
122 Chapter 22: Takebora
All this, while Maurenbrecher leisurely attend-
ed to his navigation, read, cleaned his boat,
cooked a meal, relaxed or slept.
Even before setting out, he gathered quite a bit
of experience with his vessel by making long
trips (usually alone) under all weather condi-
tions. She inspired a lot of confidence, and
also below decks he had kept her very simple.
Here he had what he called his ‘luxury apart-
ment’, where he did not want anything com-
plicated, for such devices usually broke down
at critical moments. There was an L-shaped
galley where there was a small paraffin stove
with two burners and where he kept enough
provisions and drinking-water for a couple
of weeks. Here he also had a modest stock of
luxury cigars and spirits, a good sea berth with
spray curtain to starboard, and a guest saloon
which was hardly ever used.
Upside-down above his cabin was a unique lit-
tle tender. This was a ‘tiny box with an inflat-
able edge’, a rubber boat and sloop combined.
It was unsinkable and could carry far more
weight than an ordinary tender. Moreover,
Maurenbrecher used the thing as a bath and a
washtub. In spite of the fact that the American
and New Zealand aquatic-sports industry was
very interested in this brilliant contraption,
as everyone was in all the ports where the
Takebora put in, it was never marketed any-
where, as is so often the case.
Furthermore, the boat had a long punting pole
in her starboard rigging. In many harbors, peo-
ple wondered whether Hans Maurenbrecher
was ‘afraid the oceans were not deep enough’.
In practice, the skipper used this punting pole
to sound out anchoring depths while look-
ing for mooring nooks in sheltered bays.
Maurenbrecher was wise to rely more on this
simple aid than on an electronic log, which he,
of course, did not have aboard.
We also see the rope in the water behind the
boat, with which one could release two steer-
ing lines. This facility was invented to prevent
the boat from going off without her skipper,
Sail plan
mainsail 17.3 m2
foresail 13.8 m2
2 steering jibs 11.8 m2
storm staysail 5.8 m2

should he fall overboard.

Maurenbrecher loved digging into his culinary

creations while sitting on the chart table with
his feet against the work top. In this comfort-
able, steady position, we see him in the draw-
ing of the Takebora, which has some other
interesting details as well. For instance, in the
closet there are a number of guns to ward off
pirates and two rifles. When in port, he had the
police or customs officials remove the arms.

Chapter 22: Takebora 123

 Takebora This is one of the most famous Dutch ocean-
going yachts, for she certainly made history!
On the 4th or 5th of June, 1966, her glorious
voyage around the world ended on a reef east
of Australia.
Under unknown circumstances, the Dutch ocean
pioneer Hans Maurenbrecher perished.

124 Chapter 22: Takebora

Chapter 22: Takebora 125
 Takebora
That Maurenbrecher was a true animal lover is
exemplified by a couple of excerpts from Het
journaal van de Takebora (‘The Takebora’s
Journal’), a very funny book he wrote. In the
middle of the Pacific, during his lonely cross-
ing, he notes:
‘Sunday, February 7. Had a short night’s rest,
for only got to sleep late. In the morning,
a twelve centimeter pinkish-red squid leaps
onto the deck, right on top of the tender, about
1.90 m above the water. Put it back into the
sea. Another one landed on the counter deck
during the night and sprayed ink all over my
white life raft!’
‘Wednesday, February 10. Found three bird
droppings on the cabin sole! Inspected the
forecastle and saloon for stowaways, but
found nothing. Wonder what that noise was
during the night. However, found this out
later, hidden behind my blue bag. It was one
of those little storm-petrels (oceanodroma
leucorhoa) which have been circling around
me for weeks. Took its picture when in my
hand and on the tender. They’re unable to take
off from a solid, horizontal surface. I threw it
up into the air, whereupon it landed on the sea
for a spell and then freely took flight again. I
wonder if I’ll see him again. It must have been
the mistake of his life. Distance 88, log 72.’
As one reads on, one’s admiration for the
nature lover Maurenbrecher grows. Not only
was he a very able seafarer and yachtsman, but
his journal also reflects his tremendous plea-
sure in both these great ventures and all the
tiny happenings around him. He discovered
regions unknown to him, met many people
who then said goodbye as friends, and also
clearly enjoyed every solitary day on board.
His voyage, devoid of storms, eventually
brought him to his brother in New Zealand,
where he arrived on Sunday April 25, 1965,
after sailing solo across two oceans.
126 Chapter 22: Takebora
In his journal, this Dutch ocean pioneer
described the moment as follows:
‘Sunday April 25, 08.00 hours. Sunny and still
a good breeze. At half past ten passed through
the entry of Auckland, in ideal sailing weather.
Lots of heel. Make straight for the yacht-club,
Ahara, and there’s the whole family waving
on the pier. Wave back, photographs are taken
on both sides. Sails are taken in, put into port
on the motor, mooring along the pier. I have
done 15,684 miles in nine and a half months.
Satisfied.’
The day after his safe arrival in New Zealand,
a heavy storm broke, unprecedented also by
local standards, causing a lot of damage. But
the Takebora lay safely moored at the yacht-
club in Auckland.
Maurenbrecher remained in New Zealand for
almost a year, which is where he met Franny
Bakker, whom he married on the 3rd of
December. The seasoned yachtsman bought
a house in Putaruru and made preparations
to settle in New Zealand as an immigrant.
This did not stop him wanting to finish his
world voyage. His idea was to first sail to
Brisbane alone, pick up his wife there, subse-
quently trekking among the coral islands east
of Australia to Cairns. After that he would
go on alone via the Indonesian archipelago
to Aden, and then via the Suez canal and the
Mediterranean back to IJmuiden again.
The first part of this second lap, starting
mid-March 1966, made for difficult sailing,
but was then followed by an almost dazzling
luxury cruise to Cairns with his wife. On the
last day there, in a decent motel, he took leave
of her. About this, Maurenbrecher wrote: ‘It’s
very quiet aboard, now that I won’t see Fran
until Suez.’ The tragedy of Maurenbrecher’s
story is that these were the last lines he wrote
in his diary.
On the 28th of May, he set out to sea again
for the journey to Thursday Island – where
he never arrived. Hans Maurenbrecher had
reckoned to send a telegram from the island
to his relatives and wife in New Zealand. She
never got it. On the 22nd of June, the alarm
was raised, and people started searching for
the boat or any signs of survival. On the 11th
of July, a beachcomber hit upon a lot of debris
at Temple Bay, 325 miles north of Cairns. It
appeared to come from the Takebora, and to
have washed ashore there starting from about
the 4th of July.
On July 13, a fisherman found the wreck of
the Takebora west of Blight Reef, in water
three meters deep. The next day his wife flew
over the wreck, seeing what remained of the
Takebora down below, with no sign of her
beloved husband.
The Takebora’s trip around the world
The two globes show the Takebora’s course
across the Atlantic and the Pacific. In
various places, Maurenbrecher made ‘pit
stops’ of several days.
During the first lap, previous to the great
crossing, these were Palma, Gibraltar and
Las Palmas.
After this, he visited Barbados, the Dutch
Antilles, Colon and Panama. He then
crossed the Pacific via the Galapagos
Islands, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Moorea,
Bora Bora, the Cook Islands, Tonga and
No one knows what happened, but
Maurenbrecher’s brother suspects that the
Takebora was suddenly overtaken by a storm
that raged around the 5th of June. In some way
or other, the skipper had fallen overboard and
was unable to grab the safety line releasing the
steering jibs. And so the boat must have sailed
on without Maurenbrecher, disappearing over
the horizon until she found her watery grave
on Blight Reef.
Nowadays everyone is used to sensational,
dramatic films with plenty of special effects. If
his brother’s theory is right, one might never-
theless be shocked picturing Maurenbrecher’s
end. The sea was probably around 18º Celsius.
If Maurenbrecher was conscious after his fall,
he must have swam around desolately for a
long time, until sharks probably made an end
to his ordeal – for his body was never found.
Tapu, and from there he went to Auckland,
New Zealand in one go. After almost a
year, the Takebora set out again.
Via Norfolk Island, the boat sailed to
Brisbane in Australia.
Subsequently, a trip was made to
Townsville and Cairns in the company of
Franny Maurenbrecher-Bakker, whom he
had married in New Zealand.
Then, setting out alone again for Thursday
Island, the voyage ended on Blight Reef. Of
Hans Maurenbrecher, never a trace was
found.
Chapter 22: Takebora 127
 23. Vera Hugh
Skipper: On the 30th of June, 1993, a tiny little boat
Tom McNally that had come from San Juanin in Central
Ship: America arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Vera Hugh, Pride in the United States. The three weeks’ voy-
of Merseyside
age had been the great achievement of the
Crew: British art history teacher Tom McNally
none
from Liverpool, the only one aboard. But
Year: when the journalists asked him where he
1993
got his madcap idea of sailing along the
Particulars: American coast line in a boat that was no
Atlantic crossing in
a boat 1.5 m long more than a meter and a half long, the sur-
prising answer was: ‘This little trip of three
weeks was nothing in comparison with the
Atlantic crossing I did before that. I have
come from Sagres, Portugal in her.’
McNally, who was 50 at the time, had left
Europe right after Christmas 1992 in his
home-made sailing tub, in which he was not
even able to stretch out. After a mere three
days, he found himself in trouble when the
tiny vessel hit the hull of a big ocean liner. No
one aboard this roll-on-roll-off ferry noticed
the impact, but McNally discovered that one
of the main booms must have been torn from
the mast and had subsequently perforated his
boat. There was a big hole under the waterline,
and the Vera Hugh was starting to sink. Tom
was soon up to his neck in water and realized
that it was a life-threatening situation. He
managed to seal up the leak and drain his little
bathtub. Still, in spite of a sealant of oatmeal
and lubricating grease, she kept on taking in
water about a bucket an hour, but Tom did
not think of giving up his adventure and thus
reached Madeira on January 22. The boat
was repaired, and three weeks later the brave
yachtsman continued his crossing in the direc-
tion of New York.
It is almost inconceivable that a middle-aged
man without any training could survive four
months cooped up in an underdeck space
where it was practically impossible to move.
128 Chapter 23: Vera Hugh
The sailor was able to trim his weird rig-
ging, consisting of two roll jibs and two main
booms, in such a way that the tiny vessel
steered herself, though she had no close-hauled
performance whatsoever. After a couple of
weeks of unfavourable wind, Tom was drifting
somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. He
kept on banging his elbows, and they began to
give him a lot of trouble. Furthermore, he had
painful swellings and his feet had become a
few sizes too big for his shoes. His body was
swollen and his legs became emaciated and
feeble due to lack of exercise. Finally, he had
to operate on himself, as the lymph glands in
his neck were so swollen. He had read some-
where that sailors in the olden days used to
drain their lymph glands when they had kidney
problems during long voyages. He was of the
opinion that the body is less important than the
power of the mind ruling it.
The crossing was a slow one, as the Vera
Hugh, in spite of her deep keel, was hardly
able to sail upwind. The short little boat had a
big drift and proceeded slowly.
After three months of loneliness, Tom started
to hallucinate. He became convinced that there
was a squirrel aboard and checked all the nooks
and crannies of the boat with a flashlight.
The stock of provisions was another problem,
for much of it had gone bad due to dampness.
McNally made a spear out of a punting pole
and skewered some red snappers, schools of
which were swimming around the boat. Until
reaching terra firma, the sailor ate raw fish.
He got water from a small manually operated
desalinator, while during his entire trip a wind
generator provided electricity. With these pro-
visions, Tom hoped to remain in contact with
the rest of the world. However, they were of
little use, for soon after passing the Canary
Islands, all the electronic equipment broke
down.
His contacts with the world via radio and
the satellite-navigation system were cut off,
and so, for the rest of the voyage, navigation
became the old-fashioned dead reckoning by
means of a compass.

The tiny boat managed to avoid heavy storms

and eventually arrived in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, on May 10, 1993. After this success-
ful Atlantic crossing, McNally – once he had
recuperated from his physical ordeal – decided
to continue his journey. Again he set out in his
sailing bathtub in the direction of New York.
On the 30th of June, he reached his final des-
tination. He had then covered 5400 miles and
had spent 139 days at sea in his tiny vessel! As she drifted southwards, the boat got further
On this voyage, McNally is certain to have set and further from her course to New York.
The lonely sailor, locked in his boat, eventually
an absolute world record as far as endurance reached Puerto Rico.
and willpower is concerned, and moreover, one
that is hard to improve on.

Chapter 23: Vera Hugh 129

 Vera Hugh
Sail plan

Overall sail surface

2 roll jibs of 2.20 meters

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 1.61 m
L.w.l.: 1.50 m
W.: 0.80 m
D.: 0.80 m

The Vera Hugh in detail.

Tom McNally was able to ‘trim’ the jerkily
moving rudder by way of a steering bar,
while his right hand worked the Henderson
bilge-pump that kept him afloat until he
reached the Canary Islands.

The deck hatch with ‘observation turret’

had to remain closed for three-quarters
of the voyage, as even a small wave might
have proved disastrous to the little boat.

130 Chapter 23: Vera Hugh

1 Wind generator
2 Strutted booms for the roll jib
3 Double mast of thin aluminium pipe
4 Stowage for clothing and equipment
5 Sheet control
6 Provisions in the keel
7 Electronic equipment
8 Nautical charts
9 Ballast
10 Inflatable survival raft
11 Double forestay with roll drum for the jibs
12 Ventilator

Chapter 23: Vera Hugh 131

 24. Uunet
Skipper: Perhaps 1999 saw the greatest ocean pioneer
Philippe Monnet
of all times. Contrary to some other nautical
Ship: heroes, his incredible achievement got little
Uunet
publicity. Only in France, did this yachts-
Crew: man, born and bred in Cannes, receive
none
some media attention. We are referring to
Year: the 40-year old Philippe Monnet who, in his
1999
60-foot long racer Uunet, sponsored by a
Particulars: TV station, sailed non-stop solo around the
Non-stop solo
world, against the wind.
around the world
against the wind
He arrived at the finish in Ouesant on the 9th
of June, 1999, after five months’ struggle for
survival. He sailed under the most dire weath-
er circumstances for four of these months. He
had a full rigging and a spinnaker for only five
days; the rest of the time it was, in his own
words, la galère du début á la fin: ‘a galley
slave’s job from beginning to end’.
At 151 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes and 36
seconds, he improved the world record ‘solo
sailing around the world against the wind’.
The drawing of the ‘sea sleigh’ Uunet shows
how the hype about speed also dominates
around-the-world sailing. For a decade,
Philippe Monnet had intended to improve
the most difficult world record set by Mike
Colding. Based on experience from his pre-
vious sailing records, like New York–San
Francisco (Elle et Vire, 1989, in 81 days and
5 hours) and Hong Kong–London (1990, in 67
days and 10 hours), he knew that long-distance
sailing means solo racing. He was aware that,
for this, one needs a sea sledge, a 60-foot open
racer. The latest generation of these sailing
monsters is particularly designed with a view
to less weight. However, under difficult cir-
cumstances, they become more and more vul-
nerable. The carbon-fiber laminates become
undone or break under prolonged onslaught.
132 Chapter 24: Uunet
For his enterprise, Philippe chose an older
generation boat, still made from the ‘regular’
sandwich-epoxy fiberglass. And he most cer-
tainly wanted an indestructible ship. He found
his racer along the quayside in San Marino.
She was a wreck with a glorious history, for
she had already sailed around the world three
times: First, in the hands of Philippe Poupon,
as the Fleury Michon X, losing her mast at the
second round right before the finish and later
on, in the hands of Bertrand de Broc, losing
her keel in 1996/1997, again within sight of
the finish line. Many people had predicted the
latter disaster when the skipper set sail, for
due to lack of finances he had been unable to
reinforce the heavier keel and the hull.
De Broc’s boat, called Votre Nom Autour du
Monde, first foundered and then strangely
enough emerged after a couple of days. It was
crudely salvaged by fishermen, during which,
very little of her hull remained except for the
inside of the skin.
Everything had to be refurbished, but Philippe
was convinced that he had the right racer
with which to set his record. With the help of
Marc Lombard and Silvain Guy, the boat was
repaired and improved at Cannes. The bot-
tom was given a solid, heavy construction in
order to fit a swing keel there, with 3.2 tons
of ballast at 4.5 m depth. Due to a slimming
operation, three tons of weight was lost, so
that a sophisticated vessel appeared at the
start, carrying a minimum of spare parts. One
reasoned that if she broke in two, this would in
any case mean the end of the venture, without
actually realizing what hardships the Uunet
would have to endure. For, 60-foot open rac-
ers are in fact, not the kind of ships to course
against the ocean currents. They are designed
to glide along with the wind over the waves at
high speed.
Chapter 24: Uunet 133
 Uunet

Measurements:
L.o.a.: 18.28 m
L.w.l.: 17.50 m
W.: 5.70 m
D.: 4.50 m
Displ.: 11.00 t
Ballast: 3.20 tons of lead and 2 water tanks of 1000 liters each

Sail surf. close-hauled: 255 m2

Sail surf. when reaching: 390 m2

134 Chapter 24: Uunet

Design:
Philippe Briand and Marc Lombard (keel)

Construction:
Jeanneau ATA, 1994

History:
The ship sailed around the world four times (solo).
Twice as a ketch with Philippe Poupon, weighing 17
tons and under the name Fleury Michon X (1989).
The third time she went around the world as Votre
Nom Autour du Monde, weighing 14 tons.
Subsequently, she did a fourth world voyage with
Philippe Monnet, now as a sloop weighing 11 tons.
With Simone Bianchetti, she made a fifth world voy-
age in the Vendée Globe 2000/2001.
She was built from ‘old-fashioned’ synthetic fiber
sandwich-epoxy, with carbon-fiber and plywood
reinforcements.

Chapter 24: Uunet 135

 Uunet
The practice of navigating around the world
confirmed this. Eighty per cent of the five
months that the yachtsman spent on board his
wildly lurching boat, was purely a question of
survival.
Below deck, he was unable to sit, read, write
or walk. In order to rest, he had to strap him-
self to his coffin-shaped, soaking wet berth to
prevent himself from being ‘launched’ by his
own ship.
During the last month, the switch of his one-
burner butane-gas cooker broke off, so that
there was no longer any hot food or drink.
The paraffin stove on board did not survive the
constant blows and fell apart.
The same happened to the batteries, but
Philippe managed, after being wedged on his
stomach beneath the cockpit for days, to keep
a few of them working by taking out the defec-
tive cells.
He realized that without electricity for his
automatic pilot and with which to operate his
keel, he would be irretrievably lost.
After his arrival, a highly emaciated Monnet
declared that he felt like a scrap of submerged
steel. From his 151 days at sea, he did not have
a day with stable weather, except for five days
of spinnaker-sailing from St. Helena to the
equator. The rest was a series of sudden storms
and changes of wind direction.
In the South Pole, it was so ghastly that, for a
moment, the lonely Monnet seriously consid-
ered stopping. However, he then had a lead of
about five days over the old record, and con-
sidered it a pity to give this up.
He fought on, but fell with a winch handle and
a hammer in his hands, losing consciousness.
When after five hours he came around again,
his two monitors had given up.
136 Chapter 24: Uunet
Below deck, it was an unbelievable disarray of
bottles, tins and equipment. Mid-race, the sail-
or did not get a change of clothes or boots for
a month, and due to his constantly damp and
cold surroundings he contracted swamp fever.
He very much hoped for an improvement in
the weather, yet every storm that hit him was
followed by the next, each time, worse.
And yet, the boat remained in one piece!
The sails made by Elvstrøm also did not give
way, although it must be said that very little
sail was subjected to the endurance test.
For 80 percent of the journey, the Uunet
pitched with a thrice-reefed mainsail and
storm staysail against the waves due to a series
of depressions.
A week before Monnet intended to round the
Cape of Good Hope, the Uunet, without any
warning, was hit by sudden heavy gale-force
weather. Within five minutes, an ink-black
squall resulted in storm-force 11.
Quick as a flash, Monnet managed to bare
the boat’s poles. He fled back in the direction
from which he had come, using long lines as
a sea anchor.
After more than 24 hours, he was able to hoist
sail again, but had then lost three days of his
lead.
As became apparent later on, all this was
caused by a gigantic submarine volcano erupt-
ing right near him!
Laboriously, the Uunet tried to recover lost
ground, but the weather ran amuck com-
pletely.
Enormous cross-seas and a whirling wind
every half hour were alternated by heavy
squalls and stormy gusts of wind.
For a week, food and sleep were out of the
question and Philippe grew rapidly weaker.
When he finally sailed around the Cape, his
lead over Colding’s record had evaporated.
What he had built up while struggling across
two and a half oceans had been erased within
a week.
Unbroken, Monnet started on a new race to
catch up. He fervently hoped for some better
weather at last. Then, lo and behold, all of a
sudden five days with a fine broad-reaching
wind appeared.
Day and night, the boat was surfing over a
luminous sea.
The skipper revived, cleaned up his ship and
was hopeful that he might succeed. According
to him, these days formed the three percent
of pleasure he experienced during his five
months’ voyage.
After a fatiguing time in the doldrums, bad
weather was due again on the last lap across
the Atlantic, this time coming from the north-
east. Each day the copious lead of the five fine
days was reduced further.
Because of a failing runner’s connection to
starboard, he could not achieve maximum per-
formance. The wind almost constantly forced
him to sail close-hauled over portside.
But when Monnet finally contacted the media
just before Brest, he was able to report that he
had made it. His boat had ‘held out’.
Philippe Monnet in brief
Born and bred in Cannes on the Côte d’Azur.
A sportsman with style. Former member of
the French skiing squad, then member of
the show-jumping squad. Won innumerable
prizes with car rallies in Africa. In 1984, he
became a marine yachtsman and, together
with Eric Tabaly, won the Québec–St. Malo.
In 129 days, he set a world record sailing
around the world on board the trimaran Kriter.
Furthermore, with 81 days and 5 hours, he still
holds the solo sailing record New York–San
Francisco (1989) with the Elle & Vire and
also that of the Tea Race Hong Kong–London
(1990) in 67 days and 10 hours.
On June 9, 2000, he set the world solo record
sailing around the world from east to west
in 151 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes and 36
seconds, with his 60-foot open ocean racer
sponsored by Uunet.

With flying colors, the Uunet had accomplished

her fourth voyage around the world, though it
was entirely due to Philippe Monnet’s incred-
ible stamina.
He had managed, in an unparalleled way, to
sail around the world all on his own, struggling
against 25 storms in a wild racing monster.

Sketch of Philippe
Monnet

Chapter 24: Uunet 137

 25. Gipsy Moth
Francis Chchester, a true ocean pioneer of
Skipper: exceptional caliber.
Francis Chichester
Francis Chichester was born in England in
Ship: 1901 and when he was 18, shortly after the
Gipsy Moth
First World War, went to New Zealand with
ten pounds sterling in his pocket. While at sea,
he worked as a boilerman with the intention of
returning home with at least 20,000 pounds.
The ten shillings per week he earned at his
first job as farm hand didn’t produce any sav-
ings, nor did his subsequent ten jobs. He was a
shepherd, cattle driver, writer, fortune hunter,
lumberjack, railway worker, miner, gold-dig-
ger, bushman and newspaper pedlar.
He was then 28 years old and in ten years had
managed to save 400 pounds, but due to his
adventurous and isolated life, had the experi-
ence of a fifty-year old.
He then decided to set himself up as an accoun-
tant to farmers, helping them to evade taxes.
He bought an old Ford, an army tent with a
camp bed and a bicycle. Five times a week
he camped someplace in the bush and visited
the ranchers by bike from his headquarters. In
order for his business to be profitable, he need-
ed at least two clients a day. After reaching
his daily goal, he stopped work until the next
day. In keeping with his lifestyle, he combined
careful planning with adventure. During his
financially successful year, he sought friends
or a companion, but he was unsuccessful and
remained alone and quite unhappy.
In desperation, he finally married, but was
unable to find happiness. His wife quickly
left their house in Wellington after Chichester
went into partnership with a Mr. Goodwin as
a land agent.
Professionally, the Goodwin-Chichester-
Lands-Agents did very well. After 7 years,
the realtors owned many square kilometers of
forest and building parcels and set up a small
airline company.
138 Chapter 25: Gipsy Moth
In 1929 Chichester had 20,000 pounds in his
private account and together with Goodwin,
ran 5 successful businesses.
He thought the time was ripe to visit his par-
ents in England to show them how their son
had turned out. Afterwards, he bought a small
bi-plane, a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. With this
wooden plane weighing 440 kilos, he planned
to fly back alone to Australia.
The London-Sydney flight was a hazardous
undertaking as Chichester had never learned
how to fly blindly and in the first stage of the
flight, flew a part of the way in the dark.
After 22 stopovers en route and a total of more
than 180 solitary hours, he landed in Sydney,
a hero.
From 1930 to 1932 Chichester flew with his
Gipsy Moth equipped with tv jet engines.
He made the first solo flight from Australia
to New Zealand in 1931. At a stop on Lord
Howe Island a storm turned his seaplane into
a wreck. In three months, Francis rebuilt his
craft with the help of the island’s inhabitants
and successfully completed the last leg of the
flight. Chichester became world famous for
this accomplishment and his vanity drove him
to aim for something more spectacular.
His goal was to fly solo around the world in
the Gipsy Moth and in 1931 planned to fly to
Alaska via Indonesia, the Philippines, Formosa
and Japan, stopping on various islands to
refuel.
This undertaking was exceedingly risky. If he
navigated incorrectly, he could easily miss an
island and land in the ocean. In such a light
plane, the pilot had little chance of survival.
The courageous Francis knew the dangers
well, but he had become an excellent naviga-
tor and at the start of his journey, luck was
with him.
However, on August 14, 1931, his luck ran
out while he was taking off from the Japanese
harbor of Yokohama.
He flew into high tension while he was taking
off from the Japanese harbor of Yokohama.
He flew into high tension wires and crashed.
Oddly enough, Chichester survived the crash
through dumb luck. The Gipsy Moth landed
nose-down against an incline on the coast.
Enough of the plane remained for Chichester,
although severely injured, to be pulled from
the wreck.
Saved by mere chance, Chichester, back in
England, wrote a book about his record flight
over the Tasmanian Sea and received the
Johnston Memorial Trophy from the Prince of
Wales for this achievement.
In 1936 he caught the travel bug again and
decided to fly to England in a Puss Moth,
a small two-seater, with his friend Frank
Herrick. The trip became a series of adventures
and hazardous events. But again, Chichester
arrived in England unharmed. That same year,
he met Sheila Craven, an adventurous, aristo-
cratic woman, married her and left with her for
his beloved New Zealand in 1937.
Sheila was unable to adapt to the primitive
rural life and was homesick for Wiltshire.
In 1939 the couple returned to England where
Francis applied for a job as a fighter pilot
with the RAF. To his disappointment, he was
rejected as being too old at 37 years of age.
During the Second World War he conducted
research to develop better navigation methods
for the Air Ministry.
In 1943 he took a job which he loved. He
became a navigation instructor with the Empire
Central Flying School in Hullavington as a
Flying Officer.
Once again he was able to fly and navigate
to his heart’s content. After the war he set up
a publishing company for maps. It was an
attempt at financial survival and he worked
day and night in London, seeing his wife and
son, Giles, only in the weekend.
At sea
In the early 50s Chichester was struck again
by the urge for adventure. His map business
didn’t provide enough income for a private
plane so he decided to sail the ocean.
He wanted to sign up for sailing lessons with
the RORC as an experienced navigator, but no
one wanted a flight navigator who knew noth-
ing of the sea.
Chapter 25: Gipsy Moth 139
 Gipsy Moth
He felt compelled to buy his own competition
sailing yacht. For 1150 pounds, he bought the
Florance Edith, a 24 foot seaworthy yacht,
in September 1953. Sheila loved sailing and
together they built their boat, christened Gipsy
Moth II, into a racing boat. The first sailing
competition, the North Sea Race from Harwich
to Hoek van Holland, took place in 1954.
The yacht placed last and the many competi-
tions that followed resulted in the same, but
Chichester learned quickly, and after four
seasons the boat sailed creditably in class 3 of
the RORC.
Chichester was aware that he had learned a lot
about sailing, but as he himself said, he also
understood how much more he had to learn.
In the beginning of 1957 Sheila said, “It is time
for a new boat” in precisely the same manner
she would have said it is time for a new suit.
This new boat was called Gipsy Moth III. It
was a design by Robert Clark and was built in
Ireland at Jack Tyrrell’s Boatyard in Arklow.
Worries
Chichester was fraught with worry. His map
business required capital and his new boat
needed money and effort that he could ill
afford. He became ill and his doctors diagnosed
an advanced stage of lung cancer. Without an
emergency operation, Chichester was told he
wouldn’t live long.
Sheila staunchly opposed this verdict. She had
her own ideas about health and battling illness.
Francis was completely under Sheila’s care
for two years during which he was desperately
ill. He had no will to live and no one except
Sheila believed in his recovery. In 1959 he
nevertheless, sailed in a Fastnet Race onboard
the MAIT 2. On this 18 meter-long yawl, with
an unusual complete navigational site in the
deckhouse, the critically ill Francis, recov-
ered. Others criticized Sheila for allowing her
terminally ill husband to sail, but she firmly
believed sailing was the best medicine for
Chichester. And right she was.
140 Chapter 25: Gipsy Moth
Glory
Returned from the Fastnet Race in 1959,
Chichester saw an announcement for a solo
race Plymouth-New York on the notice board
of the Royal Western Yacht Club of England
in Plymouth. He talked it over with Sheila
and received her unconditional support. She
encouraged her still-sick husband to finish the
Gipsy Moth III for the Transatlantic Race.
This energetic woman saw to it that the map
business in London brought in more money.
She reorganized the company and worked day
and night as director.
She was there to send off her husband as one of
four participants in the first Observers Single
Handed Transatlantic Race in Plymouth. She
gave him the “Victory wave” and after fourteen
and a half days and more than 4000 miles, the
Gipsy Moth III crossed the finish line, the win-
ner, in New York. There was a storm of world-
wide publicity about the Chichesters, and later
the couple sailed their boat leisurely towards
home. From then on, Sheila loved the wind
and rough sea, and Francis felt fit as a fiddle.
In 1962 he sailed alone to New York in the
Gipsy Moth III to see if the changes to the sail
design - an aluminium mast and synthetic sails
- would be successful. Moreover, he wanted to
improve his crossing time, which he did. In
1962, he cut the time by nearly a week.
He sailed back with his wife and Giles and
entered the race again in 1964. This time, Eric
Tabarly won which irritated the ambitious,
famous Englishman to no end. He wanted to
shine again as number one.
Solo around the world
In 1962 Chichester came up with a new plan.
To sail solo around the world with only one stop
– Australia. He attracted a number of sponsors,
and a new yacht for this record-setting attempt
was designed and built. Against Francis’s wish-
es, who had a rock-solid belief in Robert Clark,
his backers chose another builder.
John Illingworth, a very successful designer, sub-
mitted drawings of a rather cutting-edge design.
Gipsy Moth IV was a large, light and slender
yacht. The forlorn sailor was not terribly happy
with it after the trial run.
He thought the boat was too big and fancy for one
man. Nevertheless, he had to go through with it
due to all the publicity.
With the utmost will power, he began the trip on
August 27, 1966, but was stricken with seasick-
ness and couldn’t eat for 48 hours.
He lost control of the large ship. In order to make
speed, the yacht had to be skillfully trimmed on
all sides.
The trip to Australia became a nightmare through
setbacks and damage to the self-steering appara-
tus. Gradually Chichester’s weary body became
run down.
Exhausted and thin as a rail, he reached Sydney
after 107 days of solitary torture. But the world
worshipped him as a hero.
Everyone, including his wife, advised him against
continuing the second part of the world trip.
Chichester was worn out.
More ballast was put in the keel and people con-
vinced him that he would succeed. On February
29, 1967, the Gipsy Moth IV left Australia. The
following day, both Chichester and ship nearly
disappeared in the Tasmanian Sea without a trace.
The tail of a tropical cyclone reached the boat
and Chichester wrote in his diary: “I have rarely
felt so depressed. I have only one wish - to reach
Sydney.
To be honest, I AM SCARED AND AM
PARALYZED WITH FEAR”.
Due to the cyclone’s fury, the Gipsy Moth went
flat on bare poles. But thanks to the extra bal-
last in the keel, the boat survived that storm as
well as four other fierce storms on the way to
Cape Horn. On March 21, 1967, the Gipsy Moth
passed the notorious Cape, driven by a powerful
gale. Chichester greeted the crew of a military
reconnaissance plane that was looking for him,
with a simple wave of the hand. On May 28, he
reached Plymouth where a quarter of a million
people welcomed him in triumph as the greatest
hero on English soil.
Francis Chichester was given a peerage and
basked in his glory.
How obsessed can someone be with challenges?
Chichester was undoubtedly hooked. In 1972 he
entered the solo Transatlantic Race in a new and
larger boat. Another incurable disease attacked
and he was forced to give up the race. He was
flown back to England where he died on August
26, 1972 at the age of 71. He was truly an ocean
pioneer of exceptional caliber!
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 Gipsy Moth

142 Chapter 25: Gipsy Moth

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144 Chapter 25: Gipsy Moth