ADVENTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 309, 30 December 1940, Page 5

ADVENTURE.

VOYAGE OF PERILS. A KETCH IN CONVOY. L ENCOUNTER WITH SUB. (Special) MIAMI, (Fla.), Dec. 5. Mines, Nazi bombers, an Italian submarine, a shortage of food and the perils amateur navigating were just part oS'the routine in his 62-day crossing of the Atlantic, in a 112-foot ketch, Marie, according to the story that Henry B. Clarke told here Thursday. The American operator of an aeroplane parts factory in England risked the hazards of such a journey to spend Christmas! ■with his family in Boslyn, N.Y.

Clarke left for that city to-day, more concerned over what to give his wife for Christmas than over the risks that he had encountered. His ketch was anchored here, &.waiting repairs, with the crew of four Britons and two Danes denied permission to land until immigration problems can be straightened out.

"There wasn't any other way to get I here," Clarke replied, when asked why he took such chances, "because an American citizen could not embark upon a British vessel. The Clippers were booked weeks ahead, so I just bought the ketch and decided to mslke it home for Christmas."

Clarke admitted that he would notj undertake such a venture aorain. but only "because there is no necessity for it." 1 "Submarine Dead Ahead." The American was his own navigator, for, as he explained, he was the onlyone abroad who could use a sextant. He shot his course by latitude only, and had to make his reckonings at high noon. His frnly previous experience was as an amateur sailor.

The ketch, renamed Marie at ««a, started from Dartmouth, where it was machine-gunned by a Nazi plane.

"I didn't know we were being machine-gunned until one of the crew yelled to me to get below," Clarke said. "We finally left from Falmouth, and to my mind the most nerve-racking of all the experiences was sailing down the Channel, in a convoy, in the black of night. We got lost from the convoy and almost rammed another ship."

The Marie, with U.S.A., and an American flag painted on each side of the ketch, made Nassau in 58 days after experiences which the average man would regard as thrills of a life time.

Clarke tried to make them appear very ordinary, as he expressed surprise over the wave of interest in his trip. The submarine, Italian, was sighted 280 mi lets north-west of Lisbon.

"Our lookout cried, 'submarine dead ahead,'" Clarke recalled. "Sure enough, there it was. The sub. had its conningtower gun trained on us. We could see the s captain in his white sweater, and we didn't know what would happen. We waved at the sailors, and we were liappy when they waved back. The sub. circled us, and then lit out in a north-westerly direction. Then we saw the Italian fla». The sub. was 230 ft long." Clarke reported that" 400 miles from the British coast their ketch was circled by Nazi bombers. They flew low for a good look, and then went on their way. "British Morale is Perfect." The ketch picked up a fishing net, which fouled the propellers, so Clarke put in at Madeira for repairs. That was 20 days after the start. When they were within 400 miles of Nassau they ran out of food. They restocked from the tanker Arabella, out of Baltimore, and continued on to Nassau. There was some trouble there over the ketch's registry, but through the intervention of the Duke of Windsor the Marie was permitted to come on Ito Miami. A gale delayed the ketch on the last lap of the journey. *

"The sky of Miami sure looked good," Clarke admitted. "But I did not think' the trip was much out of the ordinary. Guess we were lucky." But one member of the crew, Norman Middleton, a Briton a»d the was not so happy over the trip. He had never been to sea before, and he made the trip "just for excitement."

"I got enough of it," he said. "No more sea trips for me." Clarke would not talk about conditions in England. But after refusing he did declare: "British morale is perfect." Clarke would not give the location of his aeroplane parts plant, which has had such narrow escapee from bombers, but he did show reporters a picture of the factory, which covers five acres. "I hope it's still there," he said, as he unfolded the picture. Clarke intends having the Marie repaired, and sent back to Nassau, where he will use it as a pleasure craft.— N.A.N.A.