ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22335, 24 February 1938, Page 9

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

ENGLISH GIRL’S ADVENTURE A SPANISH INTERLUDE Canterbury residents will be interested to hear of the experiences of Miss S. E. Skelton, a slim, goldenhaired English girl, who has completed a 6000-mile trip across the Atlantic in a 67-foot ketch-rigged schooner. She is a daughter of Sir Reginald and Lady Skelton, of Surrey. England. Lady Skelton was formerly Miss Sybil Dev-enish-Meares. fourth daughter of the late Mr Devenish-Mearcs, of Christchurch, and a niece of Mr H. O. Dev-enish-Meares, of Fendalton. She visited relatives in Canterbury a few years ago. Sir Reginald Skelton will be remembered as chief engineer to the National Antarctic Expedition under the late Captain R. F. Scott, from 1901-1904.

Miss Skelton sailed from England on a voyage which lasted almost six months. The captain of the Ahto. in which she crossed the Atlantic, was Ahto Walter, a well-known English sportsman, and lover of the sea. In addition, there were two sailors. Jay Walter, brother of the owner. Philip King, Jack Sydney, and Miss Skelton as “crew,” and they were accompanied by Mrs Ahto Walter and Miss C. Cochran.

Bound for New York. Captain Walter shaped his course via Madeira and the Bahamas. His vessel was a 60ton craft, carrying two jibs, staysail, main, and mizzen. He had pot included visits to Spain in his itinerary, but the weather interfered with the navigator’s plans, and his crew met the Government forces and Franco’s men.

It was stormy weather when the Ahto put to sea. For 14 days the ship took a terrific pounding, and was blown off her course repeatedly, and for 10 days head winds, gales, and roaring seas tried their issue with the craft. On board, the crew wore practically all their clothes to protect themselves from the freezing weather. Snow and hailstones piled on the decks, and, finally, short of water and kerosene, the Ahto was blown into Ria de Alveros. on the northern coast of Spain. Ria was in the grip of civil war. and was being held by Government forces. Boat Boarded by Authorities The Government authorities boarded the Ahto, and armed men, with fingers apparently ready to pull the trigger, went aboard. The skipper was informed he must sail immediately. He could not anchor nearer than seven miles along the coast, and the seas were heavily mined, he was told. “There wasn’t any use,” Miss Skelton said, “we had to go. One does not argue with men'with guns. They .hold the telling end of the argument.” The Ahto crept along as carefully as the winds would allow, and the skill of the navigator would permit, and reached Corunna, where the rebel forces were in control.

“They were suspicious of us,” said Miss Skelton. “We were glad to see the English gunboat Enterprise in the harbour. We were searched, and marched under guard to the guard house, but we got used to this, because we had to go to the guard house a number of times during the 10 days we were there. The men were courteous. “Even with the booming of guns in the distance life in Commna went on much as usual. -Food was cheap,' but everything else was heavily taxed. There was no rope in the city, and fishermen were desperate for a supply. After a dark night, the Ahto’s crew awoke one morning to find every yard, of working rope gone. Some one had slipped aboard in the night, and carried off every rope. The Enterprise came to the rescue, and gave the skipper enough rope for his mizzen, and this with the rope which had been left, had to do until the shin arrived at Casablanca. For three days the Ahto lay in dry dock at Casablanca while the crew scraped paint and worked to get the craft in rtiane for her long voyage across the Bahamas. Dry dock was expensive, and the crew did as much of the work as possible. Miss Skelton took her trick at the wheel, and did throughout the trip her six hours daily watch. They got their landfall off the Bahamas. The wind dropped suddenly. The Ahto was on a lee shore, and Captain Walter could not hear the breakers roll for the sea had become suddenly quiet. He sighted the danger in time, and called “All hands on deck” while he held the shin off threatened banks, and they dropped anchor in two and a half fathoms of water.

They experienced good weather from the Bahamas to Miami, and then to New York, where Miss Skelton left the ship to go by bus to Halifax. The six months she had scent at sea did not seem long, said Miss Skelton. “I'm sorrv it’s over. I would rather ship on the Ahto than travel on the Queen Mary,” she told an interviewer.