LONE VOYAGER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 276, 21 October 1937, Page 9

LONE VOYAGER.

. SAGA OF MANY SEAS. ADVENTUROUS LIFE IN TINY CRAFT. LONDON, Oct. 8. .' Fred Rebell, who sailed from Sydney in an 18ft yacht six years ago, was flung ashore in a small boat bv raging seas at Aldeburgh (Sussex). When the boat turned over on the beach the coastguard saw a lean man, wearing a blue cap, grey overcoat and red tennis shoes. Rebell, who is 51, describes himself as “a man without a country.” Fighting .against storms, be had just finished a four days’ journey acroas the North Sea, he told a Daily Telegraph representative. ‘‘l was farming a.nd building in Australia for 25 years,” he said, “but left after I bad divorced my wife. I put my savings into an 18ft yacht, Elaine. “I could not navigate, so I practised in Svdnev Harbour. I copied ehnrts in the Public Librarv. Elaine broke up on Long Beach, California, after I had sailed her alone across the Pacific with home-made instruments. BOY' SCOUT TELESCOPE. ‘‘My compass was a toy, and my sextant was home-made of hoop-iron. My telescope was a Boy Scout’s, and my degree register was a hacksaw Wa.de. . „ . , „ . . “I stayed in the United States tor three years. Then I heard that my mother, living in Latvia, was ill. I went home in a freighter. My mother died in my arms. Now I want to see Australia again.” Rebell bought his present yacht, which is 23. feet long, for £4. He hopes to leave in her for Australia in two or three days. He will carry water for three months and provisions to last him for a year.