LONELY SEA JOURNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18710, 16 May 1924, Page 3

LONELY SEA JOURNEY.

«- — VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. LIFE IN A FOUR-TON YAWL, [FROM otra OWN correspondent.] CAPETOWN. March 31. ' Some queer craft and many strange characters call at this rendezvous of the seven seas, yet nothing quito like the four-ton yawl and its crew of one man. that came into Table Bay the other day has been seen in these waters before. The man was Mr. Harry Pidgeon, one time a professional photographer, now a wanderer of the seas, who set out from Los Angeles, in California, three years ago, and hopes to reach America again in October this year. ■ Mr. Pidgeon was found by, an interviewer busy washing a. khaki shirt on the deck of his little yawl and, enjoying the sight of a U hug© liner from Earop© - ' being shepherded into the docks by energetic tugs. He was a slight, lean, wiry man, with a bronzed, deeply-marked face and hair streaked . with grey. He was not very talkative, for a man wno has spent long periods among the lonely wastes of sea learns the value of intro- " spection, but in the warm South African - sunshine he gradually became locquacious. Until he was 27 years of age he was - a farmer. • He then got tired of the. ' We, and ■ went out to Alaska hunting for ; specimens for the American museums. Dreaming of the South Seas, .///•.'. : " There it was I grew fond of ships/' •. he explained.. "I used to go out with the sailors and learned a good deal about navigation and seamanship from them. Then, after a time I took to photography.. It was quite accidental. I had a photographer with me on the hunting, expeditions, for specimens, but one day he* was . drowned, and I carried on his job' myself, made a success of it, \ and decided to;. , make photography my business." ; fife "."', always had a " hankering " after the sea, ?: . I though, and he had heard the call of ■■•?.'« the south. y" * : ' r: ':" ' "'.* • -v "Up in Alaska, among the frozen : ■/?;. snows," continued Mr. ; Pidgeon, "I used : to dream of the South Sea Islands >»nd the sunshine. And I made my mmd that I would go-. there ' some day. I had no one dependent on me and as time ' dragged a bit I built this boat, every bit of it, bar a little; blacksmith's work. And : ; : she's done nearly 17,000 miles." Ho had really no definite object in sailing,/ round the world except just a desire -to, "see things," as he casually put lit:-" He • never intended going so far when be set off nearly three'- years ago. from Los Angeles. •;/■;; Great Storm Missed. ; ' " I had :my mind set on : the South ; ; . Sea; Islands," he said, " and: so one day " when, the boat ; .was ready '■'. and there was * nothing better ,to do I provisioned her. got- in my stock of water,' took; leave of my;friends, and sailed quietly away. Two/:..: days later it was reported that I couldn't : possibly have "lived through a storm which swept the Pacific, although, strange to relate, I never felt a bit of it. For 42 ' days' I•' saw ' neither < 1 and !• nor sail, just water. '■ Then I reached;; the South Sea Islands. -They; were all; I had expected them- to be, 1 and I 'feU; ; for them right away." */:» : ''.'. //'•/ '/ ///;./: ; /£ . This, was /Hawaii, and Mr. Pidgeon',.,'." loafed there in- splendid 'idleness..,;..-. -.When. ■■■■■=■, ■ the time came for..,him, to leave, . tne y idea of t a world tour came to him..,. " It'/ was a .case of the longest way round ■. '■/' being the nearest way home," ; . he said. - " Just a reversal of the old saying. I decided to '; make ;my return passage via ■■ the world, and called at Samoa, Fiji,'' . the . New., Hebrides, New Guinea. -'.'Au«-..';-'• tralia, Mauritius, and now lam in South';' ■■■ '■■..'■ Africa." ,; : -;p;, :r - : :\, ■; •' v: ////yY From Capetown, Mr. Pidgeon will sail .' f to St.? Helena, then make for the West; Indies,; and return to 'Los Angeles, via the Panama' Canal. By that time he will have ! accomlp}ished about 35,000 miles. -';'. His ship is; called the Islander, and is ay/ good sailor. :, There is room on board fo» v .. six months' stores - and ./ eight months' water supply, y Mr. Pidgeon stocks her so that there will be no fear of his running short. A lonely life, but not always so. . , - , .. . : - " Eat, Sleep and Work." "There's plenty to do alone on a little ! ship like this," Mr. Pidgeon said. "You know the sailor's life—eat. sleep, .and ' work. Queer way of sleeping, too. Eight ' hours I'm supposed to take, though I'm . out about every 30 minutes taking my 1 bearings and looking out. ' I have had ' one or two harrowing experiences. Once ' I didn't get, a wink of sleep for 48 hours.Didn't know where I was going, didn't know how to find out, buffeted, tossed, ; and drifting. Then the storm dropped, ' and I dropped, asleep. ' "I don't believe in asking for trouble," . ' Mr. Pidgeon remarked. "I prefer to study my course beforehand, and to get to know as much about the sea on which I am sailing as it is possible- to know. For instance, when I knew that it was the ■; / hurricane and typhoon season y. on the y Pacific, I dug myself in on the South Sea Islands, und waited for good ■■' weather. That is the advantage of this kind of life . you can please yourself where you-go '_;.,;; and when " ' ■■.-/..'■' Mr. Pidgeon holds that the saying of Stevenson, "adventure is a sign of ' incompetency," is a true saying. Adventure, -when that term is used as synonymous with danger, is not what he is seeking. When he sees trouble ahead, he avoids it. . , The interviewer left him,. still patiently vy; washing his shirt. :_ ; ; /