ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19009, 3 November 1923, Page 15

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.

AN AMAZING VOYAGE. FRENCHMAN’S HARDSHIPS. A thrilling' story of adventure and hardship is told by Mr Alain Gerbault, the French lawn tennis player, who has succeeded in the perilous task’ of crossing the Atlantic alone in a 30ft 10-ton cutter (says the New York correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, writing on September 17). M. Gerbault, who landed at Fort Totten, Long Island, on Friday evening, declared that be smarted from Cimnnes on April 6. I told nobody, he said, that I was going to America. To all my friends but one I said I was going to England on a short trip. My one confidant supplied me with 601 b of salt beef, 36 tins of condensed milk, 601 b of sugar, 101 b of tea, 3S pounds of ships’ biscuit, and 65 gallons of distilled water. My first goal was Gibraltar. As my boat is a cutter, and has only one mast and a long boom, it was difficult for one man to work. The scecond day out I struck bad weather in the Gulf of Lyons. Strong gales blew for 48 hours, then dropped as suddenly as they sprang, and,for days there was not a breath of air. I finally reached Gibraltar 34 hours after I set out from Cannes. From Gibraltar I set my course straight for New York, following the' old sailing routes used by Columbus and afterwards by the pirates who sailed the Spanish main. Shortly afterwards I ran into another storm, losing my good weather sails, whilst the roller boom, which has been repaired at Gibraltar, was hopelessly broken. All day and all night I worked repairing the mainsail. For the next 1500 miles I struck fair winds and moderate seas. With fine fol-' lowing winds, I went for a week without touching the tiller. WATER GOES BAD. Then disaster overtook me. One morning I awakened to find a peculiar smell in the looker where the water was stored in 10gallon jars. . I discovered that two-thirds of the ‘water had gone bad because the jars were improperly cleaned when the water was placed in them. After anxious calculation. I determined that with luck I could pull through if I rationed myself one cup a day. My staple diet at the time was potatoes, which are delicious when boiled in sea water in their skins. Except for the loss of the water, everything went ideally for the next thousand miles. Sometimes I fished for bonitas. 201 b or 301 b monsters, with harpoons. Sometimes I fished over the side of the boat I nearly fell asleep in the soft, warm winds. But one© again Nemesis descended upon me. My carefully-prepared wind chart, which indicated that', the winds should be following for the rest of the voyage to New York, proved wrong. Within 45 minutes the wind from being astern began to blow in the opposite direction, followed by 14 days of calm. Then there were terrific squalls and rain. There was a foot of water in the cabin and the pump broke. The water rose higher and higher. As fast as I baled it put it came in again. UNCONSCIOUS FOR TWO DATS. On the fifth morning of the downpour I developed fever and a sore throat. On the seventh day my temperature rose to Xo4deg. and I became unconscious. When I awoke about 54 hours later everything was awash. Then came the worst period of the whole voyage. For 26 days gales and winds blew with unprecedented force. Every day and almost ©very hour something fresh was broken- One day I ventured on deck and noticed an enormous wave rushing towards the boat I was just in time to climb the rigging when the wave broke with tremendous force. The whole boat disappeared, entirely engulfed in the sea. Tons of water thundered overhead. Then the wave passed, and by a miracle the ship righted herself. M. Gerbault said that 84 days out he fell in with the Greek steamer Byron, which provisioned him and gave him medical supplies. Then he sighted the Henrietta, of Boston, and secured from her fresh meat and fruit. Seven dats later he sighted the American coast and fetched up at Fort Totten, after going 80 hours without sleep. —Reuter's Special Service. omened number that are recorded-, though a very interesting field of inquiry lies open to the statistician in connection with the other side of the story. Some people will tell you that instead of 13 being their unlucky number it is actually symbolic of all the good luck they ever had. Ex-President Wilson is one of those who pin their faith to 13, and that well-known sportsman, the Duke of Portland, has also happy recollections of the luck associated with “the same number. He once lived at 13 Grosvenor Place, was married from that house, and while he resided there his horses, Ayrshire and Donovan, won the Derby! MOST USEFUL TREE. PROFITS FOB INVESTORS. No wonder the attention of investors is directed to the commercial planting of pinus Insignis, the timber from which is one of the most useful for box and case-making, and has even been used with success for house building. Its rate of growth is remarkable, plantations' having actually yielded 75,000 to 100,000 super, feet per acre in 27 years. An interesting free booklet may be obtained from Nelson Pine Forest (Limited), Nelson. Write for it— Advt,