A LONG JOURNEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21365, 19 June 1931, Page 10

A LONG JOURNEY

. IN OPEN CUTTER SWEDES’ ADVENTUROUS EXPLOIT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 9. An adventurous exploit by two Swedes was successfully concluded on Friday last when Mr George Benson, whose home is in Bexley, a suburb of Sydney, and Mr Johanson, of Gothenburg, Sweden, sailed the open cutter Gullinarn into Lake Macquarie entrance, near Newcastle, New South Wales. The cutter had been sighted earlier in the week by the Union Steam Ship Company’s steamer Katoa out at sea. Interviewers, on boarding the vessel, discovered to their surprise that the owner was a Sydney man. Mr Benson explained that though he had lived for more than a quarter of a century in Australia, he was a Swede by birth. It was when he was o‘n a visit to his homeland, which began two years ago, that he bought the Gullmarn for the use of his two sons, who live in Sydney. Talking casually in a restaurant in Gothenburg one evening, he said that he was thinking of sailing the boat to Australia. When a bet running into hundreds of pounds was made that he would not complete the feat, he took it up. Enlisting the services of Mr Johanson as navigator, Mr Benson left Gothenburg 10 months ago. After touching Denmark and France, the Gullmarn put into Brixham, England. While he was there a minor explosion sent Mr Benson into hospital for more than a week, but this was not permitted to interfere with his plans. By way of Lisbon, Madeira and the West Indies the Gullmarn crossed the Atlantic to Colon.

After passing through the Panama canal the cutter made for the New Hebrides. When she left that group of islands a month ago she met with the worst weather encountered during the voyage. The two adventurers were hourly in danger of their lives, but their little craft rode out the storm. Their provisions, however, were by that time nearly exhausted. A lucky meeting with the Katoa, however, made possible the replenishing of supplies. Mr Benson has not tired of adventuring and he now talks of using the cutter for a further voyage to the Far East. Mrs Benson, however, is anxious for him to remain at home for a time after his roving, and he will probably accede to her wishes.