MID-OCEAN MEETING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22963, 19 August 1936, Page 5

MID-OCEAN MEETING

TANKER AND 21-FEET YACHT MAN AND WIFE ON CRUISE (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, August 10. The officers and crew of the oil tanker Pegasus described, on their arrival here from San Francisco, their encounter in midpacific with an American and his wife sailing in a small yacht to Honolulu. When the Pegasus was in the North Pacific Ocean, halfway between San Francisco and Honolulu, a sail was sighted. With the aid of binoculars, the officers could see a small boat rolling in a steep swell which followed a heavy blow. The tanker hove-to within hailing distance of the small yacht Curvis, 21 feet long. The master of the Pegasus (Captain Hagstrom) asked the man and woman in it if they required any assistance. “ No. We are al! right, captain,” came the cheerful reply from the tiny craft. “We are just sailing from San Pedi'o to Honolulu.” The man and woman were Mr and Mrs E. Bone. Captain Hagstrom offered them fresh provisions, but these were declined. “If you have a copy of a San Francisco newspaper to spare we would appreciate it. We haven’t seen land for some weeks,” said Mr Bone as an afterthought. Captain Hagstrom tossed down some newspapers and a chart, on which he had marked the correct position of the ship as 600 miles from Honolulu. Mr Bone thanked him and then compared the latitude and longitude marked on the chart with his own reckoning. He found that he was only 45 miles off his course, a tribute to his navigation in such a small craft. Then, with a cheery farewell, the adventurers sailed off.