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ci , 7 , 06vanturars U8 eI NEWS 0 U A F A R L A D Y 1 7 8 6
ci,7,06vanturars U8eI NEWS
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OUR FAIR LADY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset-gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome, her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin-cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she,
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore;
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
On November 2, 1883 Fsnrria Lazarus, a 34-year - old poet, penned these famous words that have found a place in the immortality of the history of our nation. They remain today engraved on a plaque inside the pedestal of the statue and indelibly engraved on the hearts of all who have stood beside The Golden Door.
J1lwuturrrLi' Wh Nrwfi - PU8L I SUED MONTHLY BY THE I J PUBLICATION OFFICE
ADVFNTURL1S' CLUBOF
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
706 WEST 'ICO BOULEVARD
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
VOLUME 30: JULY 1987 FOUNDED 1921
TRAGEDY ON THE CONGO
AN EXCITING TALE OF A TRIP BY KAYAK DOWN THE TOUGHEST AND MOST
DANGEROUS STRETCH OF THE ENTIRE CONGO RIVER
by John M. Goddard #507
Jack and I were full of high spi-rits when we arose on a brilliant July morning and set about freaking camp in the bamboo grove where we had spent the cold night. We knew our major goal, Bukama, was but a few hours paddle downstream ad once reached would mean we had success-fully explored the first 400 miles of the Lualaba, the toughest and most dangerous stretch of U- entire Congo River.
Excited at the prospect of see-ing white people and civilization again, we dispensed with breakfast, hurriedly loaded the kayaks and pushed off. We cautiously threaded
our way down one of the several ra-pids-ridden channels filtering thru a maze of lushly overgrown islands and soon arrived where the divided river converged again into one main channel, here bounded by boulder-strewn banks. These rose steeply around us as we glided along until we found ourselves in a narrow gorge sweeping forward at a rapid clip in the grip of a powerful and capri-cious current. Just five miles up-stream the Lua].aba had been an im-pressive water-course Atha breadth of 200 yards and more. Here in the chasm this massive flow was com-pressed between solid ualls of glis-
(Travel with John on page 3)
ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
If the plans for redevelopment pro-ceed according to schedule, the Ad-venturers' Club should receive an eviction notice sometime in June or July. At the time of notice to va-cate there will be a period of four months in which to find rquarters and to actually move. This means that we would have to be out of our present quarters sometime in Novem-ber if everything goes according to schedule. If there is any delay it may be next year before the actual move takes place. If we wait until we receive an eviction notice, then the City of Los Angeles will be ob-ligated to help us find new quar-ters, and to help to defray tI-E cost of moving. There is a $10,000 fig-ure that has been mentioned as the City's contribution to the moving cost.
So far the Board of Directors, with Bil Brown as the Chairman of the rquarters committee, has ser-iously investigated several loca-tions without much success. Cur-rently under consideration is the purchase of property in the Los An-geles Basin. With the present buil-ding fund ard donations from members we could spend about $280,000 for a location according to an analysis by Charlie Ross.
We presently have 6,000 square feet and in order to have space for meals, programs, trophies etc., it
(Continued on Page 10) -2-
ADVENTURERS' CLUB OF 11)5 ANGELES MEEFS AT ThE
ADVENTURERS' CLUB ROOM THURSDAY NIGHTS
706 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90015
Phone (213) 749-3537
1987 OFFICERS
President Chester R. Kyle 1st Vice Pres. Alan H. Siebert 2nd Vice Pres. David Yamada Secretary Lester C. Storms Treasurer Milton W. Valois
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Reed Robert Sechrist Donald Orosz Chester Sidell Keith Chase Kenneth Senter
Charles Ross
§ THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS
Editor Robert C. Williams
§
Subscription $15.00 per year
Entered as Second Class postage at the Post Office at
Los Angeles, California usp (389-310)
THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS is published monthly by The Adventurers' Club 706 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles
CA 90015
Second Class postage paid al-
Los Angeles, California
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
the above address.
ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS July 1987
dar
rom page
tening rock averaging only 25 yards
apart. With the river straining furious-
ly at her confining corset of gran- ite, we shot through a succession of five short rapids, experiencing no difficulty in tI-s actual cascades but having a bad time in the raging stretches between. Here we fought to stay upright and a-float. The water chur-ned and boiled under us like some malevolent monster tossing our light craft around like chips. Several times we held our breath as we uEre drawn downwards into the gurgling maws of great sucking whirl-pools, which roistered around our kayaks like Satan's imps, causing John God
them to twirl and tilt dangerously. We felt helpless once in their grasp. To struggle too vi-gorously in evading them meant cer-tain upset, as the margin of bal-ance was small in our narrow-beamed cockle-shells.
As we grappled with the fearsome boils we got the scare of our lives when we rounded a bend and heard the lusty roar of heavy turbulence close by. The clamor of crashing water struck cold fear into our hearts, for just the day before we had been solemnly warned by several African fishermen to be on guard for a giant, impassable waterfall a few miles downstream. From the loudly
echoing din ahead we were convinced that we had reached the falls. We cast about wildly seeking an escape as the surging river bore us inex-orably on at a dizzy rate towards the unseen cataract. With a flurry of powerful strokes
we managed to break free of the cur-rent and reach the safety of a back water next to the left bank, where
we anchored to a great boulder. Jack sat pa-tiently while I scram-bled over the ledges to make a reconnais-sance of the situation and then decide what our next move would be. I was relieved to dis-cover that the thunder filling the canyon was produced, not by the unnavigable waterfall
#507 described by the na- tives but by the river
tumbling tumultuously over three rock-studded cascades, with a tri-cky S-shaped twisting to its course.
As was our habit of long practice in coming uxri hazardous white water I paddled first Jack's then my kay-ak through while my partner hiked to the base of the rapids. During the first passage I h1a close call and nearly wrecked Jack's boat when the violent torrent slammed me into a mass of sharp rock with a spine-jarring jolt as I thrashed around the second bend.
Fortunately, I was able to swing the nose at the last second before the coLLiiion so that only two cross
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
braces w2re fractured instead of the We spent the next hour in lei- vital base-board or some other ir- surely fashion, filming the impres-replaceable part. For a short but sive cataract whieh we named "Gros-hectic minute I teetered precari- venor Falls" in honor of the illus-ously on my rocky perch as the cur- trious family which founded and di-rent tore savagely at me then I f 1- rects tI-a incomparable National Geo-nally wedged my paddle firmly in a graphic Society collecting unusual crevice, wrenched myself off, and specimens to add to our growing en-debouched unharmed. There uere tense tomolLogical collection, bringing our moments in getting my own boat down journals up to date and taking les-the formidable chutes, but all went Sons from our new found friend on well and within an hour after en- how to fish with a dip net. countering this hindrance to our The personable fisherman told us progress we had bailed out t} water he had spent a little time at a Ca-shipped in transit and were under tholic mission as a boy and had been way again, Jack paddling in my un- given the name of Joseph by the lo-damaged kayak for safety's sake and cal priest. Joseph showed us his I in his. camp where his lame brotherss bus- At mid-day we arrived at the head ily smoking the morning catch of
of a narrow and steeply dropping de- barbel and minnows. I examined his file down which the Lualaba swooped legazil found it extensively swollen with terrific force. This we recog- from a thorn infection. Breaking nized unmistakably as the waterfall out our well-equipped medical kit, described by the natives. We tied I gave the grateful African a gen-up in a little cove on the left and proceeded to examine this wonder and figure a way to bypass it. As we ZAIRE
stood transfixed by the awesome çShaba
sight at cur feet we heard above the tumult a hearty shout of "Jambo sa-na!" the traditional Swahili greet- ing, and turned to see a grinning Nat' I
African approaching. We were de- Perk
lighted at seeing a human in this remote territory but the native was Lualaba
downright astonished at seeing us. River
We happily shook his hand as he ex-plained that he had been fishing near his camp below the falls when he spotted us standing on U-P-rocks.
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1EN'pJJERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
erous supply of sulfa pills with instructions on how and when to take them, which Jack translated in to fluent Swahili. This little gesture really cemented our friendship. From his reaction one would have thought we had given him a sack of gold francs.
The day was wearing on by now and, as we were enjoying the unpre-cedented respite so greatly, I sug-gested to Jack that we utilize the remainder of the daylight hours in filming the general details of our daily life which we had been plan-ning to record for so long. "I know the boys would be tickled to have us spend the night with them, and then we can get an early start for Bukama in the tnrnirg," I said. "That sounds well and good to me, John," he replied. "But on the other hand this cold of mine does seem to be getting worse ardl could really use a good night's sleep in a real bed. Why don't we pack up and carry on now?" The thought of resting on a comfortable bed instead of the cold hard ground, of appetizing food, and the companionship of fellow whites seemed irresjstableto too. "What are we waiting for?" I responded enthusiastically.
With our plans settled we bid "Kwaheri" to our friends, hopped in-to our boats and paddled vigorously upstream hugging the left bank just out of the pull of the strong cur-rent. Reaching a respectable dis-tance above the falls we put on a
burst of speed and darted across the river to the opposite side. There had been no way to bypass the big chute on the left except by a long and arduous portage overland, so we were now going to take advantage of a small side channel branching off just to the right of the falls and entering the river again a hundred yards downstream. It would have been foolhardy to have paddled down to the detour. The river was much too swift and there was too great a risk of being hurled right into the falls before making the turn into the channel. We climbed out to ease the boats dcn by means of their an-chor ropes, but Jack slipped and fell heavily on the rocks bruising himself slightly. I had him sit in the shade of a tree to recuperate while I continued the operation on my own.
§ § §
[The next chapter in this amazing story will be carried in the August issue where you will read "It was a genuine shock then in passing the outcropping to behold Jack's kayak 50 yards beyond, drifting gently in a back-water upside down and my friend nowhere to be seen.]
A bee's tront end is sweet and kind,
But never trust a bee's behind.
A bee can sting if it can sit,
So always stay in front of it!
(Leo Aikman)
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
THE TRAGIC END OF THE "QUEEN ELIZABETH"
At 83,673 gross registered tons, the Queen EUzabe;th was the largest vessel ever to come out of a ship-yard. The year was 1939. She was well over a thousand feet long and capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. Truly the queen of the sea lanes.
The Second World War interrupted plans for the maiden voyage of the Queen in 1940 and tF ship spent her first five years as a troop ship be-fore her first peace-time crossing of the Atlantic in October of 1946.
To an exhausted Europe, strug-gling to rebuild its economy from the ruins of six years of war, the Queen (along with her sister ship the Queen Maky) provided another taste of that luxury and elegance which vanished on the 3rd of Sep-tember, 1939.
She sailed with a packed passen-ger list on voyage after voyage; di-plomats, film stars, monarchs, all rubbed shoulders with businessmen the wide Pacific to t1 Asian coast.
By the end of the 1960's, only four people in every hundred who travelled tl- Atlantic went by ship. The big jets had made terrible in-roads on sea travel. By the winter of 1965, the Queen was losing 8,000 British pounds per day on the north Atlantic run. Such economic policy could not continue lcrg so on May 8, 1967 she uas withdrawn from service.
In September 1970, after a few years as a lifeless hulk, the ship came under the hammer and was sold for $3,200,000 to Mr. C. Y. Tung, the Hong Kong ship owner. He re-named her Sawoe. UnJv s-tg (note the 'play on words' of Tung's mi-tians. Ed.) and ordered her sailed to Hong Kong.
Her last skipper, Commodore Geof-frey Marr, came out of retirement to act as adviser to the Chinese crew who had the daunting task of coaxing the old and deteriorating ship south round the Horn and across
and emigrants who made up the bulk The ship was plagued with boiler of her passengers. Foreign compe- trouble during the voyage and at one tition was minimal so she and her time all of its 83,000 tons was a-sister ship had the north Atlantic drift out of control in the Carib-all to themselves until the early bean. Heroic efforts by the crew fifties. (Continuedpge 7)
ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HENRY
THIS IS THE STORY OF FOUR OF OUR MORE ACTIVE MEMBERS. THEY ARE Ev-ERYBODY #1, SOMEBODY #2, ANYBODY #3 AND NOBODY #11. I'M SURE YOU KNOW THEM. THEY ARE GREAT GUYS AND YOU ALWAYS CAN DEPEND ON THEM.
THERE WAS AN IMPORTANT JOB TO BE DONE. EVERYBODY WAS ASKED TO CHIP IN AND HELP. EVERYBODY WAS SURE SOMEBODY ELSE WOULD DO IT. ANYBODY COULD HAVE DONE IT IN NO TIME AT ALL. NOBODY DID IT AS EVERYBODY ASSUMED IT WAS DONE BY SOMEBODY ELSE ALREADY.
SOMEBODY GOT ANGRY ABOUT IT AND ACCUSATIONS STARTED TO FLY FAST AND FURIOUS AT EVERYBODY. EVERYBODY BLAMED SOMEBODY WHEN, IN ACTUALITY, NOBODY ASKED ANYBODY TO DO IT.
THERE IS A LESSON IN HERE. SOME-WHERE, IF ANYBODY CAN FIGURE IT OUT, WILL THAT SOMEBODY LET ME KNOW AS I HAVE A HEADACHE FROM READING THROUGH THIS. THANK YOU.
--HENRY VON SEYFRIED #881
(QUEEN, continued from page 6) eventually got the giant under the helm again and she finally made it to [long Kong. There she was strip-ped of many of her fittings ard work on conversion proceeded.
In this condition, with 200 peo-ple working on board, somewhere in
TRAGEDY STRIKES!
her passenger accommodations fire broke out and spread very quickly.
The dilerna facing the ship fire fighters was the old one of buoyan-cy. The more water pumped aboard, the greater the danger of the ship capsizing. So it proved with the Queen E1-LzabetIi. Her wide corri- dors and alleys fed the fire with all the forced draft of a thousand chimneys. The dense smoke of her pyre rose over Hong Kong and pic-tures of it put the ship right back on the front pages of the world's newspapers.
The fire raged through the upper decks almost unchecked until, at last, after burning for twenty-four hours, the ship keeled over and the soothing waters of the harbor ended her agony.
ler hI long since desertedI-r plush lounges to join the international jet set, she rested a crippled,
Cunards greatest ship had reached burnt-out wreck in the mud of Hong the end of the line. Designed as a Kong Harbor. This tragic event, on Queen, named by a Queen, she had January 9, 1972, has all the drama carried the famous and the wealthy of a nautical Goitdcmvun9.
in a style that was the apotheosis (Condensed from OCEAN LINERS by Robert Wall of elegant living. Now, at the end published by E. P. DUTTON, New York, 1977)
of her career, when the last revel- § § §
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ON THE GREAT ADVENTURE...
E. ALLEN PETERSEN, M.D. #406
A Tribute to an Exceptional Adventurer
Sadly, you will search in vain for his name and biography in the current (1985) edition of the Roster of the Adventurers' Club, but it is no longer there. Yet if his name, number (406) and curriculum vitae were to be therein it would be the sixth entry in the book, only five living adventurers preceding him in the roster.
Dr. E. Allen Petersen, "Doc" to those closest to him, embarked on the Great Adventure on Sunday, the 7th of June, 1987, though his pass-ing was not reported in the press until the 13th. Consequently, since we were unaware of his passing, it is unlikely that any member of our Club attended his obsequies or even acknowledged his passing. Yet he was once a stalwart of our Club.
A physician-surgeon of consider-able ability and repute, Doc Peter-sen was an equally qualified and reputable adventurer. In his youn-ger days (which would have been in the Twenties since he was born in 1903) held actually sailed "before the mast" (as a crew member) on the three-masted bark "Nloshulu" out of San Francisco to Australia, the Phi-lippines and China. And to those who may have forgotten, a bark was rugged thusly: foremast and main-
unfortunately no photograph of Doc Petersen is available at press time. There is a photo in the 1980 (Red Cover) Edition of the Roster but which would not be of good
enough quality to reproduce here. Ed.
mast square-rigged and mizzenmast fore and aft-rigged. But this was at a time, well-recorded by Captain Villiers for one, when a handful of tall-masted, square-riggers still plied the oceans of the world as slow but cheap bulk carriers. Woo-den these may have been, but their crews were men of iron. Their near-est equivalents today might be the crews of competing 12-meter yachts in the America's Cup. However hard-worked as crews such as these may be, they are seldom called on to go aloft by scaling the rat-lines. And never to reduce sail and nurse their ship through a typhoon.
I last talked to Doc Petersen in 1982 when I accidentally learned that he had just lost to death his beloved wife, Tani, life-long help-meet, and first mate on his own two -person-only mighty ocean voyages aboard their Chinese-designed and Shanghai-built 36-foot junk, the "I-lumel Hummel". (Though my know- lede of German tells me that "hum-mel' is the word for humble-bee, I am not aware of tI-c allusion Doc Pe-tersen may have been making when he
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ADVFNTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(Peterson, cont'd) called his ship by such a name.)
At the time of my phone call in 1982 he seemed, understandably, in a very depressed state of mind and declared that hehal given up atten-ding meetings of the Adventurers' Club because, as he said and I well recollect his exact words "They just don't seem these days tole speaking my language." I don't know that he actually resigned from the Club or whether he simply dropped out, as have too many others by discontinu-ing the payment of his dues. A great pity however his departure may have come about as Doc Petersen uns indu-bitably an adventurer of the first order, and was, moveover, a gentle-man of the old sch000l like John Bo-den, or John Davidson. A proffer-ment of Emeritus status to Doc Pe-tersen bythe then-current Board may have been the ideal solution, how-ever, once the moment has passed it becomes difficult if not impossible to recall. Still, enough of remorse and mis-
sed opportunity, let me take just a few moments more to honor t1- memory of one who was once among tbebrigh-test of ornaments to cur Club, a man whose loss at the age of 84 deserves to be memorialized. An altogether striking figure as I remember him striding into our quarters, Doe Pe-terson was tall, well-built, eagle-eyed and entirely bald. This did not detract in the least, however, from the very image of masculinity he ra-
diated. Rather like a more handsome and better-spoken version of Telly Savalas in his role of Kojak, but even more adventurous than the TV star he resembled (or who resembled him) Doe Petersen and his wife, Ta-ni, made many record-setting tran-sits of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific in the Thirties encoun-tering and, between them overcoming the countless travails and perils as are certain to be encountered on such long trans-oceanic passages in small craft.
Doe Petersen's account of how he and Tani survived a typhoon in mid-Pacific is graphically recorded in his short story published some ele-ven years ago in TALES FROM THE AD-VENTURERS CLUB. Go at once to your bookshelf, I say, and re-read that yarn to re-establish the measure of the man and his worth as an adven-turer. I have just done so myself, and find that a preface I wrote to his story has as much pertinence to-day asi- i I first wrote it in 1972. Although I now believe I rather un-derstated the case at the time it might be useful (for those of you who may have misplaced your copy of TALES OF THE ADVENTURERS CLUB or have given it away) if I were to append that preface here.
[From: TALES OF THE ADVENTURERS CLUB, 1972
"Thousands of galleons are known to have crossed and re-crossed the Pacific in the old
(Concluded on page 28)
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(PRESIDENT'S REPORT, Cont'd) would take about the same to equal the convenience of tI-c present quar-ters. If we move into smaller quar-ters, there might hetha possibility of having dinner at another loca-tion close by anilto meet in a smal-ler location which would rot include floor space for dining tables. Pro-bably 4,000 square feet would be abouttl-e minimum we should look for.
If any member knows of suitable and attractive locations that might meet our needs, please let a member of the Board of Directors, or Bil Brown know. We actively ask for your help in locating new quarters. If you find something you think might do, a preliminary investigation by yourself would help before contac-ting a Board member. With the wide ranging contacts of the members, there has to be a good location that is available.
The Board will keep you informed about developments. 1-lowever we do not plan on having any special bus-iness meetings until there is some- thing positive to report. Please help us locate suitable quarters.
--DICK KYLE #899
GOLDEN VOYAGE
THE STIRRING ADVENTURE OF THE TAMARIT, WITH AL ADAMS AT THE HELM, IS A TALE WELL WORTH READING. SHE WAS A 68-Fool SCHOONER, BUILT IN NORTH CAROLINA, AND DESTINED FOR DELIVERY IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.
THE STORY OF THIS "GOLDEN VOYAGE"
HAS BEEN SERIALIZED IN THE PAGES OF THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS AND BEARS RE-READING AND RE-VIEWING. To PICK UP THE FIRST FOUR CHAPTERS, REFER BACK TO, YOUR FILE COPIES OF THE ACN.
CHAPTER 1 - AUGUST 1983 "DEATH CAME BUMPING"
CHAPTER 2 - FEBRUARY 1984 "THE SET OF HIS JAW-UP" CHAPTER 3 - JULY 1984
"THE PIANO HAS BLACK AND JHITE KEYS" CHAPTER '4 - NOVEMBER 1984
"BEAUTIFUL FURY"
COMMENCING ON THE NEXT PAGE OF THIS ISSUE IS CHAPTER 5 - "COLUMBUS WORLD REVISITED". CHAPTERS 6 AND THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER 7 WILL BE CARRIED IN FUTURE I.S1Ic. Th.
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ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS July 1987
Golden Voyage by Al A. Adams #688
Chapter 5
TAMARIT was always ready for sea. She had a great feeling helm. She was pow-erful, a well-balanced schooner. I liked her husky masts and heavy standing rigging. There was not a sound in her hull beating to weather. Everything about her was right for the next sea encounter. She had a way with the sea.
I have sailed from Cape Horn to the bearing Sea. It is unusual to enjoy the sail from north to south, but I enjoy the south to north cruise the beat. The tendency is to miss so such when sailing free. Making good time, one tends to pass up the great coves. Going north, slogging to weather, having a good day or two of northing and then putting in to enjoy the land, the people and the off-the-beaten path adven-turea. Adventure is found in places one seldom Linda unless by a small boat---
places where ships and planes cannot reach. Small vessels are seclusion find-era.
Islands, to me, are fas-cinating. They are places of the unusual because they are usually remote and remote makes for the remarkable, the unique and the rare.
Columbus touched in at the eastern coast of what was to become Nicaragua. He has sailed through the ceys and reefs of the Caribbean approach to Nicaragua's most easterly shore. He sailed through a great shoal area and in a very bad storm. With charts and sailing directions not yet available, I don't under-stand how he made it. With good seamanship, he got in behind a point of land and weathered the storm. He was so relieved to have made it safely to anchor, having escaped the gale, that he named its north-eastern
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
corner Cabc, Grades a Dios. 6 reefed down to be reedy.
Columbus was inspired, a 0 Under just rejed stays' devout man and I think he
L and reefed bras'1, We
felt guided by God. D scudded along on a beam
Standing on TAMARIT'S [ reach, enjoying the sail
bowsprit, I stood watching N
and the scenes of the land. Nicaragua attach itself to TAMARIT sailed close to
V Costa Rica's mountain converge with the mahogany
o ranges and rise high to covered land. The closer to take its place in the sun. shore, the smoother the
A I watched our geography seas. As the wind
6 from the deck as our pan- increased, we lowered the
[ orama changed sailing jib. The water was deep up north. For 270 miles we to the shore. Under the would see Nicaragua's fores'l alone, we brought coastline and her volcanic her in and dropped the peaks, a fascinating, cal- anchor off San Juan Del Sur. orful part of the Andes The wind blew herd, but it Range was pleasant, with streaks
Nicaragua is the largest of hot land air mixed with of the Central American cool, for just a short die- Republics. It is the least tarice inland was Lake densely populated of the Nicaragua. The wind coming Middle American countries, from over the lake was We found much heavy rain in pleasant. Strong as the the jungles to the east, wind was, there was no sea while the western area is running under the land and dotted with lakes and vol- TAMARIT pointed her bow- canoe. The central area is aprit toward the wind and high and mountainous. Most the land. It was a choice of the people seemed to situation. Out at sea it prefer living in the steamy would have been a wet ride. Pacific lowlands. This was nice for the eve-
As we rounded Cabo ning and a night's sleep. Velas, Cape of Winds, it Lake Nicaragua I 96 lived up to its name. It miles long and 39 miles lies adjacent to the Gulf wide. Just north of it and of Papagayo, where the connected by a shallow
dreaded Papagayo winds came river named Tipitapa, is screaming from offshore. We Lake Managua, which is 3
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
miles long by 16 miles be subdued. My appreciation
wide, goes much further--his sea-
Lake Nicaragua was once manahip, his navigation,
a bay of the Pacific. It is his leadership with odda
one of the world's few constantly against all
fresh water lakes contain- three, deserves much
ing sawfish and men eating praise. He made his charts
sharks. In recent political as he went. He had no sat-
uprisings, people rebelling ellite navigation computer.
against the ruling group He had no printed sailing
were reportedly disposed of directions. He had no digi-
in the lake. tel fathometer. He had no
just a mile offshore, as engine but with all these
we headed to anchor, Bob 'had riots' he had courage
had brought in a Lighting and common sense. He had no Dorado fish on the troll life raft and no life jack line. It was a beauty seas- eta, no radar, no wind/
uring 44 inches in length. speed instruments and no
Such a handsome creature in water maker. He knew how to
its brilliance of colors, sail those small, poorly
then it succumbed to slate rigged vessels loaded with
grey before our eyes. The disbelieving crews - and of
girls baked it and with course, loaded to the gun- lime juice melted butter nela with anchors, (one for and baked yams, compli- each island). He died a mented with banana ctaiqui- sick and beaten man, dis- na--we enjoyed our new credited in his own coun- place in the world, try, and in Spain, scorned
Columbus' world was and ignored. It seems he behind us now, for history was a man on earth for a and his log book brought purpose too great for the evidence of his presence average man to comprehend. only as far a Nicaragua. To Late as it was, he was appreciate Columbus for the ahead of his time.. A philo- way he changed our world is sopher wrote 1400 years one thing, to appreciate before Columbus, "An age him for his Indomitable will come after many years courage, for if he had when the ocean will loose nothing else, to me, he was the chains of things, and a great, the way he would not huge land lie revealed."
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS
MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIAST. 1963, RESEARCH AND DEVELOP- MENT OF HIGH SPEED MOTORCYCLES, CARBURETIONS AND MOTOR- CYCLE DRAG RACING ENGINES. RESTORES AND REBUILDS VIN- TAGE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLES. SPONSORSHIP OF THE DRAG RACE THUNDERNATIONALS AT PALMDALE. HOLDS RECORDS AT BONNE- VILLE SALT FLATS--1970: 187 MPH; 1970: 203 MPH (STREAM-LINED); DRAG STRIP 123MPH IN - MILE, A NATIONAL RECORD; 1980: MILE DRAG STRIP AT 133 MPH. IN 1986 HE SPENT TWO WEEKS IN MALAYSIA AS GUEST OF His ROYAL MAJESTY, SULTAN ISKANDAR OF JAHORE, KING OF MALAYSIA, TO TRAIN His MAJESTY AND INSTALL HIGH PERFORMANCE MOTORCYCLE EN-GINES.
BACHELOR IN FORESTRY. AIR FORCE FLIGHT SCHOOL 1966. FOURTEEN YEARS IN THE AIR FORCE. A MAJOR. ONE YEAR IN VIET NAM. LOGGED 15,000 HOURS IN CSA's, C141's, T37's, 138's, 727's AND BA1116's. TRAVELLED IN A DUGOUT CANOE DOWN NIGER RIVER IN MALI TO TIMBUKTU. MANY TRIPS TO
BAJA. CLIMBED MT. WHITNEY, WHEELER PEAK AND GUADALUPE PEAK. MANY TRIPS IN THE DESERTS OF SOUTH AMERICAN, EU-
ROPEAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES.
RETIRED MARINE OFFICER AND COLLEGE PROFESSOR. COL.
POINDEXTER, A SECOND LIEUTENANT AT THE TIME, WITH FOUR HUNDRED MARINES, DEFENDED WAKE ISLAND AGAINST THE AP-
PROACHING JAPANESE FLEET. POINDEXTER CREATED HAVOC BY THROWING HAND GRENADES AT THE LANDING FORCES. JAMES
FORRESTAL AUTHORIZED HIM TO WEAR THE COMBAT V. ON No- VEMBER 25, 1945 HARRY TRUMAN, BY PERSONAL LETTER, EX-PRESSED HIS APPRECIATION AND WELCOMED HIM BACK TO THE STATES. THE JAPANESE DID OVERWHELM WAKE ISLAND AND HE WAS A PRISONER OF WAR. HIS COMBAT RECORD IS TO BE FOUND IN "THE STORY OF WAKE ISLAND" AND IN MANY OTHER PUBLI-
CATIONS.
CARL
MORROW
#982
TIMOTHY
SCH WET GHART
#983
ARTHUR A.
POINDEXTER
#98q
I INTRODUCING 0
—14--
July 1987 1-
BACKPACKED THE "LONG TRAIL" IN VERMONT FOR A WEEK. BACKPACKED AND WHITE-WATER RAFTED IN WISCONSIN. BACK- PACKED THE GRAND CANYON FROM THE NORTH RIM TO THE SOUTH
FRED RAY RIM. BACKPACKED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Is A MEMBER OF A LOCAL SCUBA CLUB AND A WRITER ON MEDICAL TOPICS
KOGEN MD RELATED TO SCUBA DIVING. OWNS AND SAILS A NoBlE CAT 16. Is A HAM RADIO OPERATOR. PLANS TO CLIMB JADE DRAGON
#985 MOUNTAIN IN YUNNAN PROVINCE OF CHINA AND WILL RADIO FROM THE PEAK IF HE CAN OBTAIN APPROVAL TO DO SO.
STEVEN A. ACTIVE DUTY IN U S NAVY., 1954 THROUGH 1957, AT SEA IN THE PACIFIC AND ARCTIC OCEANS. SERVED IN COAST GUARD
PETERMAN RESERVE FROM 1974 THROUGH 1980. BUSINESS REQUIRES MUCH TRAVEL TO JAPAN. OWNS A 28' SWEDISH-BUILT SLOOP. MEM
#86 BER OF WOODEN HULL OWNERS ASSOCIATION.
MANY YEARS SERVICE IN VOLUNTEER MOUNTAIN RESCUE WORK. RAE V. PAST PRESIDENT OF SIERRA FIADRE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM.
SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS PRINCIPALLY WITHIN CALl-
ANDERSON FORNIA, BUT SOME WORK IN MEXICO AND MIDWESTERN AND EAS- TERN STATES AS NEEDED. MOUNTAINEERING AND MOUNTAIN WIL
#87 DERNESS TRAVEL.
EDUCATOR IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER AND PUBLISHER. AT AGE 1519 WORKED HIS WAY THROUGH EGYPT, IRAN, IRAQ, JORDAN, TURKEY AND EUROPE. YOUNGEST
PIERRE A. MEMBER OF UNITED AIRLINES 100,000 MILE CLUB. ENTERED U S NAVY AS A COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT. SPENT 1973 IN Yu—
OUTER CATAN WITH STUDENTS LIVING OFF THE LAND, AND 1976 IN
AFRICA. IN 1985, WALKED ALONE FOR SIX WEEKS IN GUIzHOu
#988 PROVINCE OF CHINA. IN 1926 RETURNED TO CHINA ON A WAL- KING TOUR IN SOME RESTRICTED AREAS. HAS PRESENTED TWO PROGRAMS AT THE CLUB.
JR NEW MEMBERS
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
The amazing Columbus ful-filled that prophecy in 1492.
I have sailed to every place in the Caribbean that has been indicated and. many more. That is why I have great respect for his accomplishment. As I approached each landfall, I thought of how he must have made his approach, and the odds that hovered against him. What he did is beyond imagination and comprehen-sion. I made landfalls at San Salvador, Acklin, Great Iseace, Puerto Rico, the chain of islands of the American and British Vir-gins down the Windward-Leewarda, the Antilles, to Grenada and Trinidad, the Gulf of Pane, Venezuela, Pargo Bay, Columbia and on and on. To think of his seamanship, if nothing else, but suffering from arthritis and malaria, he pressed on, a driving force was within, pushing him to discovery and to destruc-tion.
I an glad he died with-out knowing America was named after Amenigo Ves-pucci - a sad mistake. That would have been too much for him to bear. It is true, however, that all too
late appreciation is shown. I believe the only rea-
son Columbus did not sail to El Salvador was because it is the only one of the Central American Republics not having a coast on the Caribbean Sea. El Salvador didn't exist under this name until around 1524, one of the few bodies of land he did not name. Its only coast is on the Pacific Ocean. Columbus would have had a difficult land pas-sage to get there. By then, he had much to deter him.
As the anchor came up the next morning before dawn, I bid silent farewell to the last stop north of Columbus' Caribbean adven-tures. Our next destina-tion, 200 miles up the coast, was to be El Salva-dor. Like many of the coun-tries visited in this chain up from South America, earthquakes have taken a toll. In May 1951, an earthquake destroyed four of the little country's towns and laid waste to 400 square miles of the area known as Usulutan.
The wind swung around from offshore to northwest by west 3/4 west giving us a fair wind, close hauled, for the Gulf of Fonseca.
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
Beating up the coast to a warm wind was to TANARIT'S liking and ours. She danced to cross seas, leftovers from a Papagayo and the new seas building to the new north-westerly slant. This action made her surf one long moment and then slog into a heedsea. Alter ten miles of this, the seas settled into the steady push of the Nor' waster
I was on watch in the mid-afternoon. Above the meets was a buttermilk cloud pattern interspersed with powder blue sky.. A bright sun was aloft light-ing the coagulate of clouds and sending unbelievable brilliant shafts of light to the ocean below - like giant backatays. White-capped sees were dancing to the winds that fathered them, pushing and shaving to touch the beautiful schooner that enjoyed their playfulness-when out of a wave shot the entire shim-mering blue body of a graceful aeilfish,ita glis-tening sail fully extended, its eyes round and spark-ling. Only its tail touched the water, gyrating and quivering at great speed, propelling and dancing one of nature's marvels across
the crests, its sword within inches of TAIIARIT's charging bowsprit. It- travelled perhaps 80 feet across the bow before its air-dance was completed. A one act play with a perfect backdrop. The curtain was slow to go dawn! Applause! Applause! No curtain call! Moments, to remember?
Looking ahead, as dark-ness fell on a moonless night, I wasn't sure of what I was seeing. In the black distance, the dark-ness was interrupted by pulsating firelight. Then I knew, for the radio had mentioned earlier that the volcano of Izalco was active. The illumination of its frequent eruptions was visible for a great dis-tance at sea. The commenta-tor had said for that rea- son g it was calld the lighthouse of the Pacific or The Lighthouse of Cen-tral America. All night we held our course on nature's own lighthouse, sailing toward this dramatic coun-try with 150 rivers and streams that flow into the Pacific and its many volca-nos that add intrigue to the native's life. It was another unforgettable expe-rience. In this pert of the
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987 U-
world, the "unforgettebles" saw swells rise powerfully case often and stayed late, to dash to a flustered, I am so fortunate, for I frenzied ruin upon the have only to close my ayes rocks. Graceful birds and sea those grand sights banked in the early light, over and over. There is no scolded and dove for their boredom for ma--I have see- breakfast. The night had ones; no monotony for I am turned to gold, a marvelous inquisitive, transfiguration as the sun
A beautiful world came on watch reedy for its grasped the early light of day's passage to glorify the rising sun, using it to and illuminate our aide of brighten, polish, burnish the world A day to capture and gild this sailor's in the recesses of my mind. world. I think the coming of the dawn is something "Golden Voyage" was named after the sailor sees so such the television program that Jack more than the landsman. if Douglas produced. My 16rn film the most confirmed landsman record of the voyage was shown in could be here, I believe he three weekly segments in the Douglas
would stir with the sight show. of this great sweep of This 6,000 mile, 1 2- year cruise green watery world, of wind continues at sea off Central Amer-lashed rollers created with ica on this cruise from North Caro-
foam, of cirrus clouds lina to San Diego. It will carry streaked across the heavens itself as each chapter is a story
and of this tall schooner episode. (A.A.A.) rolling the sea to leeward. There are few things in Elizabeth City
life more grand than THE GOLDEN VOYAGE nature, yet people often [(Chapters 1 -
sees embarrassed to express their reveries. We ware Watlings Is.
closing on the land after a '(San Salvador)
long tack in from the sea and as I stood on the deck, .PortAuprince
I watched the waves break- (Haiti)
ing with thunderous crashes Nicaragua
and echoing roars on a Costa R'
/ ston (Jamaica)
bold, precipitous bluff and aCana 'l
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
[THE CREW OF THE TAMARIT, ON THEIR GOLDEN VOYAGE ENCOUNTER A MOST HEART-WARMING EXPERIENCE ON THE ISLAND OF SAN SALVADOR]
SAN SALVADOR, I HEAR YOU CALL AN ANTHEM
(A final postscript by Al Adams)
(Going back to our arrival at San Salvador, known as Watling's Island, where Columbus landed and "first set foot on the New World.") A wonderful occurrence took place. As the early corning sun and the yacht's personnel touched the white auger send beach of Columbus' far-a-way isle twenty-five blacks, can women and children, (the entire population) had gathered to greet us. Our running lights had been seen as we sailed to anchor. We later learned that a dog always barked if a boat came within two miles of the
shore. The dog barked long before the sun rose and people on this little English island awakened and rushed to the beach to welcome us. As the stem of our dory touched the coral strand, we clamored out and stood silent and enthralled not only with our thoughts of Columbus having done this very same act, but more; This little village group began singing in proud voice and bearing. They stood there before us in tattered clothes, bare feet, tears running down those black, shiney cheeks and welcomed us with this (following)-their anthem -
"San Salvador"
When Columbus had his vision grand of a world beyond the sea,
His faith and dauntless spirit soared when his Sovereign heard his plea.
(Please turn the page)
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(The San Salvadoran Anthem, continued)
Now the Old and the New World both rejoice and the echoes sound -afar--
Of a lovely isle, this New World's light, Glorious! San Salvador.
Through long years this landfall has been left but gained in after-glow,
From its coral strand the message rings as the trade winds gently blow.
All hail the day Columbus sailed and brought the key from Spain,
To open up our heritage in God's own land beyond the main.
Refrain: San Salvador, I hear you call
across the seas to me. Lone mystic isle yet bright as gem
in the crown of destiny. The landfall of Columbus brave
with flight from shore to shore, San Salvador, I hear you call--
Christ's blessed isle - San Salvador.
(Author's Note: Due to the unusual circumstances, the few peo-ple able to read or write, I feel it is possible that this was the only time this song was ever written down. I seriously doubt it was ever published. A.A.A.)
THIS WAS THE NEWS IN
July 1981 - Percy Chase #132, departed on The Great Adventure.
July 1982 - Fred Demara #916, "The Great Impostor" departed on The Great Adventure.
July 1983 - John Booth #869 elected to the Magicians Hall of Fame.
July 1984 - Max Hurlbut #880, led his L.A. Police Motorcycle Drill Team in the XXIII Olympiad.
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A RECORDING OF HISTORY OUR THURSDAY NIGHT PROGRAMS
May 14, 1987 The Program:
Reported by ThE RO(JTh OF MAllORY Bob Aranoff #837 by Guest John Walter
Tonight we were taken in by some of air guests as President Dick Kyle asked to be given a little insight about them.
One was a common enough looking police detective from LAPD but you soon got an insight that this was no ordinary detective. He spoke off the cuff exhibiting a fantastic ability to mimic different foreign accents. This was a rare individual who could "pass" for a number of people on the spot. (Thanks to Bob Silver for this guest).
Another guest was a young rrai with a warm grin telling us of his seven months of wanderings through South-east Asia, including a number of months in southern China. (Thanks to Bill Lyte for this guest).
What's in a grapefruit? Well, there's one heck of a sterling mem-ber who thinks enough of the Club to bring some organically grown "jumbos" from his backyard. If you guessed that Night Of High Adventure dynamo Bil Brown you guessed right. Thanks, Bil, and thank Betty, too. After all that's community property that's being given away.
Guest adventurer John Walter pro-vided us with a scintillatingscreen-ing of his quest to "go as high as we can" on the north face of 29,000 foot high Mt. Everest. They never did plan to go all the way but were able to make a base camp at 19,000 feet. They did venture from their base camp to 22,000 feet but could go no further without more profes-sional gear.
This program was on the order of a Peter Klika program. We saw the north face in all its splendor from many different facets (this trip was taken last year in the Fall). We saw Tibet and China from many new camera angles. These reports from Tibet and China are always fascina-ting.
This was simply a spell binding program, superb and inspiring for those of us driven by the insatiable demand from within to live the life of a nomadic adventurer 1t on try-ing to live a thousand culturally different lives in our short life- time. (R.L.A.)
THE NIGHT OF HIGH ADVENTURE Saturday, October 10, 1987
ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
MAY 21 1987 and memorable experiences during WWII in the Pacific.
LADIES NIGHT Jack Galloway #971, became a full
"AROUND THE I)RLi) IN 550 DAYS" talked about The Flying
with Guest Kelley Kyle Baja. It must be a most rewarding This spirited albeit leisurely
trek was presented with great humor by Kelley Kyle. The trip sounded like the perfect way to spend eigh-teen months instead of three (as she had planned) seeing the World. No time limit and no money worries--what with olive picking on Crete and grape harvesting in France, the fi-nances were taken care of.
Drifting on a felucca on the Nile attending a wedding in Luxor, Red Sea snorkeling, meeting travel com-panions having the same ideas on how to get around, trekking the Hima-layas, meeting a snake charmer and his pet eyeball to eyeball, riding an elephant.....all sounded like an "out-of-this-world" experience. The fun must have been great for Kelley and the memories enchanting, as the evening was for us who shared this terrific presentation. [With a rather unusual switch in procedure, this report was written up by Sven Wahlroos' wife Eva at Sven's request. Our thanks to her for this interesting report.
The evening was rich in variety. In addition to the main event, brief presentations were made by new mem-bersard one member whose status was up-graded.
Art Poindexter was inducted as member #984. He told of exciting
experience to he able to help those in need in these remote areas.
Carl Morrow new member #982 pre-sented some great ard amusing slides of a Malaysian Prince and his new Harley Davidson. Carl was instru-mental in introducing the new motor cycle buff to the intricacies of the vehicle.
Fred Kogen 7#985, also a new mem-ber, gave us an 'in depth' view of his scuba diving experiences. He learned the skill in Chicago of all places!
§ § § [Bob Aranoff, also present, was kind enough to send us a report of the evening. His re-
port is carried below.]
Kelley first fancied herself see-ing parts of Europe. Routine enough but then came Egypt. Kelley spent a lot of time there and it seemed to be the highlight of her adven-ture. As a bright, perky and out-going charmer that she is it wasn't long before she was being invited into homes. We saw Egypt from in-side homes, engaement parties, wed-dings and just letting the good times roll' Egyptian style like we have never seen at the Club before amidst th splendor of Egypt's anti-quities. Always close to Kelley was her bicycle, which was a constant companion on many of her days during
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(May 21st, continued)
this 1 year jaunt. then back over to Greece where
Kelley was invited into a home of some people--who, like her Egyptian experience, were people of average (or less) means. These were not 'contacts' but genuine strangers withFon Kelley became fast friends. In a household of 6 brothers and a sister, Kelley and her Greek sister became inseparable for ft next 9-12 months. Her sister's name was Nina. Nina had never been off the island she lived on. At age 29, she had recently just had a child. Tempo-rarily leaving her husband to manage their tavern, she and Kelley set off for India and Nepal for some trek-king and many a strange experience on the subcontinent. This was a second highlight until funds became so scarce airplane tickets had to be sold in order to buy food.
Working along the way in Greece in olive vineyards and the grape vineyards of southern France Kelley made it home finally, after bidding a fond farewell to her dear friend, Nina. (R.L.A.)
May 28, 1987
Reported by Bob Zeman 4,878
Vice President Alan Siebert pinch hitted for President Dick Kyle.
Guest Michael Carr spent four days on the Palisades Glacier at
13,000 feet in the eastern Sierra. The weathers.s cold but his clothing kept him warm. Herman Jesson reported on another
trip to Peru, a normal shuttle run for him.
Chet Sidell travelled to Europe. The highlight was a 14-hour trip on The O't-Levtt Exp'Le. His group ren-ted the train to go from Rome to Munich. It is a beautiful train-- first class in every way except the springs aren't so good.
Cob Harms attended the presenta-tion of the Collier trophy to the Rutans and Jeanna Yeager, the first woman recipient. The trophy was al-so given to Bruce Evans, crew chief. Also on the dais were pilots vko had flown around the world.
Henry von Seyfried showed pic-tures of his native Bavaria and Vi-enna. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was the second richest man in Europe. He built three castles which bank-rupted Bavaria. But now they are major tourist attractions. Henry showed slides of Newschwanstein and Schloss Linderhoff--beautiful!
The Program
"AIRCRAFT IXJN IN SANTA MONICA BAY" by Willard Bascom #789
Willard Bascom was in Santa Mon-ica Bay in 1969 when an SAS plane on approach came in low. It struck the sea, lost its wheels, and broke in two. Fifteen drowned and 30 sur-vived.
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(May 28th, continued) around 1967. He bought a 90-foot The forward end floated and was
picked up by barge. Willard's ship 'The Oceaneer", found the tail with sonar and marked it with buoys, but he couldn't get a contract to sal-vage it.
While on the site, a United plane took off from LAX, started its turn and crashed. All on board were killed.
Willard quickly got a contract to salvage that plane. He first found a faparts with serial numbers iden-tifying the plane in 950 feet of water. He then brought up the three engines of the 727. Then he got a trawler to bring up the rest of the plane. The tires showed deep skid marks.
He knew that the plane had taken off with only two generators. The skid marks showed the brakes had locked. When the wheels retracted into the wheel wells, the heat of the tires activated a warning light in the cockpit. One of the flight crew thought the red light was a bad engine and cut the engine. This threw all the electric power on to the third engine which couldn't 1-rkl it. The lights went out and the plane went down.
While Willard was salvaging the United jet, Lockheed got the con-tract for the SAS jet and salvaged it using Willard's buoys. Willard also brought some film of
his surveying time in Viet Nan. His company was there for three years
boat and worked mostly in Saigon but also in Chu Lai, Vung Tau and Cam Ranh Bay.
Prior to the war, Saigon was the "Pearl of the Orient." And while Willard was there, he had his wife and daughter with him. But the sit-uation in the country deteriorated.
(R.F.Z.)
June 4, 1987
Reported by Bob Aranoff #837
Acting President Dave Yamada, who did a superb job, announced that our speaker tonight, Pierre Odier, has been accepted as a member. What a fine member he will make based on some of the adventures he has had.
Bob Brahns returned from a trip to Europe that included Cannes. let me tell you his pictures of the fern-mine pulchritude would have made some blush. We saw some mighty fine curves, au naturel.....
The Program
"GIENA'S MINOR]ILFS REVISITFD" by Guest Pierre Odier
Guest Pierre Odier returned to the Club to sparkle our premises with splashes of his photography on China's minority areas, primarily Yunnan and Guizhou, (his previous program was in May 1986, on China) too). Pierre teaches photography, among other subjects and his slides
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
- (June 4th, continued) I THE NIGHT OF HIGH ADVENTURE
tonight, covered areas where it is illegal to enter (757 of China is closed or illegal for foreigners to enter).
Traveling surreptitiously he got so deep into China that soldiers were 700 miles away. However he re-ported one local policeman spent 7 hours walking to a village where he was staying to investigate "the foreigner". Pierre was so well ac-cepted by the locals that dlawrnan "passed" on him.
Pierre really made it with the locals despite not knowing their dialect. He had a little facility with Mandarin. Brought to the Club tonight were priceless costumes of the minority people which consumed the admiration of the most blase of members. (R.L.A.)
May 7, 1987
Reported by Joseph N. Brown #928
Our guests tonight were many and included: --Bill Murphy who was shot down on a flight from Borneo to Australia in World War II. --Bob Lumbar who restores airplanes and is forming the Yankee Air Force to be a counterpart to the Confed-erate Air Force. --Lt. Col. Engersol, the commander of the VMF 211th Fighter Squadron. --Ruby Green, past Citizen of the
THIS YEAR'S NIGHT OF HIGH ADVEN-TURE WILL BE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10TH AT THE ODYSSEY RESTAURANT IN PACOI-MA. THE PROGRAM IS NOT YET FIXED, HOWEVERi UNDER NEGOTIATION ARE TWO EXCEPTIONAL SPEAKERS. THE FIRST IS THE LEADER OF A GROUP OF MIT STU-DENTS WHO WILL TRY TO RECREATE THE LEGEND OF ICARUS BY FLYING UNDER HUMAN POWER FROM CRETE TO GREECE. THE SECOND IS THE PARACHUTE INSTRUC-TOR FROM ARIZONA WHO DRAMATICALLY RESCUED A LADY SKY DIVER WHO WAS UN-CONSCIOUS AND FALLING WITH HER PAR-ACHUTE UNOPENED. THE PROGRAM SHOULD FOLLOW IN THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAST. IT WILL BE EXCITING AND FAST PACED WITH OUTSTANDING ADVENTURE SPEAKERS.
Year, from the state of Mississippi. --Randy Harris and Michael Carr who are both mountaineers. --Dr. George D. Demas, former Dean of Students at L B State and a for-mer paratrooper. --Ray Anderson, President of the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team. --Chuck Velacrers, a Public Health scientist. --Gregg Hatapalis who was born in a POW camp in Japan. --Dave Dahl, a skindiver, backpack-er and long distance bicycle rider. --Larry Asahi, a clinical psycholo-gist.
Copy of the report for May 7th was received at the Editor's desk on June 5th accounting for its appearance out of nermaT sequence.
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS
(More of May 7th)
"Going To and Coning Frcxn"
Randy Harris and Michael Carr are headed for Hawaiifor an exploration of Eike Crater where it gets 500" of rain each year.
Henry von Siefried just back from a tour of some Philippine battle fields of WWII, particularly Palau, Pele Lu and the U.S. Monument. When he checked out a number of caves he saw many American and Japanese war items and was able to bring some home with him without any problems with the U S Customs.
Sven Wahiroos told of sailing on the 'Sea Cloud', a four-master, in the South Pacific. He was able to send a greeting to the Club by way of ham radio from Pitcairn Island.
§ § § The Program [Part 1]
"wwII PcXI'S"
Guest Frank Mentle was a Second Lieutenant in the Dutch Army in Ja-va. On March 8, 1942 he was comman-ding an anti-aircraft battery in Bandung. Within days the Dutch East Indies Army surrendered to the Ja-panese. He was a POW for a total of 3½ years. The first four or five months he was imprisoned in Java, then three weeks in Singapore with Chinese, Britisharri Australian pri-soners.
Next he was sent to Thailand to work on the Burma railroad. (His brother worked on the River Kwai).
July 1)87
He worked in Thailand for six or seven months then was shipped back to Singapore and was lilt on a Japan-ese cargo ship. The convoy of seven ships were found by a US submarine wolf pack and was sunk. Hes pick-ed up eleven hours later by a Ja-panese cruiser and was taken to To-kyo.
Here he endured raids by [3-29's until the Spring of 1945. On April 15th and 16th, 60 square miles of
The fate of Nagasaki
Tokyo was flattened by Let-lay's B-29 bombers. Soon he was transferred from Tokyo to Nagasaki where there was about 12 POW camps. He knew how the war was going on by reading the local newspaper through a POW trans- lator. He thinks the average man in the street also knew about the turn the war was taking.
On August 9, 1945 he was sent to an abandoned stone quarry because a friend had suffered from disentary. The quarry was about 20 feet deep. Air raid warnings were heard that day at 9 and 11 AM. At eleven, a single B-29 came over and he saw an object falling. He thought it was going to be leaflets but soon he heard a sonic boom and saw a flash of light a thousand times brighter than the sun.
At first he thought that the chemical plant had been hit. lie crawled out of the quarry to look around but Nagasaki was gone!!! lie saw a massive wave/wall disintegra- Lirig everything in its path. He
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
dived back into the quarry. As the in the shape of a wishbone. The wave went over it created a vacuum, perimeter is about 12 miles. With
A few minutes later he and his the lagoon it becomes ahcut 20 miles. friend went back up and found that The detachments under the command the guards were gone. They walked of Maj. J.P.S. Deveraugh. The ar- back to the camp and it was gone. tillery was post-WWI; had the wea- On Aug. 25, 1945 they saw the first pons for a full battalion but had American troops and were taken on only about 1/3 the manpower. Poin-board an American hospital ship. dexter was a 2nd Lieutenant at the When they found out that they were time. from Nagasaki they sent them below Just before the War they got some for debriefing and a thorough exam- reinforcements in the form of a f i- ination because of the radiation. ghter squadron under the command of
Does he feel it was necessary to Major Paul Putnam. This squadron dro 'the bomb'? -- Yes, since all later became known as the Wake Is- POW s were to be executed upon an land Avenger Squadron. The first invasion of Japan. He said that to- day of the war saw 27 Japanese born-day he has neutral feelings about bets come in under a cloud cover. the Japanese. Once, when he was a The ocean was so noisy that you POW and was very sick, a Japanese could not even hear the engines. nursed him back to health. They hit the air field destroying
The Program [Part 2] Wake Attacked on Dec. 11, 1945
eight planes and killing 88 men. 'ThE AITACI( ON WAKE ISlAND" The only reason they didnTt get the Our second guest Col. Poindexter other four planes is that they were
returned to Wake Island and its de- airborne. The following days saw fense in WWII. About three months other attacks. prior to Pearl Harbor he was sent Prior to Pearl Harbor a task to Wake Island with three other of- force consisting of three cruisers, ficers and approximately 190 infan- six destroyers,tio patrol craft and try enlisted men. They were closer two transport ships were dispatched to Japan than to Hawaii. In the from tF Japanese naval base on Truk Mariannas the Japanese had a consi- Island. They got to Wake on Decem- derable amount of equipment. Wake bet 11, 1941 at 0300 hours. They was a stepping stone for the Japan- started their attack at about 8,000 ese. Our Navy ship the USS CASTOR, yards. Major Deveraugh waited un-had brought the men and equipment til the Japanese were about 4,000 to Wake Island from Hawaii. yards out before he gave the order Wake is an atoll made up of three to open fire. Almost immediately a
small islands: Wake, Wilks and Peal Japanese destroyer was hit. A cruj-
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
(May 7th,conc.luded) - ser moved in front to protect it and was hit and went down followed by the destroyer.
Major Putnam's four Marine fight-ers went up and performed dive bom- bing and smoke stack bombing. They got a couple more ships. Now only two aircraft were left that were operational. Capt. Elrod, one of Putnam's pilots, was the first re-cipient of the Medal of Honor in WWII. That evening Lt. Clever, who was flying a dusk patrol, sank a fleet submarine and it was confir-med. The score for that day was: seven ships sunk or damaged, one submarine and two to four planes. The first American victory. The u-nit was given the Presidential Unit Citation. "Remember Wake Island" was the slogan of the day.
The Japanese also paid the Wake Island defenders a compliment by doubling the attack force and sen-ding in only the best. Some of the Wake Island 'firsts' are: sinking by a land battery; sinking by an airplane; sinking of a fleet subma-rine; the first Medal of Honor; the first Unit Citation; the only abor-ted amphibious attack; and victor with outdated equipment. (J.M.B.
(PETERSEN, concluded from page 9) days. And, of course, many others set out to do so but foundered somewhere along the way. On the other hand though excellent ship-builders, the Chinese seemed more inclined
to confine the trattic or their sea-going junks to ei-ther their coasts or to those lands south of China. Whether their trans-Pacific passages might have matched that of the Spaniards is open to conjec-ture. But that the junks them-selves could have survived the unrivalled nastinesses of the Pacific in the hands of a good skipper seems quite pro-bable, as the following yarn would indicate."
If you would further prefer to make your own estimate of Doc Peter-sen's intrepidity in sailing back and forth across the Pacific in a wearying and much sea-battered 36-foot junk tray I urge to your perusal of Doc Petersen's own autobiograph-ical book "Hummel Hummel" in which, among many other things,he recounts the voyage of himself and Tani and of which the typhoon account in our own Club's TALES FROM . . . is but a mere abstracted scrap. Since we have only one copy in the Club li-brary may I suggest that you read and return such as quickly as pos-ible as there undoubtedly will be others who may wish to draw it from the Club's Library.
Yes, gentlemen, I happen to have entertained the utmost respect and admiration for our former member, Doctor Allen Petersen. Read his book, ponder on it and you will see why.A great loss, a very great Loss. (by Keith Douglas Young)
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ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS July 1987
ADDRESS (DRRECT[ONS FOR YOUR ROSTER
James R. Macdonald #762 1840 Tranquil Trail Rapid City, SD 57701
Emil Barjak #950 Pase Jurica #617 Fracc, Jurica 76100 Queretaro, Q.R.O. Mexico
Henry E. Moore #954 Route 1, Box 197 Clarksburg, CA 95612
ON THE GREAT ADVENTURE
Robert E. Howard #686 13231 Sea View Lane Seal Beach, CA 90740
(On May 30, 1987)
Allen Petersen
Bob Howard
E. Allen Peterson 1406 I!ealdsburg, California
(On June 7, 1987)
A FURTHER WORD ON K-2
WE HAVE SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMA-TION CONCERNING THE REVELATION THAT K-2 HAS BEEN SURVEYED WITH SATELLITE HELP TO DISCOVER THAT IT IS AT LEAST 29,064 FEET HIGH, NOT 28,750 FEET AS COMMONLY BELIEVED. THIS WOULD MAKE IT HIGHER THAN MOUNT EVEREST, ALWAYS ACCEPTED AS THE WORLDS TALL-EST PEAK.
GEORGE WALLER5TEIN, PROFESSOR OF ASTRONOMY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASH-INGTON, REVISED K2's ACTUAL HEIGHT WHILE WITH ThE1986 AMERICAN EXPEDI- TION TO THAT MOUNTAIN. HE STATES THAT, UNTIL EVEREST IS SURVEYED IN THE SAME PRECISE SCIENTIFIC MANNER, THE PRESENTLY PUBLICIZED ALTITUDE MAY WELL PROVE TO BE BELOW ITS TRUE HEIGHT. THEREFORE, IT MAY STILL BE NUMBER ONE. EVEN THE RECENT SURVEY OF K2 MAY HAVE HAD ONE ELEMENT IN IT THAT WAS FLAWED. IF SO, THE AL-TERNATE HEIGHT WOULD BE LIFTED UP-WARD TO 29228. K2 LIES IN NORTHERN KASHMIR, AN AREA CONTROLLED BY PAK-ISTAN. WE WOULD LIKE TO SEETHE FIVE HIGHEST PEAKS ON EARTH RE-SURVEYED WITH MODERN TECHNIQUES.
--JOHN BOOTH #869 A CORRECTION...
Kenneth A. Silver, not Bob, is the author of "The Torn Dectolerie Shirt Man" (page 11, April 1987 is- sue). This "unusual' little story was sent to Bob while he was wor- king in Ecuador in 1966. (Ed.)
THE ADVENTURERS 'CLUB
Entered as Second Clas OF lOS ANGELES
Postage at the Post Office 706 West Pico Boulevard
at Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, CA 90015
POSTMASTER: Address Correction Requested MR, CHARLES ROZAIRE
LOS ANGELES COWITY MUSEUM 900 *. EXPOSITION BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CA 90007
- IN THIS ISSUE -
Tragedy on the Congo (John Goddard #507) ....... ...... . Page 1
The President's Report.................................Page 2
The Tragic End of the Queen Elizabeth..................Page 6
The World According to Henry (von Seyfried #881) .......Page 7
"On The Great Adventure", A Tribute to Dr. E. Allen Petersen (Keith Young #565) ..........Page 8
Golden Voyage, Chap. 5 (Al Adams #688) .................Page 10
Introducing Our New Members ...................... Pages 14 & 15
San Salvador, I Hear You Call, an anthem..............Page 19
The Route of Mallory (Guest John Walter)...............Page 21
Around the World in 550 Days (Guest Kelley Kyle).......Page 22
Aircraft Down in Santa Monica Bay (Willard Bascom #789)Page 23
China's Minorities Revisited (Guest Pierre Odier) ......Page 24
The Night of High Adventure - 1987.....................Page 25
WWII P.O.W.'s (Guest Frank Mentle).....................Page 26
The Attack on Wake Island (Guest Co. Poindexter) .......Page 27
Address Corrections For Your Roster....................Page 29
A Further Word on K2 (John Booth #869) .................Page 29
