Adventurers' Club News Mar 1982adventurersclub.org/archives/AC News/AC News Mar 1982.pdf706 West...

The Adventurers' Club, Los Angeles 706 West Pico Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90015

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Los Angeles, California e"016vonfurory etu6 NIWg

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R. CHALLES ROZAIRE

LOS ANGELES COUNTI UU5JL1

900 W. EXPOSITI BLVD.

LOS ANCELS, CA 9007

INTHISISSUE ---

* IMPACT - BY AL ADAMS

* 1982 COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

* VILCA BAMBA, THE TRUE LOST CITY OF THE INCAS - BY PETER KLIKA

* ADVENTURE OUT OF THIS WORLD--MARS, JUPITER, SATURN AND BEYOND

* THE CAPTAIN JACK ROULAC MEMORIAL PLAQUE

* A WORD ABOUT THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB OF HONOLULU

* ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY - BY RUSS ROBINSON

* DOWN THE RIO AMAZON lAS TO JESSONIA - BY ALAN SIEBERT

3/82

March 1982

all love to have their picture taken and there is no problem getting them to pose.

It is only after leaving the area of tourist penetration that you see jungle life in the raw. The tapir is a widespread native animal and makes a good pet. The achuny is an even better pet. He is a rather small rodent and easy to hold. Of course there are the ever present monkeys, though there is a thriving business of exporting and depleting the monkey population. The favorite tourist locations are the Amazon Lodge and the Explorama camp where they have planted some "wild" turkeys and several beautiful macaws. The houses have palm-thatched roofs. Air circulation beneath the floors is assured.

Down river there is much rice production and logging. The saw mill, about 200 Km downstream from Iquitos, is for sale as all the wood has been felled and used. The usual method has always been to fell the tree, saw off the limbs, and wait for the rainy season to flood the land and float the logs down stream. But they did not bother to replant the hardwood forests and now they are gone.

Page 17

Two and a half days downstream isJessonia, a beautiful island with banks which rise fairly steeply from the river and offer a wide margin of safety in flood season. There are many Indian tribes living on it but the ones who are living at the settlement are of the Yagua tribe. Shupe and his family took charge of many of the necessary jobs. Shupe was also very familiar with the river and piloted the boat on all trips to and from camp. It is good to have someone along who speaks the Yagua language as once they were mistaken for pirates. The other boats in the river fled from them but it was straightened out in Yagua language. Later, gifts of chocolate cemented good will and a friendly understanding.

There is a very great interest in competitive sports between the different tribes with soccer being the game they like best. The time passes too quickly and soon the trip is over. But down the Amazon on Jessonia a beautiful girl named Jasmine (Herman's daughter) is waiting for him to return and bring another guest who will enjoy it as much as did Alan Siebert.

(Reported by Bill Buchanan)

j . f

AJ

IN MEMORIAM

John B. Davidson 1890-1982

On the 19th of February 1982, about four o'clock in the afternoon, John B. Davidson, Number 492, embarked on The Great Adventure and our club has suffered an irreplaceable loss. None of us will ever see the

like of this man again. In one person he embodied all the human attributes upon which

our club was founded, and which we must constantly strive to preserve. It is not enough to say he will be missed - he will be needed. Since he can no longer he with us, we must remember what he stood for and ask ourselves "What would John have said?" when future problems disrupt the club or divide us from one another. That is the memorial John would have wanted and approved of.

Well educated, widely travelled, keen of wit, with a ready sense of humor, he was unwavering in his concept of right and wrong and how men should conduct themselves. John Davidson was a wise, understand-ing and compassionate companion to us all, and each of us is perma-nently diminished by his passing.

There is one important thing we must remember. Blest with a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, John lived his life to the full and so seemed almost ageless to us. One of his greatest satisfactions and most fulfilling pleasures was his certain knowledge that he was admired, respected and loved without reservation or equivocation by his fellow members of The Adventurers' Club - and that is a good thing for a man to know.

Doug Macdonald President 1982

- -_-z- ..

PROGRAM

Wk "Down the Rio Amazonias to Jessonia" by ALAN SIEBERT

Page 16

Herman always lived life dangerously and did not expect to live to be an older adventurer. He has picked up many souveniers, including five bullets. The one he picked up in Belice is still in his body. He was just ready to lift his plane off the airfield when he collected it.

While in the Army in the Aleutian Islands he saw a film "Flying Down To Rio" and decided that was the life for him. On his way down be spent some time in Mexico and became fluent in the Spanish language. Then he moved on to Peru and was so charmed by a beautiful young lady that he decided that this was the ideal place. His daughter Jasmine is in Peru tending to his interests while he is away. But meantime, he travelled all over South America as far south as Cape Horn, To him, there are no boundries between the countries, just a lot of people of a friendly nature now that they have their revolutions out of their systems. To date Herman has made more than three hundred trips to South America. He bought a large parcel of land from her grandfather and that land is now known as Jessonia and he has poured his heart and love into developing it over the years. He has boundless friends along the Amazon River and feels a strong blood kinship towards these wonderful people. Many of the members of the Adventurers' Club have visited the island.

Recent problems on the river have been dope smugglers, pirates and the problem of keeping employees from deserting their jobs. But Herman has his enchanted island, his twenty-year-old daughter and a home in Peru surround-ed by many people who mean much to him. They represent love, understanding and friend-ship which makes life truly worth living.

ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS

Herman Jcsson slept all the way from Los Angeles to Miami, but when the Fawcett plane reached Equador his pulse quickened and he looked out of the window recognizing villages far below even though it was eleven o'clock at night. All he needs in South America is a machette and a pair of boots. The jungle was a new experience for Alan, who is at home on the dry desert lands of North America. There was much new to experience. They were there on Thanksgiving, at the headwaters of the Amazon, the widest river on earth.

A new kind of scenery greeted them as they left Iquitos and went downstream in their small boat with an outboard motor which gave them some trouble at first. The houses were all on stilts which kept them safe when the river overflowed the banks. While they were still relatively near the tourist towns they found that the natives were under contract to wear their jungle costumes for the benefit of tourist boats which come by on regular schedule. They also speak a smattering of a great many languages, even Japanese and German for the benefit of tourists from those countries. They bring out their deadly arrows and blow guns and pose in family groups for tourist picture taking. The Yagua Indians and other tribes

The most agressive creatures that live in the sea, from my personal observations, are certain of the bill fishes. They have tremendous speed and they have size. The largest billfish that I have known of weighed in excess of 2,600 pounds. I held its bill in my hands in Tahiti.

The bills or swords of these sea inhabitants are viciousweapons, especially with the ramming actions they get by huge streamlined bodies and the amazing speed developed by their vibrating tail fins. They are superb fighters and they are pugnacious about it.

My years at sea under sail have been gratify-ing. I was able to see first hand the life in the sea, their antics and the dramatic moments that occur usually for a small audience out there when creatures do the unexpected.

My first encounter with a striped marlin, and Ofle that kindled my interest to make me wonder if such really occurred, was when a

scene in an Errol Flynn movie was being made. A light balsawood dinghy was built. The marlin was caught by rod and reel. The dinghy and marlin were to be the main properties for a scene. Cameras were readied on camera boats and the "heavy" was cast adrift at sea in the dinghy. A very long line was attached to the jaw of the deceased billfish. The speedboat towed the fish at about 30 knots toward the dinghy with the tow line out of sight below

the surface. As soon as the speedboat sped off camera there was action! The towed billfish shot across the surface - crashing through the dinghy. It was dramatic and I never forgot it.

One day an insurance company representa-tive called me on the phone and requested that I do an insurance survey of a yacht in Newport. If the survey report I was to make, as a pro-fessional marine surveyor, was favorable, mean-

(Continued on page 3)

Aav 0-n4trers clut , 0 0wo PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB. LOS ANGELES

706 WIST PICO BOULEVARD LOS ANGELLS, CALIFORNIA 90017

Volume 25:3 March 1982 Founded 1921

"Sailing by the wind is a proper relationship with nature spiced with unusual occurrences."

IMPACT! by

AL A. ADAMS

Page 2

THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS USPS (389-310)

Published monthly

Editor .....................Bob Williams

Reporters - Bill Buchanan, Smokey Storms

John Boden, and others. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE . . . .$1,00 per year

Entered as second class postage at the post office at Los Angeles, California.

CLUB MEETS AT ADVENTURERS' CLUB ROOM

706 West Pico Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90015

Phone 749-3537 (Thursday nights only)

1982 OFFICERS President ............. Douglas MacDonald 1st Vice President ............J. Ross Reed

2nd Vice President ...........Paul Cramer Secretary .............Owen J. O'Callaghan Treasurer ................. Sanford Smith

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Marvin Rosenberg John N. Booth Peter C. Parfitt Keith Chase Smokey Storms Robert Sechrist

George Manchester

A BIT OF SAGE ADVICE

A professor was explaining the effects of alcohol to his students and had two worms and two vials— one filled with water and the other with alcohol. He placed one worm in the water and left it happily swimming around, while he placed the other in the alcohol. The worm gave a shudder and expired.

The professor then asked the students for the moral of the story - One replied, "If you don't want worms, drink alcohol."


IN THE LIBRARY

with JOHN BODEN

The Sherpas of Nepal. We have seen them toiling under heavy loads in the Himalayas to support the Everest expeditions shown to us on films. These people are no ordinary porters. We have seen them in their smiling, relaxed moments when taking a breather or at the end of a portage.

THE SHERPAS OF NEPAL by Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, an anthropologist who spent two years in their villages gives a study of these intelligent people who have well-ordered tribal customs based on an old civilization. Members should be quite entertained by the singular customs of family life and surprised by the moral precepts that govern their everyday life. The two chapters covering those facets should not be missed.

Our member DICK ATKINSON wrote in our Club History that Peter Freuchen once brought to the Club an Eskimo family dressed in their furs on a hot summer evening; that Freuchen later founded the Adventurers' Club of Denmark. The BOOK OF ESKIMOS, by Peter Freuchen is a lively introduction to the mysterious people who live at the top of the world in Greenland, northern Canada and Alaska. He writes of his experiences and discoveries with one of the strangest societies in the entire world, their origins, social structure, art and transition in the past century from the stone age to implements of modern man. Includes a supply of colorful tales and anecdotes.

March 1982

system. We look at other planets which have different atmospheres, different geologic his-tories, and are of different sizes from the earth. When we look at those planets we try to under-stand the physics that is going on there. We try to understand their geologic history, and their meteorology. We get insights into the meteor-ology and geology of the Earth and in many ways the chief benefit of our exploration of the solar system is the insight into the Earth that we get from looking at these other worlds.


January 14, 1982

ON SAFARI AROUND 706

with BILL BUCHANAN

The meeting was called to order by 1st Vice President ROSS REED in the absence of Presdient DOUG MACDONALD. He announced that the Adventurer of the Week program would be reinstated and urged all members to recall experiences which might be of interest to the membership for future programs.

BOB SILVER announced that he was look-ing for several members with good penmanship to assist JOHN BODEN in writing captions beneath the pictures in the Night of High Adventure photographic album presented to the club by Chiyo Peterson. CARROLL CRAIG is the only volunteer at present but more are needed.

Ross Reed then called on the members of the 1981 Board of Directors to come forward and receive certificates of appreciation for their work. They were GEORGE MANCHESTER, ROY ROBERTS, JOHN CAMERON, WILLIAM CARR, PETER PARFrVr, MARVIN ROSEN-BERG, "SMOKEY" STORMS, DON OROSZ,

Page 15

DWAYNE MERRY, OWEN O'CALLAGHAN, DICK KYLE and CHARLES ROSS.

ROY ROUSH introduced Adventurer of the Week, HERMAN JESSON. It was in 1958 when motion picture cameraman, Leland Green, and producer Bob Lamier invited Herman to work with them travelling around the world to make a series of motion picture travel adventures. Twenty-six motion pictures resulted in the series "Rendezvous with Adventure" and these were shown for about ten years. They started by taking three months in mainland China, then to parts of Hong Kong which the British had not yet penetrated and on to Taiwan. They always put Herman in the most dangerous places. They photographed a refugee camp in Quemoy and called them communes. During this time he was able to become very familiar with the Chinese character and mentality and to really get to know the people. These films were for propaganda purposes. They photographed heads of state and talked with many of the top officials.

China is still an adventure, wide open as a new country, but they are not yet able to handle the tremendous tourist trade they expect soon. A visit to the People's Republic in the area of Shanghai will enlighten any visitor because of the sincerity and warmth of the students who are eager to talk to you and ask all about America. In Peking you find the populace a little more conservative. There is a man-made Grand Canal which runs from Peking to Shanghai and has been in use for centuries. You still see some of the barges being pulled by ropes, with men on shore doing the work. Now is the time to see this, while it is still relatively unknown. As rooms were scarce those given to the group were the ones usually reserved for the heads of state.

rage 14 ItJJVI LJ.I'J LI &- TV a March 1SoM

p (PROGRAMS .. from page 10)

will perhaps be the longest lived artifact of our society. After everything which we have created on earth has vanished into dust, the Voyager spacecraft will still be out there in space and it may be possible that someone from another part of the universe will encounter it. For this reason there are explicit instructions on what the record is and how to play it. The record is like a video disc and it describes us both in audio and video signals.

Leaving the earth in 1977 the first Voyager reached Jupiter in April 1979 and the second in June 1979, and then changed trajectory to go to the planet Saturn, then Uranus and finally Neptune. Once a spacecraft is launched it is out of our hands and we can no longer repair it. We must calibrate all our instruments and put them in a dormant mode and wait until the spacecraft gets to a location where we want to wake it up so that it can take pictures.

Jupiter is a large ball of hydrogen and helium and rotates about once every eleven hours. It is so large it could hold 1,300 Earths. It emits far more radiation than it receives from the sun. This is all heat left over from the time it Was formed. It has a large red spot on the surface which is a cloud in motion and is about the size of our earth. The white clouds are Caused by ammonia condensation. On earth we have the Aurora Borealis and Jupiter has a Similar condition at its pole. Extremely violent thunder storms are frequent. Jupiter has rings and a family of satcilites called the Galilean Satellites. Its moons, lo and Europa, are about the same size of the earth moon. Gannymecle is the largest satellite in our solar system. Callisto is full of craters, more per unit area than any other satellite in our solar system.

process of the formation of the Galilean

Satellites is extremely similar to the process by which our solar system was formed.

Saturn has a very light density, is banded about the equator and rotates at about the same rate as Jupiter. The entire atmosphere is covered by a layer of haze. The atmosphere of Jupiter is much more turbulant than that of Saturn. Saturn's rings do not all line up. Some of them are nice and round and some of them are eliptical, and these rings are made out of different materials. Saturn's satellite Titan is the most interesting in the solar system because of its very thick atmosphere. The thickness is 400 miles compared with only 40 miles on Earth. It has clouds which cover its surface entirely and these are made of methane gas. Oddly enough, the satellite Hyperion is slightly flat and is shaped like a hamburger patty.

Mars has for all times been the symbol of another world. It has a white polar cap like the earth and was photographed by a fly-by in 1965. Its atmosphere is very thin. The 1971 Mariner 9 mission was the first spacecraft to ever orbit another planet and it photographed the progress of a dust storm as it died. The first feature to stick out above the dust was Nix Olympia Volcano's collapsed caldera which is about as large as the largest Hawaiian volcano. the Grand Canyon of Mars stretches for three thousand miles. There are sand dunes which show that sometime in its past it had an atmospheric condition which was favorable for the formation of dunes but that condition no longer exists. It becomes extremely cold at night and the next morning there is a heavy ground fog. The snow on Mars is made of carbon dioxide, and is, in fact, dry ice.

The solar system as a whole consists of small rocky planets near the sun going Out to lower density volatile rich planets in the outer solar

(IMPACT . . from page 1)

ing the boat was insurable, then the company would cover the risk.

The key to the boat was sent to me. I found the vessel at the yacht basin and pro-ceeded to inspect, checking the engine, tanks, electrical, plumbing and electronics. Climbing through the hull was next. I inspected and sounded the frames for breaks or bad wood and a search was made for deteriorated fastenings (nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, ships nails or dissimi-lar metals).

My flashlight preceeded me along the chine

inboard, as I squeezed myself between stringers and tanks, when there it was, to my amaze-ment. A 15 inch bill of a swordfish was protruding through the one inch mahogany plank just above the waterline. It was alarming-ly beautiful. The more I thought about it, the mental picture of how it might have occurred, fascinated me.

I finished the survey then went to the phone to call the owner in Los Angeles. I said, "Your yacht is in good condition, the equipment functioned very well and the hull is sound. Were you aware of the fishbill stuck in the starboard side abaft the beam?" He answered right back, "Yes, you didn't disturb it, lhope!" I told him it was still solidly intact. He was relieved and said that it was his conversation [)ICCC. He said the swordfish charged into his boat in Mexican waters while on a cruise. Then I knew the Errol Flynn scene was possible.

It seems the billfishes have flashes of temper amid will take their wrath out on most anything that infuriates them. Spearing boats is not usual, but does occur. The fish display fearless actions and seem to take on courageousness to the point of being dauntless.

My wife and I departed Los Angeles harbor for an extended cruise on our 38 foot sailing cutter. Under sail we cruised the countries of Central America to Panama and through the Panama Canal, through the San Bias Archipelago to Colombia and Venezuela. From the island of Aruba we departed for the Virgin Islands.

It was a beautiful mid-morning under a clear West Indian sky. The sails were filled with a balmy, full-bodied tradewind. My cutter SOUTHWIND was in her element, lifting and scending to the white-capped emerald seas. Spray was refreshing and my world had its head on straight. We had been cruising for eight months of a two year cruise.

Wonderful vistas were all about. After a close hauled crossing of the Caribbean, SOUTH-WIND was now approaching the Sir Francis Drake Channel bringing up the Virgin Islands. I was on deck engrossed in the beauty, thinking how inspiring it was making our landfall into such beautiful surroundings. To know that in this, my new world, there were literally thou-sands of places to explore, and that I had set aside a year for SOUTHWIND to take us to them, was exciting. Beyond each of those headlands on the horizon, adventure and beauty were guaranteed. This was a world made for sailing - steady winds, islands and more islands!

Standing in the cockpit, tiller in hand, I was drinking in one of those rare and true moments of complacency. Here was one - and I was appreciating it. It reminded me that in my logbook only days before an entry had been made that read "I believe that a man has but few moments of true complacency - a few will maintain him for a lifetime". Talking to myself, as I became aware of this great moment of realization, I caught a movement on the water out of the corner of my eye and at the same

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Page 12

ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD

OF TECHNOLOGY

by Russell Robinson

I had the great pleasure of being over in Los Angeles and attending the Club's Christmas party the year before last - or was it three years ago? Anyway, it was the year we had both the Australian and New Zealand Consul-Generals present.

Before the dinner started a number of us adventurers were chatting, and the conversation turned to the Russian "Backfire" bomber as well as some of our aircraft such as the F-114 and others, which have "swing wings" as a means of greatly reducing drag at high speeds. In more engineering terms "Swing wing" might be called "variable sweepback" wings.

This brought back memories to me, and I told the group in all seriousness that I had invented variable sweepback just after the second World War, and that I had an expired patent to describe it. I could sense that all the men listening - and some of them I had known for over twenty-five years - were incredulous at this absurd claim. I could sense their thoughts: 'What is shag-haired Russ here doing by making such claims in up-to-the-minute high technology in aeronautical engineering. He's been retired for ten years, hasn't he?"

With this kind of thinking written on every-one's face, I shut up tight. But I could under-stand their incredulity as I had never come through at the Club as an engineer. But I was an aeronautical engineer once upon a time. (This is my fiftieth M.I.T. reunion year coming up in 19821 Where has the time gone?) So I resolved to try to find the old patent in order to reestablish my credibility with my old


adventurer friends. But, after so many moves throughout the world and over so many years I never did find the document.

Last week, however, while looking for some-thing else, I came on the old patent and I was really quite moved by it. It was British Provisional Patent No. 14585, filed 5th June, 1947 - two years after the war. The drawing shows quite a modern variable sweepback air-craft with a wing actuating mechanism basically similar to those used on some of the latest aircraft. Half scale copies of the drawing and Patent Form are available.

My invention and the work I did on swing wing were a long time before their time, of course. This was many years before fixed swept back wings were developed, as used in all our great transport planes today; and it was many years before horizontal supersonic flight.

But, although I might have been the first inventor of variable sweepback, do I deserve any credit for it? I think not. People in the business of invention know the vital importance of dining. If a patent comes out too early it is often worse than if it comes out too late. That was the trouble with my idea: it was far ahead of its time. Over twenty years were to go by before the standard of aeronautical technology and the marketing need were ready for variable sweepback.

So I give the credit for the development to those engineers who are present at this time and who have, and still are, working on this impor-tant breakthrough in achieving economic super-sonic flight.

Russ Robinson, No. 623 Tucson

(Russ' original drawing from 1947 appears on page 1

March 1982

instant caught the odor coming down wind that I had come to recognize through the years. It was a huge whale and it "blew". The odor of its breath was like the smell of the land at low tide, a musty sea-life scent. It was thrilling for this huge, formidable, leviathan to add its presence to my already bountiful panorama.

The largest of these billfishes can weigh as much as 2600 pounds.

The whale sounded and I waited not too long to see him rise abruptly and simultaneously with still another visitor. The whale's demeanor seemed interrupted. Then I saw a sight only a few people in this world have ever seen. The stage was set. A beautiful, frenzied, speeding black marlin, with eyes blazing and foam flying from its path and wake, charged with full speed impact into the whale, sinking its sword, all thirty estimated inches of it, into the huge wall of blubber just a few feet abaft the whale's eye.

Aghast, hardly believing the drama I was seeing from my floating box seat, was the most unusual display of a lifetime. An easy 1,300 pIUS Pounds of swordfish was now a fixture, with a 50 foot whale impaled on its bill. Instantly this one act play took on color, for gallons and gallons of blood shot Out of the whale's wound covering the billfish and turning

Page 5

the emerald sea to red with reddish pink white caps.

The actions then intensified, for the whale beat the seas with its great flukes and blew red into the air. It rolled violently over and over with the swordfish sticking in his side - under and over and up and over! An awesome, colorful sight and reason for my concern as SOUTHWIND was all too close and lying hove to. I hauled the genoa over to port and got way on so I could get steerage and more distance from this big dramatic act. It would have been most embarrasing to have the whale roll the big billfish onto SOUTHWIND's deck and take us to Davey Jones Locker.

I counted ten rolls of the whale with that frenzied, wild-eyed sword wielder sticking out of its side, vibrating its tail fin with violent speed. This much blood was a new experience to see and the blood bath given the fish must have been a first.

The whale sounded but never came up for a curtain call. The fate of both remains my mystery to think upon.

The few encounters that others have seen, that have been recorded, occur almost entirely in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world where billfish abound. Whales have been taken that have embedded billfish swords and usually those found are fragmented or fractured. This is probably from the violent thrashing of the fish and the powerful muscle contractions of the whales during their fights.

Nature and its creatures can provide the greatest shows on the sea. If this one had to happen, I am happy I could be there to view it.

One cannot tell what passes through the heart of a man by the look on his face.

JAPANESE PROVERB

Page 6

1982 COMMITTEES

PROGRAM Ross Reed - Chairman Al Adams Larry Copeland Cob Harms Gil Morgan Roy Roush Bob Silver

HOUSE

Paul Cramer - Chairman LeRoy Bagley Bill Carr, Jr. Jim Findley Cob Harms Lou Loober Alan Siebert

BUDGET George Manchester - Chairman Keith Chase Doug MacDonald Earle Memory Bob Sechrist Sanford Smith

PUBLIC RELATIONS Will Bascom - Chairman John Booth Gil Morgan Bob Silver Bob Williams (Editor A.C.N.)

MEMBERSHIP

Paul Cramer - Chairman Joe Brown Mal Cook Larry Copeland Bob Corey Owen O'Callaghan


ADMISSIONS George Manchester - Chairman John Davidson Doug MacDonald John Mahon George Ross Sanford Smith Smokey Storms

EXHIBITS - Alan Siebert - Chairman

Al Adams Ed Chatwell John Davidson Gil Morgan Owen O'Callaghan

BY-LAWS Charles Sutcliffe, Chairman John Boden John Davidson Gerry Price George Ross Bob Sechrist Sanford Smith

NEW QUARTERS Cob Harms - Chairman Peter Parfitt David Reed Ross Reed

ROSTER George Manchester - Chairman Al Adams John Boden John Booth Gil Morgan Bob Williams

BUILDING FUND Al Adams - Chairman

PARLIAMENTARIAN: Owen O'Callaghan

March 1982

THE CAPTAIN JACK ROULAC

MEMORIAL PLAQUE

In 1972, at the conception of the Placque, now deceased member Granville Jones came to me and indicated he wished to have his name engraved on the teak shield. He gave the treasurer $10.00 which was all he had that evening. He told me that amount would be a starter, but indicated, "When I pass away on the Great Adventure, my will is designated to leave the Adventurers' Club some money." I thanked him and told him I would see to it that he got his name engraved, and that, for every one hundred dollars the Fund received, a star would be installed by his name with an inscrip-tion which would read: Granville Jones "In Memory of Fellow Adventurers." On his engraving piece, now on the placque, are 47 stars. We kept our promises.

I am pleased that in my absence the Board voted to direct the $4,700.00 into the Building Fund.

"My desire to aid my fellow adventurers will live on." Those were the words of George Wurz burger. Before he passed away he asked that the quotation be inscribed on the Captain Roulac shield. He left $4,000.00 to our longevity.

Malcolm Cook, No. 746 has given $700.00 for seven stars and we thank him for his generous contribution.

Dr. Ed Chatwell has given another $400.00 to the memory of Percy Chase as well as $400.00 to the memory of Doug Morton. Dr. Chatwell is high man to date in the amounts of money he has contributed both in his own name and to memorials.

Howard Robson, No. 700 has added his name and a star to the big shield.

Page 11

At the last meeting of the Board, I officially turned all my activities having to do with the Building Fund and the Placque over to George Ross. I want to thank all of the fellows in the Adventurers' Club who have raffled to our cause during the last ten years to raise $37,300.00 for the Building Fund. Your interest and the interest accumulating in the bank is for Fellow Adventurers.

—Al A. Adams ............... Favored Clubs Our Club exchanges visitor courtesies with

six select clubs. In order that our members may learn something about these other clubs this series will provide a brief history of each club.

Adventurers' Club of Honolulu

George Harlo Brock called a meeting of adventurers on Friday evening, April 9, 1954 in the Smile Cafe. Twenty-nine men showed up and decided to find more men to organize into a club. On April 16 a larger group gathered and elected officers, approved a Constitution and By-Laws and made an application for a Charter. The Club was incorporated and the charter signed by the Territorial Governor on October 29, 1954.

The Club meets on the second and fourth Fridays each month at M's Ranch at Ama Hana. Visiting L.A. members are welcome.

...............

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

-SAMUEL JOHNSON.

Page 10 ADVENTURERS' CLUB

March 1982 Page 7

A RECORDING OF HISTORY THE WEEKLY CLUB MEETINGS (Our Thursday Night Safaris)

explain how to zero in the sights on a gun. December 3, 1981 Our new president for 1982, DOUGLAS

ON SAFARI AROUND 706 MACDONALD, took the microphone to read a letter from AL ENDERLE requesting speakers

with JOHN PARKER for Boys Republic in Chino. Any club members

Before eight bells were struck, before the who feel qualified may contact the club secre-

dinner dishes were even cleared the meeting tary. Doug also said that GERALD PRICE had

unofficially began with a birthday song for informed him that FRED DEMARA is still

forty-eight year member LEO MARKS. On his recuperating in the hospital and would sure

ninety-first birthday. Leo explained the secret enjoy hearing from the club members. It was

to his longevity .. ."just keep breathing." decided that during the next meeting a tape

President GEORGE MANCHESTER began recorder would be made available to members

the meeting at the usual hour with the sad news during the social hour in order to send a few that STAN COOLEY had left us on the Great words of cheer to Fred. Adventure on the morning of December 1st. BIL BROWN announced that the Explorers WAYNE BARKER and COB HARMS took a Club would be having a dinner meeting on

few minutes to relate stories about Stan to the December 8 with the theme to be "Remember

members and to put into words the loss we all Pearl Harbor". Several Adventurers' Club feel, members will be speaking.

Wayne also related his adventures with ED Home from Peru and Jessonia ALAN SIE- CHATWELL on a recent Elk hunting trip to BERT brings regards from HERMAN JESSON. Washington. They both "hunted" Elk without Alan and Herman went on a fairly thorough seeing a single animal. Both sportsmen were traverse of the Amazon within Peru in order to able to return with some fine waterfowl and one get a view of both the tourist side and the more crate each of trophy quality Washington State remote side of the area. With Alan as photog- apples. Next time you see Ed ask him to rapher, Herman put together a program for

January, 1982 which should give us a fine OFFICE MANAGER: overview of the area.

John Boden BOB WILLIAMS, our Adventurers' Club ARCHIVIST: News editor presented the club with bound

William Buchanan volumes of our club paper covering the years LIBRARIAN: 1973 through 1980. Bob wanted to thank the

John Boden many members who helped put together these NEWS EDITOR: volumes including JOHN BODEN who raided

Robert Williams his own library of some missing issues. AUDITOR:

Unconfirmed (Program for December 3rd appears on page 8)

a year ago on his 41-foot sloop and sailed down to Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama and through the Panama Canal and on to Isla Providencia which belongs to Colombia. At present his boat is in Honduras where they left it to fly back for Christmas, but will shortly return to the boat and head for Florida and the Eastern Seaboard. He plans to leave Rhode Island in September 1982 on an around the world single-handed race. There are twenty-three entries at present.

Doug MacDonald will be gone for three weeks to Africa, Rio and Lima on business.

Gene Babbitt was present in the audience to tell a few of his impressions on China. There were twenty tourists in his group plus fifteen representatives of the Chinese government. Everyone was dressed in blue unless you were in the army in which case you would be dressed in green. So it is impossible to tell who is the most important just by looking at the color of the uniform. They were given seven different banquets. On their arrival they ate with their Overcoats on as the temperature hovered around 2301 There was ice at the summer palace. Inside China they used old turbo prop planes. As their group was the only group at the hotel they received first-rate attention. At Christmas they had a tree and gifts for everyone.

PROGRAM

"Adventure out of this world - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Beyond."

Guest Warren Janes

Warren Janes is a native of Louisiana, gradu-ate of Northwestern University, and is, at the present time, on the staff at U.C.L.A. He is also a senior scientist at JPL, coordinating the

scientists and the missions in outer space. Unmanned spacecraft have most recently

been the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn. All these launchings begin with much fire, a cloud of smoke and great thunder. The Voyager spacecraft were launched back in 1977, numbers one and two, launched about a week apart and they arrived at their destination at about the same time though over a somewhat different route.

A high gain and a low gain antennae are essential to the spacecraft. They are used to communicate with the earth and are only 25 watts of power over a distance of more than a billion kilometers. The antennae should be pointed at the earth. The cameras are mounted on a platform and can be pointed in any desired direction.

On board is a radio isotope thermal electric generator, a small nuclear battery, which is needed because the sun is such a far distance away that it cannot be used as a source of energy. It is a very simple electrical system consisting of hot plutonium which comes in cylinders with thermocouples wrapped around the plutonium. Because of the difference in temperature of the hot plutonium and the cold of space, there is a very small amount of electricity generated.

Only about 400 watts of power is used to run the entire assembly. The guts of the space-craft, the computer, tends to cause heat but there is a radiator which dissipates the heat by means of continually opening and closing panels during the flight.

There is a gold video disk type recording which contains greetings from all the great leaders of earth, pictures of our people and music from our various cultures. This gold disc

(PROGRAMS, continued on page 14)

41

Page 8

PROGRAM

"Vilca Bamba, the True Lost City of

the Incas"

Guest Peter Klika

DICK KYLE introduced our guest speaker Peter Klika. Peter has made four expeditions into Peru both while an employee of the State Department and as a private citizen. Our guest is also a sailor and mountain climber and has traveled extensively in the Pacific and the Orient.

Taking time out from his law studies at U.C.L.A. Peter returned to Peru last August and spent some time in the Vilca Bamba region about fifty miles northwest of Cuzco in the southern part of the country. This area was of special interest because it was the last area controlled by the Inca civilization.

This area contains numerous Inca ruins and entire Inca cities as yet unexcavated. The slide presentation accompanying our speakers talk encompassed three trips to Peru in 1973, 1975 and 1981. The pictures showed the phenomenal beauty of the jungle valleys, the mountain peaks over 20,000 feet high and the rivers rushing to join the great Amazon.

Tonights "trip" actually started on the coast with the exploration of some pre-Inca civiliza-tion tombs. These tombs and some other sites are particularly well preserved due to the lack of rainfall along this desert coastal area. The second major area of exploration is the jungle where travel is limited to the rivers and to a lesser extent by air. The third major area is the mountain region.

From the coast Peter and his party traveled to Cuzco to spend a few days acclimatizing themselves and gathering the necessary permits


to travel to their destination. While in Cuzco the group took some day hikes and visited the ruins of an Inca fortress on the foothills above

the city. Just a half day hike out of Cuzco are the excavated Royal Inca baths of Tainbo Machai. In this area so close to a major city one finds direct descendants of the Inca people still living close to the earth in a subsistence econo-my. After some government red tape was cut the party started off to the Vilca Bamba region.

By train, past Machu Picchu, to the end of the line, then by truck to the town of Pucura and then by foot along ancient Inca trails into the Vilca Bamba region. In 1975 Peter hiked the forty miles to the ruins of Machu Picchu which until 1965 were thought to be the last Inca capitol. Along this trail are several excavated ruins of watchtowers, fortresses and five small cities. One of these cities of about thirty houses which lies only about two miles from Machu Picchu was not discovered until thirty years after the discovery of the magnifi-cent Machu Picchu. In this small city there are Inca baths still running with water brought in through underground conduits built over 500 years ago.

During another trip Peter and a friend began hiking from the town of Pucura about fifty miles through jungle and over mountain passes. Along the trail they passed several Tambos or resting huts used by Inca runners who were the Pony Express or messengers of the Inca people. These Tambos are placed at intervals according to how far a messenger could run in about two hours. Finally they arrived at the city of Espiritu Pampa, the true last refuge of the Inca civilization. Discovered in 1965 this city has hardly been excavated and is so overgrown with jungle that it is nearly impossible to photograph. With the help of a metal detector

March 1982

he had carried the entire way, Peter found some evidence of earlier explorers and also some ancient bronze articles.

Although his last trip was marred by unusual-ly cold and snowy weather Peter had the opportunity to take a raft trip down one of the rivers in the Vilca Bamba region and through some of the ancient canals built by the Incas. On this and other trips he met more of the friendly, open and warm native people of Peru who, along with the beautiful scenery and the thrill of finding "lost" cities, keep luring him back to this fantastic country.

(Reported by John Parker)

DECEMBER 10 -Annual Christmas Party.

DECEMBER 17,24 &31 -No meetings held

January 7, 1982


with BILL BUCHANAN

President GEORGE MANCHESTER, with due ceremony, turned over the gavel to DOUG MacDONALD, President-elect for 1982, whose first act was to wish the membership a Happy New Year.

A postcard from GENE BABBITT in China, where it is cold as blue blazes, at the Great Wall. He also noted that on the shopping bags in Peking the motto "Fading Rose U.S.A." seemed to show a change in attitude towards America. He is headed up the Yangtze and its three stupendous gorges.

HERMAN JESSON also sent a card from the Great Wall but beat it home. January is the birth month of Franklin D Roosevelt and Herman would like to see his birthday celebrated as a national holiday as we do in honoring two other great presidents.

Page 9

BOB WILLIAMS is going to retire and leave our area in a few months and we need a volun-teer to train to be Editor of the Adventurers'

Club NEWS. Bob will be willing to teach the job to anyone who can spare a little time each week. If you are not able to volunteer yourself, keep it in mind and suggest someone who you think would be a good Editor.

MAX HTJRLBUT sends Christmas greetings and announces that he is now attached to the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Air Force. Also assisting Chancellor Young in obtaining a chair in Chinese culture for Pepperdine University.

Many thanks to LOUIS LOOBER for the beautiful Christmas tree which he decorated and placed on our stage during the festivities of our Christmas Party. Yearly he has been donating a beautiful tree to the club for the enjoyment of its members.

Miss Sandra Paul sent a letter to JOHN BODEN to thank the club for all it had meant to her grandfather, the late STAN COOLEY, and to thank the Club for the beautiful flowers the club had sent.

DON CHEESMAN sent a letter requesting that his name be removed from the permanent reservation list until further notice. Don will be out of the country as Captain of a large yacht, fishing, diving and sunning off the coast of Mexico for the next few months.

ROY PETERSON and his wife Chiyo have given a large photo album to the club which thoroughly covered our recent Night of High Adventure. Roy reported on his recent month-long trip to Japan where he met with much snow in Hokkaido but found better weather in the south on the farm of Chiyo's sister in the island of Kyushu.

THOMAS LINDHOLM left with his wife

John Davidson

his shic 1111(iCr cnemy fin, I0\var(I u

iii1itarv objective. But thcr arc thc

Lines I)crIiaI)s t:lic oiiJv I.".- hen Vu11

iiI1v tret to kIIo\V il IWIIt. A1t(1 trLhr

is a mail. •JOI1 H Davidson ivas a iriuit.

[...cl iicri' be no (IOU 1)1 01 [haL

lb SVV'F. sr1ia rit NI ils .wc were by our

respective ages Johri and I fflv'rrt1ch'

Li ((1I1Il11ii\ 01 ii) and

cxperietwc6.I roLild re-five 1ii m\prl'i

([cs iii t}c \.ii Iraliami oh i- jack as hr

ohilu:I r1 -hivc lililir. 11c anti I fmi'dit oii

the sailir hiti.1ItIt Is. tht[ii iii IiIrrrnI

wars. PrrFia1s_ IIirii. I amn hen I

(.111 111 not Ii) II' m, 1ito \ri HIc III ui.

.-cttiaIIv. I Ilcii4'\(' I kii&'v Jiiiii Lrl[rr

tiili 11tilhiV_ 110 \V'Vt]. I14) I just um -sriI

nLI 1J11 \I() I'.t1()\\ I.>hln I)a\ IFsi>n. ilrr

I)r[trr uru !oi 1111 rirucc{ iI

rivikr

(4 11L tririidshii uiJ assovrit aiim.

Alld I LI) \ [ hut II(' Ills 111c rRrr

and embarkcd ni The (rcat ;\.I\ miitiiiv

I a 0 1 I4)FiVJ1lrI Flail l- [hr s1laiIu\s

4IOSc4.[ lolL mid hitti I i- ihouh N \\'cIc oC us

and [hr (liLli . .aiid tlir Chili .

thc CitiL.

VALE, JOHN DAVIDSON shared his camp-fires in the Australian

A Tribute by out-back. Having not been privileged to Keith Young share these adventures with him how

can I claim to really know the man? It is no easy task to write about a Yet even in his later years it was not

living man Especially one considered possible to be in his presence and listen great. Few biographies can even approach to his calm wisdom and counsel without objectivity; they are all too often Un- becoming an admirer of this unique wholesomely fulsome (when they are not Australian gentleman. He was horn both. overly critical of their subject's ac.coni- A citizen and resident of the United plishments) and there always seem to be States for by far the greater part of his some self-serving purpose in their creation, life, John Davidson never forgot his Much easier, one would -think, to write heritage. He strongly admired and loved only of those who have passed to their both countries and in his lifetime render- rewards. But exactly how does one ed most valuable services to both of them. write hdievably about a giant of a man As to his numerous and variccl contri-

hutn one. tlidnt really know? butions to our o wn Ciib they are beyond Yes. I knew John Davidqori for over computation. If you would seek his

thirty years. But only in the pt.rely nionurnnt just look about you. John sccial sense. And I doubt if there would treasured his membership in the Adven- lC any the Club —and I certainly thrcs' Club. I-k served it in iuny includc myself in that group— who kncw capacities from President down. And and can speak or write with authority always honorably, wisely, and FairIy about the real John Davidson. You see, Never a narrow partisan, he was ever an we knew him only in the ftILR third of open and percipient advocate of what his bug life. At 94 he had out-lived his lie, and a majority, believed to be the coil !mporaries: tIise wh o kw him as best iitercstB of the Club. a soldier in World War L wii.j may have I consider it my loss that, coming rid den with hiw on horse-back dowii the a generation or more after him, I never freewav-lss Wails of the tern United II saddled up and blazed a trail with him, States 60 or more years ago, OT who never shared a camp-fire, nor charged at

VALE, JOHN DAVIDSON shared his camp-fires in the Australian

A Tribute by out-back. Having not been privileged to Keith Young share these adventures with him how

can I claim to really know the man? It is no easy task to write about a Yet even in his later years it was not

living man Especially one considered possible to be in his presence and listen great. Few biographies can even approach to his calm wisdom and counsel without objectivity; they are all too often Un- becoming an admirer of this unique wholesomely fulsome (when they are not Australian gentleman. He was horn both. overly critical of their subject's ac.coni- A citizen and resident of the United plishments) and there always seem to be States for by far the greater part of his some self-serving purpose in their creation, life, John Davidson never forgot his Much easier, one would -think, to write heritage. He strongly admired and loved only of those who have passed to their both countries and in his lifetime render- rewards. But exactly how does one ed most valuable services to both of them. write hdievably about a giant of a man As to his numerous and variccl contri-

hutn one. tlidnt really know? butions to our o wn Ciib they are beyond Yes. I knew John Davidqori for over computation. If you would seek his

thirty years. But only in the pt.rely nionurnnt just look about you. John sccial sense. And I doubt if there would treasured his membership in the Adven- lC any the Club —and I certainly thrcs' Club. I-k served it in iuny includc myself in that group— who kncw capacities from President down. And and can speak or write with authority always honorably, wisely, and FairIy about the real John Davidson. You see, Never a narrow partisan, he was ever an we knew him only in the ftILR third of open and percipient advocate of what his bug life. At 94 he had out-lived his lie, and a majority, believed to be the coil !mporaries: tIise wh o kw him as best iitercstB of the Club. a soldier in World War L wii.j may have I consider it my loss that, coming rid den with hiw on horse-back dowii the a generation or more after him, I never freewav-lss Wails of the tern United II saddled up and blazed a trail with him, States 60 or more years ago, OT who never shared a camp-fire, nor charged at

John Davidson

his shic 1111(iCr cnemy fin, I0\var(I u

iii1itarv objective. But thcr arc thc

Lines I)crIiaI)s t:lic oiiJv I.".- hen Vu11

iiI1v tret to kIIo\V il IWIIt. A1t(1 trLhr

is a mail. •JOI1 H Davidson ivas a iriuit.

[...cl iicri' be no (IOU 1)1 01 [haL

lb SVV'F. sr1ia rit NI ils .wc were by our

respective ages Johri and I fflv'rrt1ch'

Li ((1I1Il11ii\ 01 ii) and

cxperietwc6.I roLild re-five 1ii m\prl'i

([cs iii t}c \.ii Iraliami oh i- jack as hr

ohilu:I r1 -hivc lililir. 11c anti I fmi'dit oii

the sailir hiti.1ItIt Is. tht[ii iii IiIrrrnI

wars. PrrFia1s_ IIirii. I amn hen I

(.111 111 not Ii) II' m, 1ito \ri HIc III ui.

.-cttiaIIv. I Ilcii4'\(' I kii&'v Jiiiii Lrl[rr

tiili 11tilhiV_ 110 \V'Vt]. I14) I just um -sriI

nLI 1J11 \I() I'.t1()\\ I.>hln I)a\ IFsi>n. ilrr

I)r[trr uru !oi 1111 rirucc{ iI

rivikr

(4 11L tririidshii uiJ assovrit aiim.

Alld I LI) \ [ hut II(' Ills 111c rRrr

and embarkcd ni The (rcat ;\.I\ miitiiiv

I a 0 1 I4)FiVJ1lrI Flail l- [hr s1laiIu\s

4IOSc4.[ lolL mid hitti I i- ihouh N \\'cIc oC us

and [hr (liLli . .aiid tlir Chili .

thc CitiL.

Page 8

PROGRAM

"Vilca Bamba, the True Lost City of

the Incas"

Guest Peter Klika

DICK KYLE introduced our guest speaker Peter Klika. Peter has made four expeditions into Peru both while an employee of the State Department and as a private citizen. Our guest is also a sailor and mountain climber and has traveled extensively in the Pacific and the Orient.

Taking time out from his law studies at U.C.L.A. Peter returned to Peru last August and spent some time in the Vilca Bamba region about fifty miles northwest of Cuzco in the southern part of the country. This area was of special interest because it was the last area controlled by the Inca civilization.

This area contains numerous Inca ruins and entire Inca cities as yet unexcavated. The slide presentation accompanying our speakers talk encompassed three trips to Peru in 1973, 1975 and 1981. The pictures showed the phenomenal beauty of the jungle valleys, the mountain peaks over 20,000 feet high and the rivers rushing to join the great Amazon.

Tonights "trip" actually started on the coast with the exploration of some pre-Inca civiliza-tion tombs. These tombs and some other sites are particularly well preserved due to the lack of rainfall along this desert coastal area. The second major area of exploration is the jungle where travel is limited to the rivers and to a lesser extent by air. The third major area is the mountain region.

From the coast Peter and his party traveled to Cuzco to spend a few days acclimatizing themselves and gathering the necessary permits


to travel to their destination. While in Cuzco the group took some day hikes and visited the ruins of an Inca fortress on the foothills above

the city. Just a half day hike out of Cuzco are the excavated Royal Inca baths of Tainbo Machai. In this area so close to a major city one finds direct descendants of the Inca people still living close to the earth in a subsistence econo-my. After some government red tape was cut the party started off to the Vilca Bamba region.

By train, past Machu Picchu, to the end of the line, then by truck to the town of Pucura and then by foot along ancient Inca trails into the Vilca Bamba region. In 1975 Peter hiked the forty miles to the ruins of Machu Picchu which until 1965 were thought to be the last Inca capitol. Along this trail are several excavated ruins of watchtowers, fortresses and five small cities. One of these cities of about thirty houses which lies only about two miles from Machu Picchu was not discovered until thirty years after the discovery of the magnifi-cent Machu Picchu. In this small city there are Inca baths still running with water brought in through underground conduits built over 500 years ago.

During another trip Peter and a friend began hiking from the town of Pucura about fifty miles through jungle and over mountain passes. Along the trail they passed several Tambos or resting huts used by Inca runners who were the Pony Express or messengers of the Inca people. These Tambos are placed at intervals according to how far a messenger could run in about two hours. Finally they arrived at the city of Espiritu Pampa, the true last refuge of the Inca civilization. Discovered in 1965 this city has hardly been excavated and is so overgrown with jungle that it is nearly impossible to photograph. With the help of a metal detector

March 1982

he had carried the entire way, Peter found some evidence of earlier explorers and also some ancient bronze articles.

Although his last trip was marred by unusual-ly cold and snowy weather Peter had the opportunity to take a raft trip down one of the rivers in the Vilca Bamba region and through some of the ancient canals built by the Incas. On this and other trips he met more of the friendly, open and warm native people of Peru who, along with the beautiful scenery and the thrill of finding "lost" cities, keep luring him back to this fantastic country.

(Reported by John Parker)

DECEMBER 10 -Annual Christmas Party.

DECEMBER 17,24 &31 -No meetings held

January 7, 1982


with BILL BUCHANAN

President GEORGE MANCHESTER, with due ceremony, turned over the gavel to DOUG MacDONALD, President-elect for 1982, whose first act was to wish the membership a Happy New Year.

A postcard from GENE BABBITT in China, where it is cold as blue blazes, at the Great Wall. He also noted that on the shopping bags in Peking the motto "Fading Rose U.S.A." seemed to show a change in attitude towards America. He is headed up the Yangtze and its three stupendous gorges.

HERMAN JESSON also sent a card from the Great Wall but beat it home. January is the birth month of Franklin D Roosevelt and Herman would like to see his birthday celebrated as a national holiday as we do in honoring two other great presidents.

Page 9

BOB WILLIAMS is going to retire and leave our area in a few months and we need a volun-teer to train to be Editor of the Adventurers'

Club NEWS. Bob will be willing to teach the job to anyone who can spare a little time each week. If you are not able to volunteer yourself, keep it in mind and suggest someone who you think would be a good Editor.

MAX HTJRLBUT sends Christmas greetings and announces that he is now attached to the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Air Force. Also assisting Chancellor Young in obtaining a chair in Chinese culture for Pepperdine University.

Many thanks to LOUIS LOOBER for the beautiful Christmas tree which he decorated and placed on our stage during the festivities of our Christmas Party. Yearly he has been donating a beautiful tree to the club for the enjoyment of its members.

Miss Sandra Paul sent a letter to JOHN BODEN to thank the club for all it had meant to her grandfather, the late STAN COOLEY, and to thank the Club for the beautiful flowers the club had sent.

DON CHEESMAN sent a letter requesting that his name be removed from the permanent reservation list until further notice. Don will be out of the country as Captain of a large yacht, fishing, diving and sunning off the coast of Mexico for the next few months.

ROY PETERSON and his wife Chiyo have given a large photo album to the club which thoroughly covered our recent Night of High Adventure. Roy reported on his recent month-long trip to Japan where he met with much snow in Hokkaido but found better weather in the south on the farm of Chiyo's sister in the island of Kyushu.

THOMAS LINDHOLM left with his wife

Page 10 ADVENTURERS' CLUB

March 1982 Page 7

A RECORDING OF HISTORY THE WEEKLY CLUB MEETINGS (Our Thursday Night Safaris)

explain how to zero in the sights on a gun. December 3, 1981 Our new president for 1982, DOUGLAS

ON SAFARI AROUND 706 MACDONALD, took the microphone to read a letter from AL ENDERLE requesting speakers

with JOHN PARKER for Boys Republic in Chino. Any club members

Before eight bells were struck, before the who feel qualified may contact the club secre-

dinner dishes were even cleared the meeting tary. Doug also said that GERALD PRICE had

unofficially began with a birthday song for informed him that FRED DEMARA is still

forty-eight year member LEO MARKS. On his recuperating in the hospital and would sure

ninety-first birthday. Leo explained the secret enjoy hearing from the club members. It was

to his longevity .. ."just keep breathing." decided that during the next meeting a tape

President GEORGE MANCHESTER began recorder would be made available to members

the meeting at the usual hour with the sad news during the social hour in order to send a few that STAN COOLEY had left us on the Great words of cheer to Fred. Adventure on the morning of December 1st. BIL BROWN announced that the Explorers WAYNE BARKER and COB HARMS took a Club would be having a dinner meeting on

few minutes to relate stories about Stan to the December 8 with the theme to be "Remember

members and to put into words the loss we all Pearl Harbor". Several Adventurers' Club feel, members will be speaking.

Wayne also related his adventures with ED Home from Peru and Jessonia ALAN SIE- CHATWELL on a recent Elk hunting trip to BERT brings regards from HERMAN JESSON. Washington. They both "hunted" Elk without Alan and Herman went on a fairly thorough seeing a single animal. Both sportsmen were traverse of the Amazon within Peru in order to able to return with some fine waterfowl and one get a view of both the tourist side and the more crate each of trophy quality Washington State remote side of the area. With Alan as photog- apples. Next time you see Ed ask him to rapher, Herman put together a program for

January, 1982 which should give us a fine OFFICE MANAGER: overview of the area.

John Boden BOB WILLIAMS, our Adventurers' Club ARCHIVIST: News editor presented the club with bound

William Buchanan volumes of our club paper covering the years LIBRARIAN: 1973 through 1980. Bob wanted to thank the

John Boden many members who helped put together these NEWS EDITOR: volumes including JOHN BODEN who raided

Robert Williams his own library of some missing issues. AUDITOR:

Unconfirmed (Program for December 3rd appears on page 8)

a year ago on his 41-foot sloop and sailed down to Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama and through the Panama Canal and on to Isla Providencia which belongs to Colombia. At present his boat is in Honduras where they left it to fly back for Christmas, but will shortly return to the boat and head for Florida and the Eastern Seaboard. He plans to leave Rhode Island in September 1982 on an around the world single-handed race. There are twenty-three entries at present.

Doug MacDonald will be gone for three weeks to Africa, Rio and Lima on business.

Gene Babbitt was present in the audience to tell a few of his impressions on China. There were twenty tourists in his group plus fifteen representatives of the Chinese government. Everyone was dressed in blue unless you were in the army in which case you would be dressed in green. So it is impossible to tell who is the most important just by looking at the color of the uniform. They were given seven different banquets. On their arrival they ate with their Overcoats on as the temperature hovered around 2301 There was ice at the summer palace. Inside China they used old turbo prop planes. As their group was the only group at the hotel they received first-rate attention. At Christmas they had a tree and gifts for everyone.

PROGRAM

"Adventure out of this world - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Beyond."

Guest Warren Janes

Warren Janes is a native of Louisiana, gradu-ate of Northwestern University, and is, at the present time, on the staff at U.C.L.A. He is also a senior scientist at JPL, coordinating the

scientists and the missions in outer space. Unmanned spacecraft have most recently

been the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn. All these launchings begin with much fire, a cloud of smoke and great thunder. The Voyager spacecraft were launched back in 1977, numbers one and two, launched about a week apart and they arrived at their destination at about the same time though over a somewhat different route.

A high gain and a low gain antennae are essential to the spacecraft. They are used to communicate with the earth and are only 25 watts of power over a distance of more than a billion kilometers. The antennae should be pointed at the earth. The cameras are mounted on a platform and can be pointed in any desired direction.

On board is a radio isotope thermal electric generator, a small nuclear battery, which is needed because the sun is such a far distance away that it cannot be used as a source of energy. It is a very simple electrical system consisting of hot plutonium which comes in cylinders with thermocouples wrapped around the plutonium. Because of the difference in temperature of the hot plutonium and the cold of space, there is a very small amount of electricity generated.

Only about 400 watts of power is used to run the entire assembly. The guts of the space-craft, the computer, tends to cause heat but there is a radiator which dissipates the heat by means of continually opening and closing panels during the flight.

There is a gold video disk type recording which contains greetings from all the great leaders of earth, pictures of our people and music from our various cultures. This gold disc

(PROGRAMS, continued on page 14)

41

Page 6

1982 COMMITTEES

PROGRAM Ross Reed - Chairman Al Adams Larry Copeland Cob Harms Gil Morgan Roy Roush Bob Silver

HOUSE

Paul Cramer - Chairman LeRoy Bagley Bill Carr, Jr. Jim Findley Cob Harms Lou Loober Alan Siebert

BUDGET George Manchester - Chairman Keith Chase Doug MacDonald Earle Memory Bob Sechrist Sanford Smith

PUBLIC RELATIONS Will Bascom - Chairman John Booth Gil Morgan Bob Silver Bob Williams (Editor A.C.N.)

MEMBERSHIP

Paul Cramer - Chairman Joe Brown Mal Cook Larry Copeland Bob Corey Owen O'Callaghan


ADMISSIONS George Manchester - Chairman John Davidson Doug MacDonald John Mahon George Ross Sanford Smith Smokey Storms

EXHIBITS - Alan Siebert - Chairman

Al Adams Ed Chatwell John Davidson Gil Morgan Owen O'Callaghan

BY-LAWS Charles Sutcliffe, Chairman John Boden John Davidson Gerry Price George Ross Bob Sechrist Sanford Smith

NEW QUARTERS Cob Harms - Chairman Peter Parfitt David Reed Ross Reed

ROSTER George Manchester - Chairman Al Adams John Boden John Booth Gil Morgan Bob Williams

BUILDING FUND Al Adams - Chairman

PARLIAMENTARIAN: Owen O'Callaghan

March 1982

THE CAPTAIN JACK ROULAC

MEMORIAL PLAQUE

In 1972, at the conception of the Placque, now deceased member Granville Jones came to me and indicated he wished to have his name engraved on the teak shield. He gave the treasurer $10.00 which was all he had that evening. He told me that amount would be a starter, but indicated, "When I pass away on the Great Adventure, my will is designated to leave the Adventurers' Club some money." I thanked him and told him I would see to it that he got his name engraved, and that, for every one hundred dollars the Fund received, a star would be installed by his name with an inscrip-tion which would read: Granville Jones "In Memory of Fellow Adventurers." On his engraving piece, now on the placque, are 47 stars. We kept our promises.

I am pleased that in my absence the Board voted to direct the $4,700.00 into the Building Fund.

"My desire to aid my fellow adventurers will live on." Those were the words of George Wurz burger. Before he passed away he asked that the quotation be inscribed on the Captain Roulac shield. He left $4,000.00 to our longevity.

Malcolm Cook, No. 746 has given $700.00 for seven stars and we thank him for his generous contribution.

Dr. Ed Chatwell has given another $400.00 to the memory of Percy Chase as well as $400.00 to the memory of Doug Morton. Dr. Chatwell is high man to date in the amounts of money he has contributed both in his own name and to memorials.

Howard Robson, No. 700 has added his name and a star to the big shield.

Page 11

At the last meeting of the Board, I officially turned all my activities having to do with the Building Fund and the Placque over to George Ross. I want to thank all of the fellows in the Adventurers' Club who have raffled to our cause during the last ten years to raise $37,300.00 for the Building Fund. Your interest and the interest accumulating in the bank is for Fellow Adventurers.

—Al A. Adams ............... Favored Clubs Our Club exchanges visitor courtesies with

six select clubs. In order that our members may learn something about these other clubs this series will provide a brief history of each club.

Adventurers' Club of Honolulu

George Harlo Brock called a meeting of adventurers on Friday evening, April 9, 1954 in the Smile Cafe. Twenty-nine men showed up and decided to find more men to organize into a club. On April 16 a larger group gathered and elected officers, approved a Constitution and By-Laws and made an application for a Charter. The Club was incorporated and the charter signed by the Territorial Governor on October 29, 1954.

The Club meets on the second and fourth Fridays each month at M's Ranch at Ama Hana. Visiting L.A. members are welcome.

...............

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

-SAMUEL JOHNSON.

t

Page 12

ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD

OF TECHNOLOGY

by Russell Robinson

I had the great pleasure of being over in Los Angeles and attending the Club's Christmas party the year before last - or was it three years ago? Anyway, it was the year we had both the Australian and New Zealand Consul-Generals present.

Before the dinner started a number of us adventurers were chatting, and the conversation turned to the Russian "Backfire" bomber as well as some of our aircraft such as the F-114 and others, which have "swing wings" as a means of greatly reducing drag at high speeds. In more engineering terms "Swing wing" might be called "variable sweepback" wings.

This brought back memories to me, and I told the group in all seriousness that I had invented variable sweepback just after the second World War, and that I had an expired patent to describe it. I could sense that all the men listening - and some of them I had known for over twenty-five years - were incredulous at this absurd claim. I could sense their thoughts: 'What is shag-haired Russ here doing by making such claims in up-to-the-minute high technology in aeronautical engineering. He's been retired for ten years, hasn't he?"

With this kind of thinking written on every-one's face, I shut up tight. But I could under-stand their incredulity as I had never come through at the Club as an engineer. But I was an aeronautical engineer once upon a time. (This is my fiftieth M.I.T. reunion year coming up in 19821 Where has the time gone?) So I resolved to try to find the old patent in order to reestablish my credibility with my old


adventurer friends. But, after so many moves throughout the world and over so many years I never did find the document.

Last week, however, while looking for some-thing else, I came on the old patent and I was really quite moved by it. It was British Provisional Patent No. 14585, filed 5th June, 1947 - two years after the war. The drawing shows quite a modern variable sweepback air-craft with a wing actuating mechanism basically similar to those used on some of the latest aircraft. Half scale copies of the drawing and Patent Form are available.

My invention and the work I did on swing wing were a long time before their time, of course. This was many years before fixed swept back wings were developed, as used in all our great transport planes today; and it was many years before horizontal supersonic flight.

But, although I might have been the first inventor of variable sweepback, do I deserve any credit for it? I think not. People in the business of invention know the vital importance of dining. If a patent comes out too early it is often worse than if it comes out too late. That was the trouble with my idea: it was far ahead of its time. Over twenty years were to go by before the standard of aeronautical technology and the marketing need were ready for variable sweepback.

So I give the credit for the development to those engineers who are present at this time and who have, and still are, working on this impor-tant breakthrough in achieving economic super-sonic flight.

Russ Robinson, No. 623 Tucson

(Russ' original drawing from 1947 appears on page 1

March 1982

instant caught the odor coming down wind that I had come to recognize through the years. It was a huge whale and it "blew". The odor of its breath was like the smell of the land at low tide, a musty sea-life scent. It was thrilling for this huge, formidable, leviathan to add its presence to my already bountiful panorama.

The largest of these billfishes can weigh as much as 2600 pounds.

The whale sounded and I waited not too long to see him rise abruptly and simultaneously with still another visitor. The whale's demeanor seemed interrupted. Then I saw a sight only a few people in this world have ever seen. The stage was set. A beautiful, frenzied, speeding black marlin, with eyes blazing and foam flying from its path and wake, charged with full speed impact into the whale, sinking its sword, all thirty estimated inches of it, into the huge wall of blubber just a few feet abaft the whale's eye.

Aghast, hardly believing the drama I was seeing from my floating box seat, was the most unusual display of a lifetime. An easy 1,300 pIUS Pounds of swordfish was now a fixture, with a 50 foot whale impaled on its bill. Instantly this one act play took on color, for gallons and gallons of blood shot Out of the whale's wound covering the billfish and turning

Page 5

the emerald sea to red with reddish pink white caps.

The actions then intensified, for the whale beat the seas with its great flukes and blew red into the air. It rolled violently over and over with the swordfish sticking in his side - under and over and up and over! An awesome, colorful sight and reason for my concern as SOUTHWIND was all too close and lying hove to. I hauled the genoa over to port and got way on so I could get steerage and more distance from this big dramatic act. It would have been most embarrasing to have the whale roll the big billfish onto SOUTHWIND's deck and take us to Davey Jones Locker.

I counted ten rolls of the whale with that frenzied, wild-eyed sword wielder sticking out of its side, vibrating its tail fin with violent speed. This much blood was a new experience to see and the blood bath given the fish must have been a first.

The whale sounded but never came up for a curtain call. The fate of both remains my mystery to think upon.

The few encounters that others have seen, that have been recorded, occur almost entirely in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world where billfish abound. Whales have been taken that have embedded billfish swords and usually those found are fragmented or fractured. This is probably from the violent thrashing of the fish and the powerful muscle contractions of the whales during their fights.

Nature and its creatures can provide the greatest shows on the sea. If this one had to happen, I am happy I could be there to view it.

One cannot tell what passes through the heart of a man by the look on his face.

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will perhaps be the longest lived artifact of our society. After everything which we have created on earth has vanished into dust, the Voyager spacecraft will still be out there in space and it may be possible that someone from another part of the universe will encounter it. For this reason there are explicit instructions on what the record is and how to play it. The record is like a video disc and it describes us both in audio and video signals.

Leaving the earth in 1977 the first Voyager reached Jupiter in April 1979 and the second in June 1979, and then changed trajectory to go to the planet Saturn, then Uranus and finally Neptune. Once a spacecraft is launched it is out of our hands and we can no longer repair it. We must calibrate all our instruments and put them in a dormant mode and wait until the spacecraft gets to a location where we want to wake it up so that it can take pictures.

Jupiter is a large ball of hydrogen and helium and rotates about once every eleven hours. It is so large it could hold 1,300 Earths. It emits far more radiation than it receives from the sun. This is all heat left over from the time it Was formed. It has a large red spot on the surface which is a cloud in motion and is about the size of our earth. The white clouds are Caused by ammonia condensation. On earth we have the Aurora Borealis and Jupiter has a Similar condition at its pole. Extremely violent thunder storms are frequent. Jupiter has rings and a family of satcilites called the Galilean Satellites. Its moons, lo and Europa, are about the same size of the earth moon. Gannymecle is the largest satellite in our solar system. Callisto is full of craters, more per unit area than any other satellite in our solar system.

process of the formation of the Galilean

Satellites is extremely similar to the process by which our solar system was formed.

Saturn has a very light density, is banded about the equator and rotates at about the same rate as Jupiter. The entire atmosphere is covered by a layer of haze. The atmosphere of Jupiter is much more turbulant than that of Saturn. Saturn's rings do not all line up. Some of them are nice and round and some of them are eliptical, and these rings are made out of different materials. Saturn's satellite Titan is the most interesting in the solar system because of its very thick atmosphere. The thickness is 400 miles compared with only 40 miles on Earth. It has clouds which cover its surface entirely and these are made of methane gas. Oddly enough, the satellite Hyperion is slightly flat and is shaped like a hamburger patty.

Mars has for all times been the symbol of another world. It has a white polar cap like the earth and was photographed by a fly-by in 1965. Its atmosphere is very thin. The 1971 Mariner 9 mission was the first spacecraft to ever orbit another planet and it photographed the progress of a dust storm as it died. The first feature to stick out above the dust was Nix Olympia Volcano's collapsed caldera which is about as large as the largest Hawaiian volcano. the Grand Canyon of Mars stretches for three thousand miles. There are sand dunes which show that sometime in its past it had an atmospheric condition which was favorable for the formation of dunes but that condition no longer exists. It becomes extremely cold at night and the next morning there is a heavy ground fog. The snow on Mars is made of carbon dioxide, and is, in fact, dry ice.

The solar system as a whole consists of small rocky planets near the sun going Out to lower density volatile rich planets in the outer solar

(IMPACT . . from page 1)

ing the boat was insurable, then the company would cover the risk.

The key to the boat was sent to me. I found the vessel at the yacht basin and pro-ceeded to inspect, checking the engine, tanks, electrical, plumbing and electronics. Climbing through the hull was next. I inspected and sounded the frames for breaks or bad wood and a search was made for deteriorated fastenings (nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, ships nails or dissimi-lar metals).

My flashlight preceeded me along the chine

inboard, as I squeezed myself between stringers and tanks, when there it was, to my amaze-ment. A 15 inch bill of a swordfish was protruding through the one inch mahogany plank just above the waterline. It was alarming-ly beautiful. The more I thought about it, the mental picture of how it might have occurred, fascinated me.

I finished the survey then went to the phone to call the owner in Los Angeles. I said, "Your yacht is in good condition, the equipment functioned very well and the hull is sound. Were you aware of the fishbill stuck in the starboard side abaft the beam?" He answered right back, "Yes, you didn't disturb it, lhope!" I told him it was still solidly intact. He was relieved and said that it was his conversation [)ICCC. He said the swordfish charged into his boat in Mexican waters while on a cruise. Then I knew the Errol Flynn scene was possible.

It seems the billfishes have flashes of temper amid will take their wrath out on most anything that infuriates them. Spearing boats is not usual, but does occur. The fish display fearless actions and seem to take on courageousness to the point of being dauntless.

My wife and I departed Los Angeles harbor for an extended cruise on our 38 foot sailing cutter. Under sail we cruised the countries of Central America to Panama and through the Panama Canal, through the San Bias Archipelago to Colombia and Venezuela. From the island of Aruba we departed for the Virgin Islands.

It was a beautiful mid-morning under a clear West Indian sky. The sails were filled with a balmy, full-bodied tradewind. My cutter SOUTHWIND was in her element, lifting and scending to the white-capped emerald seas. Spray was refreshing and my world had its head on straight. We had been cruising for eight months of a two year cruise.

Wonderful vistas were all about. After a close hauled crossing of the Caribbean, SOUTH-WIND was now approaching the Sir Francis Drake Channel bringing up the Virgin Islands. I was on deck engrossed in the beauty, thinking how inspiring it was making our landfall into such beautiful surroundings. To know that in this, my new world, there were literally thou-sands of places to explore, and that I had set aside a year for SOUTHWIND to take us to them, was exciting. Beyond each of those headlands on the horizon, adventure and beauty were guaranteed. This was a world made for sailing - steady winds, islands and more islands!

Standing in the cockpit, tiller in hand, I was drinking in one of those rare and true moments of complacency. Here was one - and I was appreciating it. It reminded me that in my logbook only days before an entry had been made that read "I believe that a man has but few moments of true complacency - a few will maintain him for a lifetime". Talking to myself, as I became aware of this great moment of realization, I caught a movement on the water out of the corner of my eye and at the same

Page 2

THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB NEWS USPS (389-310)

Published monthly

Editor .....................Bob Williams

Reporters - Bill Buchanan, Smokey Storms

John Boden, and others. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE . . . .$1,00 per year

Entered as second class postage at the post office at Los Angeles, California.

CLUB MEETS AT ADVENTURERS' CLUB ROOM

706 West Pico Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90015

Phone 749-3537 (Thursday nights only)

1982 OFFICERS President ............. Douglas MacDonald 1st Vice President ............J. Ross Reed

2nd Vice President ...........Paul Cramer Secretary .............Owen J. O'Callaghan Treasurer ................. Sanford Smith

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Marvin Rosenberg John N. Booth Peter C. Parfitt Keith Chase Smokey Storms Robert Sechrist

George Manchester

A BIT OF SAGE ADVICE

A professor was explaining the effects of alcohol to his students and had two worms and two vials— one filled with water and the other with alcohol. He placed one worm in the water and left it happily swimming around, while he placed the other in the alcohol. The worm gave a shudder and expired.

The professor then asked the students for the moral of the story - One replied, "If you don't want worms, drink alcohol."


IN THE LIBRARY

with JOHN BODEN

The Sherpas of Nepal. We have seen them toiling under heavy loads in the Himalayas to support the Everest expeditions shown to us on films. These people are no ordinary porters. We have seen them in their smiling, relaxed moments when taking a breather or at the end of a portage.

THE SHERPAS OF NEPAL by Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, an anthropologist who spent two years in their villages gives a study of these intelligent people who have well-ordered tribal customs based on an old civilization. Members should be quite entertained by the singular customs of family life and surprised by the moral precepts that govern their everyday life. The two chapters covering those facets should not be missed.

Our member DICK ATKINSON wrote in our Club History that Peter Freuchen once brought to the Club an Eskimo family dressed in their furs on a hot summer evening; that Freuchen later founded the Adventurers' Club of Denmark. The BOOK OF ESKIMOS, by Peter Freuchen is a lively introduction to the mysterious people who live at the top of the world in Greenland, northern Canada and Alaska. He writes of his experiences and discoveries with one of the strangest societies in the entire world, their origins, social structure, art and transition in the past century from the stone age to implements of modern man. Includes a supply of colorful tales and anecdotes.

March 1982

system. We look at other planets which have different atmospheres, different geologic his-tories, and are of different sizes from the earth. When we look at those planets we try to under-stand the physics that is going on there. We try to understand their geologic history, and their meteorology. We get insights into the meteor-ology and geology of the Earth and in many ways the chief benefit of our exploration of the solar system is the insight into the Earth that we get from looking at these other worlds.


January 14, 1982


with BILL BUCHANAN

The meeting was called to order by 1st Vice President ROSS REED in the absence of Presdient DOUG MACDONALD. He announced that the Adventurer of the Week program would be reinstated and urged all members to recall experiences which might be of interest to the membership for future programs.

BOB SILVER announced that he was look-ing for several members with good penmanship to assist JOHN BODEN in writing captions beneath the pictures in the Night of High Adventure photographic album presented to the club by Chiyo Peterson. CARROLL CRAIG is the only volunteer at present but more are needed.

Ross Reed then called on the members of the 1981 Board of Directors to come forward and receive certificates of appreciation for their work. They were GEORGE MANCHESTER, ROY ROBERTS, JOHN CAMERON, WILLIAM CARR, PETER PARFrVr, MARVIN ROSEN-BERG, "SMOKEY" STORMS, DON OROSZ,

Page 15

DWAYNE MERRY, OWEN O'CALLAGHAN, DICK KYLE and CHARLES ROSS.

ROY ROUSH introduced Adventurer of the Week, HERMAN JESSON. It was in 1958 when motion picture cameraman, Leland Green, and producer Bob Lamier invited Herman to work with them travelling around the world to make a series of motion picture travel adventures. Twenty-six motion pictures resulted in the series "Rendezvous with Adventure" and these were shown for about ten years. They started by taking three months in mainland China, then to parts of Hong Kong which the British had not yet penetrated and on to Taiwan. They always put Herman in the most dangerous places. They photographed a refugee camp in Quemoy and called them communes. During this time he was able to become very familiar with the Chinese character and mentality and to really get to know the people. These films were for propaganda purposes. They photographed heads of state and talked with many of the top officials.

China is still an adventure, wide open as a new country, but they are not yet able to handle the tremendous tourist trade they expect soon. A visit to the People's Republic in the area of Shanghai will enlighten any visitor because of the sincerity and warmth of the students who are eager to talk to you and ask all about America. In Peking you find the populace a little more conservative. There is a man-made Grand Canal which runs from Peking to Shanghai and has been in use for centuries. You still see some of the barges being pulled by ropes, with men on shore doing the work. Now is the time to see this, while it is still relatively unknown. As rooms were scarce those given to the group were the ones usually reserved for the heads of state.

PROGRAM

Wk "Down the Rio Amazonias to Jessonia" by ALAN SIEBERT

Page 16

Herman always lived life dangerously and did not expect to live to be an older adventurer. He has picked up many souveniers, including five bullets. The one he picked up in Belice is still in his body. He was just ready to lift his plane off the airfield when he collected it.

While in the Army in the Aleutian Islands he saw a film "Flying Down To Rio" and decided that was the life for him. On his way down be spent some time in Mexico and became fluent in the Spanish language. Then he moved on to Peru and was so charmed by a beautiful young lady that he decided that this was the ideal place. His daughter Jasmine is in Peru tending to his interests while he is away. But meantime, he travelled all over South America as far south as Cape Horn, To him, there are no boundries between the countries, just a lot of people of a friendly nature now that they have their revolutions out of their systems. To date Herman has made more than three hundred trips to South America. He bought a large parcel of land from her grandfather and that land is now known as Jessonia and he has poured his heart and love into developing it over the years. He has boundless friends along the Amazon River and feels a strong blood kinship towards these wonderful people. Many of the members of the Adventurers' Club have visited the island.

Recent problems on the river have been dope smugglers, pirates and the problem of keeping employees from deserting their jobs. But Herman has his enchanted island, his twenty-year-old daughter and a home in Peru surround-ed by many people who mean much to him. They represent love, understanding and friend-ship which makes life truly worth living.


Herman Jcsson slept all the way from Los Angeles to Miami, but when the Fawcett plane reached Equador his pulse quickened and he looked out of the window recognizing villages far below even though it was eleven o'clock at night. All he needs in South America is a machette and a pair of boots. The jungle was a new experience for Alan, who is at home on the dry desert lands of North America. There was much new to experience. They were there on Thanksgiving, at the headwaters of the Amazon, the widest river on earth.

A new kind of scenery greeted them as they left Iquitos and went downstream in their small boat with an outboard motor which gave them some trouble at first. The houses were all on stilts which kept them safe when the river overflowed the banks. While they were still relatively near the tourist towns they found that the natives were under contract to wear their jungle costumes for the benefit of tourist boats which come by on regular schedule. They also speak a smattering of a great many languages, even Japanese and German for the benefit of tourists from those countries. They bring out their deadly arrows and blow guns and pose in family groups for tourist picture taking. The Yagua Indians and other tribes

The most agressive creatures that live in the sea, from my personal observations, are certain of the bill fishes. They have tremendous speed and they have size. The largest billfish that I have known of weighed in excess of 2,600 pounds. I held its bill in my hands in Tahiti.

The bills or swords of these sea inhabitants are viciousweapons, especially with the ramming actions they get by huge streamlined bodies and the amazing speed developed by their vibrating tail fins. They are superb fighters and they are pugnacious about it.

My years at sea under sail have been gratify-ing. I was able to see first hand the life in the sea, their antics and the dramatic moments that occur usually for a small audience out there when creatures do the unexpected.

My first encounter with a striped marlin, and Ofle that kindled my interest to make me wonder if such really occurred, was when a

scene in an Errol Flynn movie was being made. A light balsawood dinghy was built. The marlin was caught by rod and reel. The dinghy and marlin were to be the main properties for a scene. Cameras were readied on camera boats and the "heavy" was cast adrift at sea in the dinghy. A very long line was attached to the jaw of the deceased billfish. The speedboat towed the fish at about 30 knots toward the dinghy with the tow line out of sight below

the surface. As soon as the speedboat sped off camera there was action! The towed billfish shot across the surface - crashing through the dinghy. It was dramatic and I never forgot it.

One day an insurance company representa-tive called me on the phone and requested that I do an insurance survey of a yacht in Newport. If the survey report I was to make, as a pro-fessional marine surveyor, was favorable, mean-

(Continued on page 3)

Aav 0-n4trers clut , 0 0wo PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB. LOS ANGELES

706 WIST PICO BOULEVARD LOS ANGELLS, CALIFORNIA 90017

Volume 25:3 March 1982 Founded 1921

"Sailing by the wind is a proper relationship with nature spiced with unusual occurrences."

IMPACT! by

AL A. ADAMS

March 1982

all love to have their picture taken and there is no problem getting them to pose.

It is only after leaving the area of tourist penetration that you see jungle life in the raw. The tapir is a widespread native animal and makes a good pet. The achuny is an even better pet. He is a rather small rodent and easy to hold. Of course there are the ever present monkeys, though there is a thriving business of exporting and depleting the monkey population. The favorite tourist locations are the Amazon Lodge and the Explorama camp where they have planted some "wild" turkeys and several beautiful macaws. The houses have palm-thatched roofs. Air circulation beneath the floors is assured.

Down river there is much rice production and logging. The saw mill, about 200 Km downstream from Iquitos, is for sale as all the wood has been felled and used. The usual method has always been to fell the tree, saw off the limbs, and wait for the rainy season to flood the land and float the logs down stream. But they did not bother to replant the hardwood forests and now they are gone.

Page 17

Two and a half days downstream isJessonia, a beautiful island with banks which rise fairly steeply from the river and offer a wide margin of safety in flood season. There are many Indian tribes living on it but the ones who are living at the settlement are of the Yagua tribe. Shupe and his family took charge of many of the necessary jobs. Shupe was also very familiar with the river and piloted the boat on all trips to and from camp. It is good to have someone along who speaks the Yagua language as once they were mistaken for pirates. The other boats in the river fled from them but it was straightened out in Yagua language. Later, gifts of chocolate cemented good will and a friendly understanding.

There is a very great interest in competitive sports between the different tribes with soccer being the game they like best. The time passes too quickly and soon the trip is over. But down the Amazon on Jessonia a beautiful girl named Jasmine (Herman's daughter) is waiting for him to return and bring another guest who will enjoy it as much as did Alan Siebert.


j . f

AJ

IN MEMORIAM

John B. Davidson 1890-1982

On the 19th of February 1982, about four o'clock in the afternoon, John B. Davidson, Number 492, embarked on The Great Adventure and our club has suffered an irreplaceable loss. None of us will ever see the

like of this man again. In one person he embodied all the human attributes upon which

our club was founded, and which we must constantly strive to preserve. It is not enough to say he will be missed - he will be needed. Since he can no longer he with us, we must remember what he stood for and ask ourselves "What would John have said?" when future problems disrupt the club or divide us from one another. That is the memorial John would have wanted and approved of.

Well educated, widely travelled, keen of wit, with a ready sense of humor, he was unwavering in his concept of right and wrong and how men should conduct themselves. John Davidson was a wise, understand-ing and compassionate companion to us all, and each of us is perma-nently diminished by his passing.

There is one important thing we must remember. Blest with a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, John lived his life to the full and so seemed almost ageless to us. One of his greatest satisfactions and most fulfilling pleasures was his certain knowledge that he was admired, respected and loved without reservation or equivocation by his fellow members of The Adventurers' Club - and that is a good thing for a man to know.

Doug Macdonald President 1982

- -_-z- ..

The Adventurers' Club, Los Angeles 706 West Pico Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90015

Entered as Second Class Postage

at the Post Office at

Los Angeles, California e"016vonfurory etu6 NIWg

POSTMASTER:

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INTHISISSUE ---

* IMPACT - BY AL ADAMS

* 1982 COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

* VILCA BAMBA, THE TRUE LOST CITY OF THE INCAS - BY PETER KLIKA

* ADVENTURE OUT OF THIS WORLD--MARS, JUPITER, SATURN AND BEYOND

* THE CAPTAIN JACK ROULAC MEMORIAL PLAQUE

* A WORD ABOUT THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB OF HONOLULU

* ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY - BY RUSS ROBINSON

* DOWN THE RIO AMAZON lAS TO JESSONIA - BY ALAN SIEBERT

3/82

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