24
THE ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS MEMBER lB MELCI-IIOR #892 AND CAPTAIN WILL C. ROGERS iTt ON THE USS VINCENNES March 1989
THE ADVENTURERS CLUB
NEWS
MEMBER lB MELCI-IIOR #892 AND CAPTAIN WILL C. ROGERS iTt ON THE USS VINCENNES
March 1989
THE ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS
VOLUME 32 ISSUE No. 3 MARCH 1989
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
3 ABOARD THE USS VIN(ThNES (lb Melchior #892) Behind the scenes in the ship whose rockets downed an Iranian airliner.
7 D(JRIAN: E(TACY AND AGONY (Henry von Sey fried #881) A story that smells from here to the Philippines!
9 ThE BOUNTY BICENTENNIAL (Sven Wahlroos #978) Poor Bligh. No one paid any attention to him or his orders (chapter 15).
1 1
KEITH'S KORNER - IT HAPPENED DCMN UNDER (Keith Young #565) A really embarrassing situation.
17 ALASKAN BUSH PILOT (Guest Ted Grant) The program for January 12, 1989.
1 8 SRI LANKA (Bob Brahms #967) The program for January 19, 1989.
19 DOWN IN 1931 - UP IN 1981 (Guest Bill Jones) The program for February 2, 1981.
COMING IN APRIL - DIGGING MAMMOTHS IN MEXICO. J. R. MACDONALD'S HUMOROUS STORY ABOUT HIS DIG IN THE LAND OF TACOS AND FRIJOLES.
ii
1ENB3&3EJLt' LWJ (usPs 389-310)
THE ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS is the Official Publication of the Adventurers Club, Los Angeles, California
Publisher - Frank Haigler Editor - Robert Williams
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President - Frank Haigler First Vice President - Pierre Odier Second Vice President - David Dahl
2 Secretary - David Linehan Treasurer - Keith Chase
Past President - Alan Siebert Director - Bil Brown Director - Bruce Meyers Director - Bob Sechrist Director - Bob Sandwick Director - Sven Wahiroos Director - Milt Valois
§
THE ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS CUSPS 389-310) is published monthly by The Adventurers Club, P. 0. Box 15791, Los Angeles, Calif. 90015
Subscription $15.00 per year
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P. 0. Box 15791, Los Angeles
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Manuscripts and other items intended for publication by the mem-bers of the Club should be sent to the Publication Office, 1735 Avalon Bay Road, Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86403. Phone is 1-602 453-3996. Hours 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Lead time for publication is a minimum of three months. Adventure Stories, human interest stories, or other items submitted by the author are always wel-
come.
OUR MARCH FEATIJRE*
What happeivo when one o4 owt
Wavy Aips L4 thkea-te.rle.d? A took beJtLrid the ce.ne, as we come.
Aboard The USS Vincennes ° by lb Melchior #892
On July 3, 1988 an Iranian airliner was shot down over the Persian Gulf by
missiles from the USS Vincennes. Here is a first—hand look at the ship, its cap— fain and its crew that enables us to better understand what occured that fateful day and what is in store for any enemy who threatens the safety and the lives of the men of our modern Navy.
ser that only a few months be-fore had dominated the world's news. Capt. Rogers had become a friend, following a series of
lB correspondence triggered by a letter I wrote to him in support
IELCHIOR of his actions in the Persian
#892 Gulf.
Here, in the morning of July 3rd the USS Vincennes, attacked by seven Iranian gun boats, was engaged in a running battle du-ring which two gun boats were sunk and one severely damaged,
Late last year I visited his- when an unidentified plane was
tory and stood in her still warm detected, headed for the ship footsteps. It was a stirring on an attack course. The plane experience, only a fast-approaching computer
My wife, Cleo, and I had been generated symbol on the screens
invited by Captain Will C. Ro- in the Vincennes Combat Infor-
germ iii to pay a visit to his mation Center, did not respond
ship, the USS Vincennes (CG-49) to the twelve demands from the
The Navy's guided missile crui- Vincennes and other U.S. Naval
3
March 1989
--lb standing by the missile launcher
- the command decision. The USS Vincennes, proudly
called the Checkmate Cruiser by its crew, packs astounding pow- er. It, and its sister ships, are said to be the most formid-able Navy ships afloat. And yet compared to the impressive array of fire power carried by the dreadnaught battleships of World War II, the armament of the mis-sile cruiser to the layperson may seem skimpy. But what this armament lacks in numbers and size of guns is more than made
ABOARD THE USS VINCENNES
ships in the area to identify itself and clarify its inten-tions but kept flying directly toward the US missile cruiser, already engaged in surface com-bat.
Although Captain Rogers was clearly justified in an earlier engagement of the incoming air-craft, he withheld firing until the last possible moment hoping for any non-hostile indication. None was forthcoming, and when it became apparent that the un-known aircraft would be within striking distance in seconds, Captain Rogers gave the order to
4 fire and two Standard SM-2 mis-siles were launched toward the on-coming threatening plane.
The aircraft was an Iranian Air Bus, Flight 655. It was struck and crashed at sea with the loss of everyone on board.
We shall never know what cau-sed this plane, flying into an active combat zone, to refuse to answer the urgent demands for identification, or alter its course. The answer to that question was lost along with the airplane pilot and crew. We can only be grateful that in the US Navy we are served by such de-dicated men as Captain Will C. Rogers III who, with the safety of his crew and his ship para-mount in mind, can make that most difficult of all decisions
Adventurers Club News
OUR MARCH FEATURE
up in the sophistication, power and deadly accuracy of its wea-ponry.
The main armament of the USS Vincennes is the Standard SM-2 guided missile. Two launchers, one fore and one aft, can each launch two such missiles. We were given a demonstration of the working of one such launcher the very one from which t1 mis-siles were launched on thatfate-ful day in July last year. We were gazing at history. It was awesome to contemplate.
The speed of the automatic loading operation was phenome-nal. In less time that it would take to say "load the fore laun-cher", the two fifteen-foot, 1,556-pound missiles are siezed by metal arms from a special trolley below deck on which they are stored, heads up; they are lifted into position and pro-pelled onto the launcher through an opening in the deck, covered by a swiveling metal lid. So fast is the operation that even as you stand watching the empty launcher, you do not actually see this happen. The missiles are simply suddenly there, loa-ded and ready.
We were given a tour of the entire ship by Lieutenant Jim Bradford, 4-he weapons officer who had been on duty July 3rd, 1988a personable, obviously
March
knowledgeable young officer who took great pride in his ship. He also showed us the two Mark 45, 5-inch guns on deck, one fore one aft which have a range of twelve miles. The massive housings of these guns astoni-shingly are not made of armor-plated steel, as one would ex-pect - but of fiberglass!
BIG GUNS THAT ARE AIMED AND FIRED FROM A CONSOLE
BELOW DECKS!
When opened they display a maze of electronic equipment and gear. The guns are not man-ned, as in the days of old, but are controlled entirely from below deck. In fact, during a combat engagement no one is on deck. The young gunnery officer in charge of the Mark 45s showed us the console from which he controlled the breathtakingly rapid loading and firing opera-tion of the guns.
Other weaponry aboard the Vincennes includes the Phalanx close-range, last-ditch defense system against enemy anti-ship missiles - "Gatlthg" type ma-chine guns that can pump out three thousand rounds per min-ute; ASROC anti-submarine rock-ets and MK-46 acoustic anti-sub homing torpedoes, as well as Harpoon antiship missiles with quarter-ton war heads and on-
1989
ABOARD THE USS VINCENNES
board computers to guide them to their targets; all of it con-trolled from below deck. Two versatile, torpedo-carrying he-licopters are also part of the armament.
Lieutenant Bradford guided us through the maze of level after level of narrow passageways con-nected by steep metal ladders. Every inch of the walls was co-vered with equipment and instru-mentation; meters and gauges; pipes and ducts, and over two hundred miles of cable. At times I felt as if I had been minia-turized and was traveling along the convoluted circuitry innards of a complicated computer.
In essence, that is exactly what the USS Vincennes is. A giant state-of-the-art computer.
The nerve center of this in-credibly intricate computer de-sign is the Combat Information Center, the ship's "brain", lo-cated deep inside the vessel.
Here, during an engagement with enemy forces, some thirty of the ship's complement of close to four hundred are in-tently hunched over a multifa-ceted array of console banks, control panels and display scre-ens, all bathed in a blue light. And here - not on the bridge in this age of electronic warfare - is also the command post of the ship's captain and his bat-
THE MAGIC SHIELD flF ARMOR WORN BY ZEUS, SHOWS UP ON THIS FANTASTIC SHIP
tle-group staff, electronically linked with every other ship of the task force.
The ultra-advanced computer and weapons system on the USS Vincennes is called Aegis aptly named after the magic shield of armor worn by Zeus. For Aegis is meant to be a shield between friendly and hostile forces, designed to prevent the enemy from getting close enough for "weapons release". The system's mission is to detect, track and destroy any and all of the doz-ens of different weapons an en-emy might hurl simultaneously at a friendly task force - ex-tended over a battlefield with a radius in excess of two hun-dred miles.
Aegis and the Vincennes are equal to the task.
Aegis, with its array of ra-dar systems can "see" in all directions at once and throw up an electronic shield of radar over itself and every other ship in the task force. The heart of this radar system is the phased-array radar SPY-1, which sends out multiple pulses capa-ble of simultaneously tracking hundreds of targets. Coupled
(Continued on page 13)
Adventurers Club News
Durian: [cstacy and Agony by Henry Von Seyfried #881°
Exotic places, exotic women, exotic food, this isthe Orient. Phenomenons, mysticisms, faith healings, this is the Philip-pines. One recent phenomenon that occured in the Philippines was the total solar eclipse of 18th March, which was seen at its best in the southern city of Davao.
With the solar eclipse in mind I arrived at Davao airport to be greeted by another strange sight. . .a statue of a Moro war-rior. In front he holds in both hands a thorny ball. I asked myself, is this a Filipino ver-sion of a Spartan or what? As I got to my hotel, I found out that the thorny ball is called DURIAN.
Durian Zibethinus, a spiky football sized fruit, fleshy, Sweet but leaves a scent in its wake that outright stinks. The fruit is native to the Philip-pines, Malaysia, Thailand. . .and in all these countries, no one is neutral on Durian. There is nothing halfway about it. It's either you love it or hate it. In Davao there's a saying that goes - "when the durian comes down, skirts go up".
As I walked around the city's
March
town, I suddenly encountered a very strange aroma, the nearer I got to the market the stronger the aroma grew. The scent was undescribable. It was like gar-bage, rotten eggs, open sewer? No, it was a pushcart full of durian. From all the informa-tion I gathered about the fruit my curiosity got the better of me.
I bought one, had it open-ed by the vendor and ate it right there. What can I tell you.. .it was heavenly, it was ecstacy. A creamy soft ivory- colored flesh that tasted like a million things - like nothing you have ever tasted before. I am drooling as I write this ar-ticle and reminisce as I do some of the loves of my life.
The durian's aroma clings to everything and anything. It al-so lingers and to an incredible distance at that. This is the agony. Eating durian has been described by a visiting fore-igner as "eating an ice cream in an unkempt public toilet." The smell can not be contained. Plastic airtight wraps are no barrier, even airlines carry it only in their cargo hold. Ho-tels refused to let me bring it
1989
7
HERE'S MORE DFJRIAN (Phew!)
HENRY von SEYFRIED
to my room. Davaoenos had warned me not
8 to drink alcohol while eating the fruit, as they feel, with the mixture of the two, there would be an explosion. It had not yet happened to anyone's knowledge, but why should I be the first? So, no alcohol for
me while eating the iii an. Ea-ting 2 or 3 a day at the Sum of USD5.00 apiece was my biggest expense in Davao. It was like eating potato chips. To eat one but only one is impossible.
Now, to get a good one-there are guys who do it profession-ally. They sniff, fondle, knock at the fruit and by instinct find a sweet one. These guys are much sought after specially during the season. But for most part and for most of the buyers it's lottery. You get a good one and actual ecstacy sets in.
The solar eclipse folded away in my mind but thanks to durian another culinary paradise opened up to me. So for all you non-lovers, thank you. That leaves more durian for me and the rest of the durian lovers.
WE HEARD FROM
CER1LLOS, NEW MEXICO - Vte.d many .towLqaoLoe mines today. Saw how they woniae.d theJi ancient 4tone hand axes. Witt tilsLt Santo Domingo Re'waton 400fl.
Aan SJe.bQjri #932
ARUSIIA, TANZANIA - Vo.Lviq the aaat c.L'euLt o4 Ambo4eLL, Lake. Manya'La, Ngo'wngo/w and Se.'e,'z- gett. Vn!aLng Ttulae.k 13e.e.'L,
Saa'zt Lagv, etc. Witt tome home u..a the Eat Coa&t.
Kowakd Rob4on #700
PALMER STATION, ANTARCTICA 64° 46' South, 640 04' We.it. FL't Aand(ng at An-taketLca. I-lope. Bay, Akge.nUna' 8ce. 4wt-'Lounde.d by ice paciz.s and Lee. be.k94. AbowLd Ra6Lan ice b'r. ealzvt.
Mitt Vatoiz #974
Adventurers Club News
- S'V•E•N WAH'LROOS
Blights verbal orders were routinely Chapter 15
forgotten (or ignored) so that he was
forced to issue all orders in writing!
Two hundred years ago this month the Bounty was coming to the end of its long (over five months) stay in Tahiti and star-ted to load the 1015 breadfruit plants its crew had gathered. The discipline had become ex-tremely lax during these months
*The Bounty not only among the seamen but also among the officers, for instance the gross neglect of Fryer, the sailing master, which resulted in the new sails being destroyed, and the fact that midshipman Hayward was sleeping on duty when three crew members deserted.
On the second of March, 1789 there was yet another incident illustrating the lackadaisical attitude of the officers. That morning William Peckover, the gunner, had several articles stolen from him by a Tahitian. If he had been an ordinary sea-man, he would have been flogged but, again, since he was a war-rant officer Bligh did not feel he could punish him.
The thief got caught and Bligh had him flogged with 100 lashes "Severely given." (This shows,
March
by the way, that although Bligh was not the cruel monster that some have made him out to be, he certainly was not as humane as others have claimed. The rea-son he did not flog his own sea-men severely was not necessarily a kind disposition. From his own writings it is more likely that he merely wanted to keep
Bicentennial them healthy and efficient much 9 as an engineer would want to keep his machine in good working order).
After the flogging the islan-der was put in irons as a re-minder to his compatriots of what would happen to them if they were to engage in similar pilfering. However, early on the morning of March 7 the pri-soner managed to break his irons and escape while George Stewart acting midshipman was on watch. Again Hugh was exasperated but felt he could do nothing more than give Stewart one of his famout tongue lashings.
In attempts to explain the subsequent mutiny, most writers have stressed the discontent of the crew and their supposed re-
1989
THE BOUNTY BICENTENNIAL -
bellion against the captain's discipline (even though none of them ever complained about his floggings). Butthe fact is that Bligh also had a set of officers whom he felt he could not trust to do their duty conscientious-ly. Paradoxically, the only one he trusted (and never mentions negatively in his log) was Flet-cher Christian!
On the day when the Tahitian prisoner escaped Bligh wrote in his log: "Verbal orders in the course of a month were so for-got that they (the officers) would impudently assert no such
1 0 thing or directions were given, and I have been at last under the necessity to trouble myself with writing what, by decent young officers, would be com-plied with as the Common Rules of the Service." The fact that Bligh found it necessary to is-sue his orders in writing clear-ly illustrates the slackness to which his officers had succum-bed.
§
There were many reasons why Christian found it relatively easy to get seamen to join him in mutiny. But what about the role of the officers? The fact is that not one of the officers on board except Fryer, the Sai-ling Master made even a half-hearted attempt to assist their
Adventurer
The one o4cv in whom BUgh pfzc.e.d his t'tuit was the ue.y one who
incited the mu.tLny! -
captain at the time of the mu-tiny!
Ultimately, a realistic ex-planation of the mutiny would have to take into account not only the conflict between Chris-tian and Bligh of the long stay in Tahiti with its pleasures in contrast to the conditions on board, but also the fact that Bligh had none on whom he could rely. There was no other com- missioned officer on the Bounty and the warrant officers were clearly not dependable. It is indeed ironic that the only of-ficer in whom Bligh had felt he could place his trust, an offi-cer whom he had promoted, was the very one who incited the mutiny!
§
A REMINVER - - McLL!. intended 6o& deLLvvy to
the CJLLb and ctdd/Le.&e.d to the Angetica Lu hvvLn Chu'Lch Ls at-wayz deLtye.d 'e.acii-Lng the C!ab oLc.e.. When you a'.e out on an advetvta'te pIe.aoe. be WLe to woe. the C.ab'-o maLL.Lng addte-ts.o:
P. 0. Box 1791 Los Anje.1eA, CA 9001
Club News
KEITH'S CORNER
Sometimes what you see isn't
what it appears to be!
*k HappeneO Down Unôer by Keith Douglas Young #565
Mind you, since I was not physically present at the scene myself I cannot vouch for the absolute truth of the following yarn. Still, regardless of the veracity or otherwise of the alleged episode I found it good for a laugh when I heard it down in Australia recently. In fact I heard several versions of it, the tellers all swearing it was perfectly true since they had received it from unimpeachable sources. Anyway, the following is what is purported to have happened.
§
The town itself is unimpor-tant, it could have been any-where in Australia, but a hus-band and wife are supposed to have driven into the parking lot of the local Safeway when their car suddenly stalled as they were parking it. Hubby, dressed only in a light short-sleeved shirt, shorts and thongs (it was the height of summer at the time) hopped out, diagnosed the problem and instructed his wife to carry on with the shopping
while he attempted emergency repairs.
Half an hour or so later she returned to the car with the groceries to discover to her mild surprisethata small crowd had gathered and was watching the goings-on with something more than simple casual inter-est. Furthermore, it seemed to her that there was a great deal of giggling plus sotto voce re-marks being bandied about. How strange, she thought, then sud- denly she saw why. Protruding from beneath the car were the bare sandaled and shorts-clad legs of a male on his back who was lurching about and swearing softly to himself as he hammered and tugged on a recalcitrant transmission or whatever.
But this was not the real reason for the crowd's amusement and remarks. In his engrossed writhings and strainings the ow-ner of the flopping legs had gotten himself into such a po-sition that it was painfully ob-vious that he had that morning neglected to don underwear be-neath those somewhat baggy and
11
March 1989
IT HAPPENED DOWN UNDER!
loose shorts. For there, slyly peeking out then retreating mo- mentarily under cover, was as much as would ever be needed to convince a medico that he was indeed dealing with an adult male. One who, if not Jewish, had at one time been subjected to a similar rite. Furthermore it was quite apparent to the thus titillated crowd that the owner of such was blissfully un- aware of his innocent flashing. Onetreecanmake Quickly the wife took in the 3,000,000 matches. situation. Then, with rare pre- sence of mind, and acting as if
12 she was dealing with one or the other of her pre-teen Sons, she stooped and proceeded to push and prod the exposed evidence of manhood into better conceal- ment in the leg of his shorts,
berating himthe while in a loud and fierce whisper. This accom- plished she rose to her feet and leaned forward to reclaim the One match can burn twin bags of groceries and veg- 3,000,000 trees tables she had dumped on the
car's hood. To her horror how- ' I A Public Service oJ The AdeerIiing Council
ever, and rendering her quite
speechless though no doubt on the verge of a shriek, she per- rteath the car. He is said to be
ceived the puzzled face of her recovering as well as can be ex-
husband peering at her from the pected, and when the stitches
opposite side of the car. have been removed from his scalp
Meanwhile a very much sur- and forehead the hope is that
prised and bleeding mechanic the scars will be barely notice-
painfully crawled out from be- able. K.D.Y.
Adventurers Club News
MORE ABOUT THE USS VINCENNES
(Continued from page 6)
with advanced sonar systems and various other sensors and trans-ducers; computers, condition displays and automatically fired and guided weapons, it is the most sophisticated, battle-man-aging system ever built. The Aegis system supposedly can find and track an object the size of a basketball at one hundred and fifty miles, and a high-flying aircraft at one thousand.
Capt. Rogers told me he had absolute confidence in both his ship and the Aegis system. Only one element surpasses that sys-tem, he declared, the young men who man and operate it.
His crew. Earlier the captain had wri-
tten in a letter to me: "1 am most proud to serve as the com-manding officer of this fine crew. I felt before and I feel now that they are truly 'Ameri-ca's finest'!"
As I stood in the Combat In-formation Center behind the cap-tain's station and Lt. Bradford demonstrated for us, how the enormous amount of information gathered by Aegis is displayed on four huge screens facing the command stations, Icould almost feel the energy of battle, soa-ked up by the massive steel bulkheads during the intense pressure of combat that fateful
morning of July 3rd. Here, on those four screens
is displayed in detail large geographic areas and all acti-vity occurring within those ar- eas. Every ship or submarine, every missile or torpedo, every aircraft, friendly or hostile, is shown, each represented by a different symbol which identi-fies it, its properties and be- havior. A friendly, for in- stance, is represented by a cir- cle; a hostile by a diamond and an unidentified by a square.
The faith and confidence Capt. Rogers has in his crew are seen 13 in the respect and admiration his men have for him.
The young men of the Vincen- nes are indeed special in their expertness and their dedication. Even the bulkheads in their quar- ters are adorned with pictures of their ship rather than with the Grable and Miller type pin- ups we remember from World War II.
After a most pleasant lunch with Capt. Rogers and some of his officers, we took leave of the captain and the Vincennes, and returned to Pier 8 at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego, where the ship was tied up, returning to a less exciting and awe-inspiring world.
As the young crew member from the ship drove us back to our
March 1989
OUR MARCH FEATURE CONCLUDED
waiting car, I remembered some of the actions occurring after July of 1988, in which the USS Vincennes had played a primary role.
In August that year, she res-cued five Iranian fishermen who had been adrift in a small din-ghy in the Gulf of Oman for more than a week, and administered emergency medical care which saved their lives, and in Sep-tember, the Vincennes picked up and took aboard twenty-six Viet-namese refugees from a sinking junk in the China Sea.
1 4 Well done, Vincennes, on all counts! --lb Melchior
lB MELCHIOR #892
Novelist, Motion Picture and Television Writer-Director-Producer.
Served in OSS and U.S. Military In- telligence (1942-45) including credit for ferreting out and destroying the fanaticNazi Werewolf Organization while serving with U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps, on the eve of plans to assassi-nate Gen. Eisenhower. Deciphered a code on Shakespear's tombstone which led to Elsinore Castle where the code solution indicated a hand-written manuscript was buried. Awards: Knight Commander Cross, Militant Order of St. Brigitte of Swe-den, Bronze Star U.S.A. and others.
lb MeLeh.Lok 14 4tO4y (OYttiflLLQA on the next page
L4JLth an o'gbuz1 poem about the Vnwtne
A CHANCE OF ADDRESS FOR YOUR ROSTER
Roger L. Rothrock #966 945 Oak Grove Avenue San Marino, CA 91108
Max I. Ramsay #912 Rt. 1, Box 5
Johnson, KS 67855
Dwayne L. Merry 438 Dahlia
Corona del Mar, CA 92625
Carl 0. Morrow 460 Encanada Dr.
La Habra Heights, CA 90631
Howard F. Murphy #649 630 Grand, Suite 1 Carlsbad, CA 91008
Gerald E. Medsger #210 400 East Park Wood #238 Friendswood, TX 77536
SPECIAL NOTE: lb Melchior departs from his
thriller novels with the illus-trated coffee-table book, STEPS AND STAIRWAYS, the history of stairs throughout the world and time, which he co-authored with his wife, designer Cleo Baldon, and which will be published this spring by Rizzoli.
Adventurers Club News
A POEM FROM THE VINCENNES
lB MELCHIOR BRINGS A POEM FROM THE SHIP
After the July 3rd action, one member of the crew, Opera-tions Specialist 2nd Class, Ke-vin M. Day, whose post that day had been about three feet from the captain's station, wrote a poem which expressed the feel-
ings of the entire crew. He a-woke one night he told me, with the whole longpoem almost com-plete in his mind. He could not go back to sleep, so he got up and wrote it down. In a couple of the verses he wrote:
Vincennes patrolled the Straits, her halo in the air, when shots Were fired from small boats that almost downed her there.
But Captain Rogers ordered "Fire", defending ship and crew, When high speed boats raced toward her and she dodged the
Rounds that flew.
Then in the heated battle, a single airplane broke the sky. Was it a friend or foe to try his ship? He had but minutes
To decide. The Captain's men were trained for this. They did not Tell him lies. With his ship and crew, he fought that it 15
Would not die.
His men stood firm behind him, team spirit, one and all. The brave crew gave their captain faith and courage to stand
Tall.
--Operations Specialist 2nd Class Kevin N. Day
SOLO ROUND TRIP ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN MADE BY JAPANESE b3MN!
KAGOSHIMA, Japan. A 23-year-old Japanese woman completed a solo round trip voyage across the Pacific Ocean recently. She was the first woman to ever make the lonely 14,000 mile voyage all alone.
Kyoko Imakiire, a former Kagoshima municipal office employee, sailed her four ton yacht Kaireantarchine into the port at Kago-shima to a welcoming committee of nearly 1,000 friends and rela-tives.
She covered the 13,670 approximate round trip miles between her home port and San Francisco taking some seven months to make the remarkable voyage. Truly an adventure in the fashion of Ed Boden!
March 1989
/ @©©B ©cI? OUR THURSDAY NIGHT PROGRAMS
January 5, 1989
Reported by Bob Williams #905
11 President Frank called his first meeting of the year to order in the traditional man- ner. In his "Inauguration Ad- dress" he encouraged us to con-tact absent members, look for good new member candidates and
1 he plans to givecr member each week a chance for a "5 minute plug" so that we may learn more of the adventure stories hidden in each members' background.
1! Guests were introduced. Bob Corey brought along his brother Jack and Gustavo Molinar from Colombia. John Booth had with him Edson Fitch. Ron Halbert introduced Sherrn Hall. Pierre Odier presented Mary Inouye. Bob Silver had with him Benj Kumpar from faroff Bhutan. Her-man Jessanh3i Robin Martin from his office and Dave Dahl intro-duced Tom Baglione. All in all a great group of guests.
President Frank urged each member, when introducing guests to speak the person's name plainly so all may hear.
¶1 Past President Alan Siebert was given a standing ovation for his fine year in office in 1988 but he was momentarily absent, 'down the hall', and was unable to receive the plaudits of the crowd.
iiBill Hawkinson reported on his recent trip to Costa Rica, and in his usual inimitable man-ner, regaled us with his trials and tribulations with his car at a cost of $1,250.00. He said that he planned to drive in or-der to save the air fare!! On top of that his good camera was stolen at an airport.
11 Bob Brahns was just back from his seventh visit to Russia, highlighted by a trip on the Volga River. His only regret--he was unable to get to Armenia.
11 Following this great send-off for the first meeting of the year, we settled back and heard a most interesting pro-gram on Peru, the Amazon, and Jessonia with guest Don Morris and member Herman Jesson.
[Editor's Note: The program for January 5th appeared in the February issue.]
Adventurers Club News
OUR THURSDAY NIGHT PROGRAMS
January 12, 1989
Reported by Bob Aronoff #837
IJ Cob Harms showed us an eth-nic 3-foot tape measure (it was blank except for an arrow to mark a "footprint" at each 12-inch interval) to a chorus of guffaws.
¶ Willard Bascom announced a coup of sorts. Two highly re-spected members of the US offi-cial team called to Soviet Ar-menia will be speaking at the Explorers' Club on Jan. 17th.
11 Fzl thatwell livened things up with his inimitable story-tel-ling ways of a recent sojourn down into the Caribbean Sea and complained he saw too many peo-ple in their 80's (Ed is in his 80's!).
The Program
"AlASKAN BUSH PILOT" by Guest Ted Grant
An amazing turnout of 60+ hardy types "mushed" through an Arctic-like Southern California winter scene to hear our guest adventurer, Ted Grant, describe life in Canada's Northwest Ter-ritories.
Ted runs an airplane service out of Fort Simpson (population
1,000 or 999 tonight). To give you an idea of how cold Fort Simpson can get he said it costs him $3,000 a month to heat his buildings in the winter housing his six aircraft (3 Cessnas, a Kin air, a Beaverarrl a twin Ot-ter). Electrical and other uti-lities ran another $3000 (these figures are not a misprint!).
Ted made the acquaintance of a young couple, Pat and Rosema-rie Keough, whom he flew into Nahanni National Park. The cou-ple remained in this area for over a year. They took 25,000 slides--Ted showed the best 92. Were they ever a sight to feast 1 7 the eyes.
Ted himself looked every bit the real Sgt. Preston of the NW Mounties, accent, posture, mus-tache and all. In fact he spent over 10 years with the Mounties until the entrepenurial urge couldn't be resisted. He has guided Prince Andrew, ard on an-other occasion Sir Edmund Hil-lary, into uncharted areas of the NWT. In 14 months Ted will be participating in the longest snowmobile assault on the North Pole.
How did we come across Ted? Who else but our pal Dave Dahl. Swelling the crowd tonight was another 10 guests of Dave. A mighty thoughtful fellow.
March 1989
MORE THURSDAY NIGHT PROGRAMS
(Jan. 12, concluded) President Frank closed the
meeting as he hal opened it with a rousing inspirational salute to the spirit of the late Ross Reed. I want to say a "Hear, hear" to that spirit. Ross was a fine man who made everyone's life richer by his friendship.
--R.L.A.
January 19, 1989
Reported by John Delmonte #923
President Frank Haigler cal- 18 led the meetin to order at 8:00
PM at the Club s temporary quar-ters. Several members reported on some recent trips they had taken. ¶1 Alan Siebert spoke about his recent trip to the turquoise mines in New Mexico. ¶1 Tom Sechrist gave a quick re-port on identifying illness by body odor. ¶ Justus Ghormley distributed a list of the 225 current coun-tries (political units) in the world.
The Program -
"SRI LANKA" by Bob Brahms #967
Jean Pierre Hallet, African Explorer, did not make his an-ticipated appearance but, for-
tunately Pierre Odier had a back-up program, a presentation by Bob Brahms.
Bob's trip to Sri Lanka last August was highlighted by a num-ber of excellent slides. He commented upon the continual fighting and violence by the Tamils of North Sri Lanka who are seeking independence.
Brahm's travels coincided with the Festival of the August Moon. From scenes of Hindu tem-ples in Singapore, attention was directed to similar edifices in Sri Lanka. The scenes at Randy were interesting--parti-cularly the fact that 96 ele-phants were in the parade. The close-up views of the people in Colombo and Randy were of ex-cellent quality.
Bob emphasized how poor the general population was and pic-tured their limited activities. A visit to their National Park revealed large sources of fresh spring water.
The group was indeed fortu-nate to be able to share Bob's fine review of current Sri Lan-ka.
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Adventurers Club News
STILL MORE THURSDAY NIGHTS
February 2, 1989
Reported by Alan Siebert #932
Two special reports preceded the regular program and, as it is sometimes ticase, these un-scheduled specials are uniquely bright and timely.
¶1 Cob Harms #906 brought two sapling Last Chance peach trees to present to a fellow member. The two trees were from a ship-ment Cob received to be planted on an acre of his new ranch in Santa Paula. The Last Chance peach yields late in the year--October and November--with a gloriously sweet frut.
The originator of the hybrid had started the trees from a single survivor of pits pitched out the back door by his wife. The surviving tree yielded sweet fruit late in the year, as its offspring does, and provides extended market value for peach lovers.
Cob extended an invitation to the Club to come up to Santa Paula in the Fall on an Open House. His farm is located near to the Santa Paula airport. A fly-in would be fun. If all goes well, there might be a big enough harvest to make peach pies for Night of High Ad- venture.
11 The next special report in-volved a recent trip Roy Roush #864 had taken to Arizona. Near Tucson he visited the Pima Air Museum, located about 30 miles outside town. This remarkable private museum has an outside apron display of some of the world's most famous aircraft made and flown in the U.S.
A remarkable find so close to home where one can view Air-Force versions of the Globemas-ter, the Boeing B-18 bomber, experimental jets and jets of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Roy's aircraft photos were excellent and his accounts of incidents 1 9 that personally involved him with the aircraft, brought the story to life--crashes, take-offs and all. This was an out-standing vignette. The members were treated to a real sparkler.
The Progran-
"IXMN IN 1931 - UP IN 1981" with guest Bill Jones
Pierre Odier, our First Vice President, introduced guest Bill Jones as a close friend to Bob Sandwick and a sailor of large craft such as the 68-foot Mar-tha. Cob Harms interjected tk fact that his wife had cooked aboard that craft at the time Bill was the skipper. The Depression had set in and
March 1989
THURSDAY NIGHTS. CONCLUDED
with some knowledge of marine diesel engines, he was signed on as the assistant to the cap-tain. The day they pulled an-chor on the Francis P. Riche, a 163-foot power boat, once a 3-masted sloop, he celebrated his 21st birthday.
The crew's experience was noted as they attempted to na-vigate the ship out through the Great Lakes from Chicago to Mi-ami, to operate a fuel service between Florida and Cuba. Some-thing must have been on their minds as they missed the reef marker out of Sagana Bay and
20 swampedthe vessel. The water came in over the rear quadrant when she was thrust into 'Full Astern' and filled the engine compartment causing a veil of fog from the spray from t1- fly-wheels.
As Bill's engine room helper made his way between the two flywheels and the dark abyss of the bilge, he disappeared from sight, temporarily taking a dip in the bilge. Bill described the man's eyes as "two fried eggs" as he bobbed up. I'll bet he thought he had gone thru the bottom.
A fishing boat was operating nearby and affected the rescue of all on board. After a short tow with Bill still aboard at
the stern, she sitenly went down making him jump for his life.
Bill shared a video shot by the local TV station. It fea- tured a crew member of the fish-ing boat that came to the aid of the Francis P. Riche on that fateful night in 1931.
Divers found the wreck a few years ago and the crew presen-ted Bill with a belaying pin from the wreck. A memento from an adventurous birthday.
--A.H.S.
:D I T 0 R1L.
A REQUEST
Thanks to many of our members a fairly adequate
supply of manuscripts come to the Adventurers Club
News office. We still could use more.
To convert a manuscript to the copy required
by our printer requires a great deal of time at my
typewriter. Original manuscripts that come in in
typed form are always welcome.
As editor, I have a special request. When you
set up your copy on your computer, please do not
justify the right hand margin. This really compli-
cates the handling of an otherwise well-typed manu-
script.
It would be a great deal easier for me to work
with a manuscript typed 10- or 12-letters to the inch
without the s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g that a computer loves
to do. Just let the lines end where they may (as
this copy is typed). I'll handle the stretching on
this end.
Many thanks for your cooperation. (Ed.)
ADVENTURERS CLUB NEWS P. 0. Box 15791 Los Angeles, CA 90015
Second Class Postage paid at
Los Angeles, California
March 1989 issue
