Plenty Of Fun And Frolic Helped Them Out Of The Doldrums

A soft life of calypsos and rum swizzles was the reward for Fanie Louw, of Cinderella Deep. Boksburg, and his five crewmates on the ketch Sandefjord when reached Barbados on June 15, 1965, after sailing 3,200 miles in 28 days from Ascension - one of the longest legs so far on their round the world cruise-begun in Durban four months before.

Sailıng with Fanie were reporter Tim Magennis, Mary Clayton - a kindergarten teacher, attractive, 25 years old and a honey-blonde, originally from New Zealand, who vowed to be "just one of the boys" - skipper and part-owner Barry Cullen, his brother and part-owner Pat Cullen and Wally Stright (an American international hitch-hiker).

GAL OVERBOARD!

The Sandy and crew took their leave of Ascension on the afternoon of May 20, 1965. In a letter home Fanie wrote of the first day of their voyage to Barbados:

"We still have the good. fresh breeze and are going well, Mary fell overboard this afternoon while I was on watch. She was lying sleeping on deck when old Sandy gave a sudden violent role and I saw her disappear over the side. Barry threw out a life buoy and Pat dived in after her. It  took us about 20 minutes to pick them up. It was quite good practice for all of us. I think both of them enjoyed the dip - except that they got stung by a few bluebottles.

"Distance covered from Ascension: 100 miles".

May 25, 626 miles from Ascension: 'Set back the clocks another hour today, we are three hours behind South African time now. Wind very light for most of the day. Had a rain storm this evening and everybody went up on deck to wash in the fresh water.

"In a few davs' time we will reach the Doldrums. `which ls a strip of ocean between 100 and 200 miles across in which the wind hardly ever blows. But we just may be lucky and get through without using the motor.

''We will be crossing the equator quite goon now. I can't say that I'm looking forward to the "crossing-the-line ceremony." for I think the chaps have cooked up something for Marv and myself."

SUCKED UNDER

May 26: "I fell off the bowsprit this afternoon while climbing back on board from the bosun's chair. I got sucked completely under the-boat and only surfaced after it had passed over me. Luckily the clothes line was trailing aft and I grabbed hold of that and got on board safely without even slowing the boat.

"We had the last of the eggs today which Mom coated with petorleum felly in Cape Town. From now on it will be porridge for breakfast every day."

May 27: 891 miles from AscensIon: "Celebrated Barry's birthday today, Mary made a fine supper of curry and rice and we had a bottle of wine as well,"

May 28: "Sunbathing and reading" 

May 29: "My cook day! Thank the Lord it only comes around once & week. Saw a small school of porpoise and sighted our first ship today. Could mot see much of him, too far away."

May 30: 1 238 miles out of Ascension: "There.is a strong smell coming from the bilges in the galley and around the water tank. Mould starting to appear on the lockers and compainonwav. Decided, however. to wait until reached Doldrums before cleaning out bilges."

CROSSED THE LINE

"Crossed the equator at 1100. The first time I have been in the Northern Hemisphere. A Greek ship passed within half a mile of us this afternoon. Could see crew waving from bridge. Tried to make contact with aldis Iamp, but sunlight too strong. But everybody appreciated it very much, for it is the first boat since the mailboat at Port Elizabeth that has taken any interest in us."

June 1: "Measured water supply today. Have used 74 gallons since leaving Ascension, which is about one gallon per person per day. I don't know where all the water goes-to, for we use salt water for washing ourselves and for washing up and for quite a lot of our cooking, example: For bolled potatoes, use sea-water. I think we drink too much tea and coffee. But we have been rationed to one gallon per day and seem to be sticking to it."

"Wind is still, holding of but It has dropped quite a bit. We are about hallway through the Doldrums now and if the wind holds out for another 24 hours we will theoretically be in the clear, but Barry says nature will take its course."

"Menu for today, cook: Mary-Mary - porridge (breakfast), canned sausages saukraut and fruit (do it yourself lunch), curry, bully beef and rice, tea or coffee and cigars (dinner), one of the seamen off an American ship in Ascension for the 100 cigars for a present and Pal and myself have one alter dinner each night".

LEAKY BUNK

June 3: "Taking a lot of water over the decks. Pat's bunk starting to leak but luckily our bunk is still pretty water-tight. This is the first day we have covered less than 100 miles."

June 5: "Changed course and he are now running manly directly for Barbados. If the wind holds out, Barry reckons we should be there in about 10-days time, now 1951 miles from Ascension."

June 6: "The wind is still holding out beautifully but the sea is quite rough and due to the strain on the hull in this kind of weather she is leaking more than usual. Sandy is pumped at about 8 in the morning. after supper and again at about midnight. Each time she is pumped about 500 gallons of seawater goes overboard."

''We can't really spend much time on deck these days for we take a wave every so often across the deck. We don't see much of the sun either. but ae are making good time and should be thankful for that. We have averaged160 miles per day over the last three days, which is not bad going seeing that our best time so far has been 170 miles in a day".

"Sandy still leaking badly, pumping three times a day. Dropped the main sail at 10 this evening. Barry reckoned she was straining too much. None of the others seemed to agree with him. However. he is the skipper. Wind still holds fine."

June 8: "Turned the clocks back another hour today. Funny to think that when it is 7 o clock here it is midnight with you."

June 10: "Mary-Mary and I were not allowed below this morning. Everybody else was busy with their preparations for the crossing-the-line eremony this afternoon." The ceremony has been postponed because rough seas prevented any non-essential activities on deck.

LASHED TO MAST

"With the sounds emerging from below, it did not sound as if old King Neptune was going to let us get off lightly for crossing into his domain. (What an understatement.)

"At about 2 p.m. - after the rest of the crew had caught Mary and myself and lashed us to the mast - they dropped the mainsail and lay hove-to under the mizzen and the jib waiting for King Neptune and his followers.

At Iong last the King (Wally) and his prosecutor (Pat) and his executioner (Tim) appeared over the bows. After inspecting the prisoners they were entertained lor a while by the rest of the crew. At last they decided to try us for our sins (by this time they were all nicely thank-you which were crossing King Neptune's domain without permission.

"Atter the charges had been read the king passed his verdict, committing.us to the fathoms deep.

But before hurling us overboard we were plastered from head to toe with a stinking grey mess which had taken them hours to prepare.

FREE FOR ALL

"As soon as I got back on deck a free-for-all started, but the decks were so slippery you could hardly stand. Mary and myself started to plaster the rest in the mess and the first one overboard was Pat, which was not at all difficult, for they had been so busy drinking during all the proceedings. Thus it needed only a slight push to get anyone off his feet. We now turned our attention to Wally, who was still firmly seated on his throne (the dinghy). But as I turned round old Sandy gave a sudden violent roll and I was just in time to see him hit the deck with a resounding thud and disappear over the side. It took two of us to get him back on deck.

"Barry did not take part in the proceedings for he was trying to film the whole thing."

"Well, we have not got our certificates from the king giving us permission to cross his domain. After cleaning up the mess, we got the main up and once more we were underway for Barbados."

The ketch Sandefjord sailed into Barbados harbour on Wednesday, June 15, 1965.