The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-11-08
CROSSES OCEAN
IN SMALL BOAT.
Tennis Star Has Thrilling Adven-
ture In Lone Voyage From
France to U. S.

see New York, Alain J. GerbauIt In
ternational tennis star, crossed the
Atlantic single-handed in a 30-foot
ten-tOn racing cutter built 81 years
ago by the late Dixon Kemp, famous
sailor and designer Of King Edwards
private yacht.
Gerbault started from Cannes,
France. and landed late at night at
the foot of Fort Totten, L. l., after
traversing 5000 miles of ocean in 142
days.
An examination of the past history
l0f sailing shows that Gerbault created
a record for transatlantic voyage in
small craft. In the summer of 1918
Capt Thomas Drake, an Englishman
Of Gravesend, near London, in the Sir
Francis sailed $4,000 miles in a 81
foot boat, and was assisted by Eve
horsepower engine.
Wanted to See New York.
When he arrived he had not closed
his eyes for 80 hours. yet he was able
to unfold the narrative Of his trip in
unfaltering English. which he speaks
and writes with ease. BIS chief con-
Germ was bath and change of
clothes.
"My only home Is my boat, The Fire
crest" said Gerbault ''In the inter-
walls Of playing in international tennis
tournaments on the Riviera and in
Spain have lived continuously on it
from the moment purchased 1t three
years ago. II La q typical British rae
ing cruiser cutter Of the early '90s.
1T is 30 feet IL inches long. with ton
mage OF o.9A, has an 8 foot 9 inch beam
and 7-foot draft.
II set out on my 5.0O0-mile voyage
because wanted to see New York.
my FIRST goal was Gibraltar, the i'm
pregnable British fortress at the en-
trance to the Mediterranean. AS my
boat IL a cutter, has only one mast and
q long boom, 1t Is very difficult for
one man to work. The second day out
] got into very bad weather in the
Gulf of Lyons. Strong gales blew for
4S hours, and found 1t hard to reef
my sails. The wind dropped as sud-
denly as 1t had sprung up. and for
days there was not breath of air.
Finally l reached Gibraltar "a days
after had set out from Cannes.
''The Vanderbilt yacht, the Atlantic,
a three-masted schooner, was in the
harbOr 1t Is the finest sailing yacht
have ever seen afioat. The Wander
bits asked me aboard but 1 unfortu-
nately had to decline as / was on the
point of leaving.
From Gibraltar / set my course
straight for New York, following the
old sailing boat routes, such as Co
lumbus used and afterward, In the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries,
the pirates who sailed the main. Short
ly after leaving port ran into an
other bad storm, which lasted for
three days and was followed by strong
winds. In this storm lost my good
weather sails and my roller boom,
which had been repaired at Gibraltar,
got hopelessly broken. The seams of my
main sail also got burnt, as the nauti-
cal expression Is.
II had to take down my main sail
and 1t took all day long to repair it.
For the first time 1 did without sleep
that night. However, afterward 1 soon
got used to not closing my eyes for
days on end. Then, for the next 1900
miles, struck fair wind and mod
crate seas. I let the Firecrest sail
herself under try sails and head sails.
Behind us was a fine following wind
and l went a week without touching
the tiller.
Water Went Bad.
II was In no hurry and life was very
pleasant until the disaster of the loss
of the greater part of my water over
took me. How that occurred do not
know, but was awakened one morn
ing to find a peculiar smell in the
locker where the water was stored in
ten-gnllon Jars.
after examination found that
two-thirds had gone bad. I was faced
with a perilous situation. l made a
rapid and anxious calculation and
found that with luck could pull
through IL / rationed myself to one
cup of water per day for all purposes.
Needless to say the all purposes were
drinking.
MY staple diet was potatoes at this
time. / soon found that they tasted
delicious when boiled in sea water in
their skins. That's fine dish.
Except for the loss Of the water
everything was ideal. slept regular
ly eight hours and spent the greater
part OF the morning idling on deck.
SO passed 1000 miles In day dreams.
Sometimes l fished for bonitas, twenty
to thirty-pound monsters. with har-
poons. Sometimes would fish over
the side of the boat and nearly fall
asleep In the warm wind which
caressed me.
"Llke all sailors. love reading
had brought with me fair"sized IL
brary, mostly books Of adventure and
those connected with the sea. Some
times the sea was little rough. but
the wind was astern the whole time