Evening star., 1942-10-03
81 Days Adrft on a Raft
Talk About Cooking Helps Pass
Away Many FoodIess Hours

Pacific ,Das told to Robert Trum-
bull by Harold F. DIXON, bomber
pilot and auiation chief me-
chanic's mate, U. S. ~, in the
current best seller, "The Raft"
iohich is noD being brought to
you in serial form, of ,ohich
this is a chapter. Diron-luith
Gene Aldrich, aDidtion radionan
and gunner, and Tony PGstuld,
Aviation ordnance man - Uas
forced to land a scout bomber in
the ocean ,Dllen its gas gaze out
on the eUening OF January IS,
1912. The craft sank almost inn
medidtely, but they managed to
escape on an 8r4-toot rubber raft.
They 1Dere Without provisions
and 1Cith Scant equipment. Yet
this heroic United States Many
trio managed to SurDiDe, battling
an inferno of seas and 1Ueather
for 81 days oUer a course that
covered about a thousand miles
until they finally reached safety
on an obscure atoH. The nerue-
tingling details OF this ertraordi-
nary experience are being related
here as told to Robert TrumbuH.
CHAPTER VII.
Another night passed with tire.
some samenesS, and the third morn.
ing found us thinking intensely Of
breakfast.
when I look at that sunrise,
Tony said, nodding at a rather
spectacular dawn, "all I can think
of is fried egg"
1t seems strange to me now that
we were still not terribly worried
about our chances of eventually
coming out of this. When we fell
into this adventure we were all ir
exceptionally good health, and that
think, was why we were able, these
first few days, to keep a cheerful
discipline on our minds.
Our minds were optimistic, but
our stomachs were not. We were
good and hungry. Then it began
again-the favorite conversation OF
yesterday, and the day before, and
the days to come.
when I get back to Missouri
Gene said, I'm gonna make me the
biggest ham and cheese sandwich
ever seen in Sikeston.'
Ham and cheese, toasted" Tony
added.
Gene and Tony again discussed
the relative merits of ham and
cheese sandwiches of all possible
varieties, for most of an hour.
finally joined the conversation
to get the subject away from ham
and cheese sandwiches-and onto
some other kind of food, for I was
as bad as they.
Some day you'll have to come
down to my ranch at La Mesa" ]
said, land Tony can cook anything
he wants the first day, Gene can
have the kitchen the second day and
cook anything he wants, and ther
on the third day I'll take over ano
cook all my favorite Dishes"
Fanciful Menus.
This was a novel idea. Gene and
Tony seized upon it at once, ano
the three of us worried it like starv-
ing hounds, suggestions tumbline
over each other.
Tony entertained us with de-
tailed description of a full-course
Polish dinner, taking us through
the nlinutest preparation for the
entire menu, to the last pinch OF
spice
Gene took us from breakfast
through dinner on a Missouri farm
and when my turn came was not
outdone.
Thus we plotted nine days of pro.
gressive gorging, three days at each
OF our houses. We really intended
to do this. 1t was the first of 9
series of little compacts we made
most of them having to do with
eating.
Such was about the level of oul
conversation, interspersed fire.
quently with prolonged and repeti.
tious discussion of our plight ane
cur possibilities for rescue. From
time to time one of us would offel
bits OF his life history, and that lee
into various conversational path.
ways, but mostly we talked of food
On this third day I discovered
that I had pencil. 1t suddenl,
burst upon be that this was a mar
velous tool. I could make chart.
My eyes darted about the board
Draw it on the gunwale? No, lif,
jacket.
had lost my life jacket shortly
after the sinking of the plane. 1
leaked, wouldn't hold air, so I hae
just let it go in the water. But W.
had two left, and I seized one.
An Improvised Chart.
knew the approximate position
where we went into the water, ane
long ago, aboard ship, I had mem.
orized the positions of all the island
in this section of the Pacific.
would have to use dead reckoning
but the small celluloid aerial navi
gators calculator that I had KEEP
gave me an excellent mileage scale
for my purposes.
Navigation was fabulous mystery
to Gene and Tony. They watched
with great interest as I traced the
lines OF latitude and longitude or
the front of the life jacket, anc
marked with tiny ovals the approx.
mate spot where we had landed
and my estimate of our positions
in the past days drifting.
There's where we are, and there's
where we're going" I said enthusi-
astically. They nodded, excited but
not understanding this abstruse
science.
Each afternoon just before sun
down I would estimate the compo-
nent direction and distance of our
progress in the preceding twenty
four hours, and enter it on our
chart. At the same time I would
make one straight mark on the
gunwale to denote one more day
passed. I reckoned each day to
begin and end at 7::30 in the eve
ming, which was the approximate
hour that we went into the sea.
We were all so anxious to work
our way westward that would al
yryr