Evening star., 1954-11-07
Goal of Extreme Test Of Self
Ledto6l 400 Mile RoftY Yoyoqe
Continued from FIRST Page.)

&COuCluuSU gTUIu GInt EhBS1
Pacific Ocean when ! sailed up
the west coast Of South America
on q square-rigger. and / now
decided that this-the worlds
largest ocean, with thousands
Of square miles Of empty sea
rarely visited by men-would be
the best arena Of my trial.
In all the world, Ecuador was
the best place to gather the balsa
logs / would need to make my
raft. The Humboldt current
would carry me as far as dared
go-6,4 400 miles to Samoa, per-
haps even Australia or New zea-
land, 1000 miles beyond.
My wife Teddy was on q
hospitals critical list when the
Charleston anchored on Brook
lyn and rushed ashore. Teddy
and I are exceptionally close, so
could not hold back my words.
told her what ! planned to do.
She is, a little woman, but
once she had said to me, "if
you stay, I will. i. :" That was
aboard a 33-foot. native-built
sailboat on which we were riding
out a hurricane off Yucatan, in
1948. after a passing steamer had
offered to take us off. We stayed.
Courage? would never top hers.
Now that the decision was
made, would need to prepare.
But it is my way to go ahead
by feelings-to go by the mo-
ment, and to rise to the mo-
ment, or not. have to force
myself to do things by method.
i was to make errors.
Toughens Up for Voyage.
Also, it was 1851 and / was
nearing so years of age. What
was a man of this age doing
going against the sea? I have
been asked this many times
but it is not my way to ask
such questions of myself. All my
life have worked hard.
I would need conditioning. So
shipped aboard a tanker max
ing round trips between New
Jersey and the Texas oil ports.
During my life, I have been a
luriberman in the Northwest,
a longshoreman on the Texas
docks, a grain harvester in
Kansas and the Dakotas, and on
many ships a seaman. But this
time I worked myself to the
limit. Deliberately I set out to
work other men into the deck.
Now felt the last barrier had
been crossed. I knew I was able.
1t is true to say that never once.
across the Pacific. did doubt
ever enter my mind.
Late in 1858, I told an old
friend, Werner Woehlk, a Mil
ford, Conn, manufacturer, of
my plan. "I'll back you." he said
finally. "On one condition. :.
"On the condition that you
come back. I want no money.
no percentage, I want no ac-
count of it. But come back"
Never have terms been more
generous. 1t was to cost Woehlk
and me, for I added as much of
my own money as I could, about
$4,000 before the journey was
ended.
Launches Search for Logs.
I sought to make things move
ahead quickly. A week later. I
was given letters of introduc-
ton by the Ecuadorean Embassy
in Washington. On January 6,
1854, I was flying south. In
stantly I launched my search
for the seven big balsar logs on
which I would sail.
For time meant success or de-
feat-defeat in the Pacific, in
the vast spaces of the seas where
typhoons are born. The end of
winter breeds vicious storms in
the great ocean. I knew of how
the men who made the magnifl-
cent crossing on the raft Kon-
Tiki in 1947 had worried about
this same time danger. how they
worked under this same dead
line. They had had the good
fortune to find their logs in a
week or two. I merely hoped to
be as fortunate.
This hope was undone in the
fog-covered Ecuador jungle. On
plane trip after trip I combed
the country. Weeks went by.
The mills customarily cut the
balsas when they reach 18
inches through the trunk, but
needed logs two and a half feet
in diameter. I searched harder,
faster. 1t had become a race
against the typhoon season. The
rains were torrential. The jungle
heat was laming.
Only after two months did I
stand before the first smooth
barked giant balsa, nearly three
feet through. They grew in
groups of three and four, all
within an acre. We marked
eight trees in alone as a
spare in case of loss or damage
while being floated down the
river to Guayaquil. Three yokes
of oxen nearly died hauling
them to the road where the
truck began the haul to the
river town of Quevedo.
1t was not until March Is that
I began to build my raft in
Guayaquil. Now I could hurry
In the contest against the