Evening star., 1954-11-12

! was to regret my arrange
lnents.
Fresh water Is. Of course, q
sailors first concern and on my
Sixth in Series Of 10 Articles.
l15-day raft voyage across the
vast spaces Of the Pacific, my
supply was precious. I had es-
timated that I would sail with
the Humboldt current a maxi
mum Of 200 days to reach my
destination. Drinking two quarts
a day, / would need 100 gallons.
AS q safeguard. I carried 480
quarts Of pure water, most Of 1t
supplied me by a water company
from a Peruvian mountain
spring, the rest from the distilled
water supply Of the Peruvian
naval yard at Callao.
Before leaving Callao, I made
several plans to carry more water
for emergencies. Each time the
press Of preparations prevented
me from carrying these plans
through. was to regret this
failure also. ! have only myself
to blame.
The day had broken fine and
clear, and the wind was steady.
1t was August 6-45 days from
Cailao. I had covered about
2,10O miles--1early one-third OF
the course I must follow in my
Pacific crossing.
Finds Water Cans Empty.
The day before, noticing my
water supply was low, ! had
taken two water cans out Of
storage, opened one and taken
out a little. Leaving the cans.
on deck, / forgot about them.
Now needed water for my
morning coffee. I went to the
opened can: It was empty. I
reached over and grabbed the
other one: It was, bone dry, too.
Most Of the cans I'd stored
under the deck were in q section
close to the stern Of the raft.
The others were in another sec
ton just forward-a more pro-
tected position. These two were
the last from this section not so
open to the waves that often
crashed over. the stern and ran
down among my raft's logs.
/ frantically lifted the section
of deck covering the sternmost
storage section and checked the
other cans. A few were stacked
so that their seams were resting
on the logs rather than project
ing between them into the water.
and it was some of these / picked
up first. Three were still prac-
tically full. but leaking badly.
There were about 10 cans re-
naming in this stockpile. One
was half fun Of water I found
to she salt--hoW ii got in, I cam
not explain To niy ceEar IT'S
faction. The others had not q
drop of water in them. i
Sacrifices Case Of Rum.
For a second / was too dis.
mayed to act: Practically my |
whole supply OF water was gone,
and ! was far out in the Pacific |
Ocean.
Then / scrambled for contain
ers to save what I could from |
the three cans-grabbing pans
and basins and even dumping my
cereal on the deck so I could use |
its steel container.
Some kindly soul had sent a
case of Peruvian rum to the raft,
to be used "for an emergency"
he said. The emergency was
here now: The rum went into |
the Pacific and the precious
bottles were filled with water.
I saved what / could-about |
nine gallons-while the water. |
coming through the rusted |
seams Of the three cans, ran
over my feet and dribbled |
through the split bamboo deck
covering. Finally, my deck
looked like a junk shop, Uttered
with the cans and bottles hold
ing the little that remained Of
my water supply.
My water cans, Of almost i
paper-thin tin, had been given
me along with their contents. I
had questioned their strength, |
and talked with a Capt. Reve-
denera, a chief of construction
for the Peruvian Navy, about it.
He proposed we test them. and
smashed one down on a dock
repeatedly before 1t broke. We
concluded the metal was very
strong.
Seams Corroded.
10 prevent corrosion. ! at first
had wanted to- coat them on the
outside with thick asphalt. But
the project proved troublesome,
and ! was hard-preSsed to
begin my voyage since the hur-
ricane season was drawing close.
A black compound used for
the inside Of ships water tanks
had been recommended TO me,
and ! had used it. The bite Of
the salt water had proven too
strong, however. Later. when /
cut open most of these cans to
see how they looked inside, Il.
saw that while the sides, bot
toms and tops were still gleam-
ing. the seams were q brilliant
rust color. These seams had
corroded, pouring my fresh
water into the Pacific.
I sought to gather my
thoughts and plan what /
should do. AL the time I was
planning my voyage I firmly
believed that by cooperating
with nature, I could conquer
any problems the raft trip would
bring. To test myself and my /
philosophy in lust this way. was