Evening star., 1954-11-25
sevesteeaih il ! Series 81 IS Articles.

slight degree Of apprehension the
way a new war with Its super
weapons. would sink many ships
and cast men adrift on the open
ocean. How could a man sur
vive for any great length Of time
Or could he at all? It was q
question for which none of us
had any satisfactory answer.
While I prepared to begin the
long trip from Tutuila, In the
Samoan islands. to New York,
where my wife was waiting, !
had time to reflect on this ques-
tion again. My main purpose In
building the Seven Little Sisters
and sailing her into the Pacific,
as I have explained, was to go
against the most primitive con-
ditions I could find. Perhaps, !
reasoned, I might be able to
throw a little light on the ques-
ton that had troubled us on the
collier. There might be some
thing in my experience which
would be of interest or value to
other men who sail on the
oceans or fly over them - con-
stantly risking disasters that
might leave them alone with
the sea, as I had been.
So that this will not be mis-
understood, I must particularly
stress that ! did not sail as q
scientist. specialist, or adven-
turer. It has always been my
goal to live as close to nature as
I could. and on my balsa raft
I thought I would be closer than
ever before. And so, as ! swept
north with the Humboldt cur
rent. then west past the Gala
pagos and Marquesas islands
pagos and Marquesas Islands
and finally to the Samoas, SCI
ence and research were not my
occupations.
New Problems Each Day.
But still, I was alone, and my
daily routine was very difficult.
The question of survival had to
be answered each day. Even in
the selection of my foods ! had
sought to make my life aboard
the Seven Little Sisters as near
to the primitive as possible. And
over such a broad expanse of the
Pacific, many primitive prob
lens naturally kept arising
with little or no warning.
There were heavy seas and
storms that battered my raft;
injury and illness that left me
helpless, relying utterly on the
Seven Little Sisters to sail alone.
The worst hours ] experienced
were while ] lay on deck suffer-.
ing from d terrible solar plexus'
pain. A doctor told me after
preliminary examinations a. few
days ago that 1t might have been
an acute ulcer, or a spasm. Such
a sudden attack might come to
any one. and If he is alone it can
be frightening. / should have
carried morphine. but ! had
none.
I made other mistakes which
made the survival problem acute.
AS the result of one error
lost most of my water supply
early in the voyage and later
I suffered a bad fall because
my ladder was made of rope
instead Of cable, as it should
have been. Because had no
line trailing over the stern as
q safety precaution / had to
pull myself back along d fish,
ing line. when I fell overheard
while hauling in a shark.
Confidence Increased.
And then there were prob
lens that arose despite the most
careful preparations: My stoves,
shipped all the way from New
York, quit working quite early
in the voyage, meaning I had
to eat my fish raw and drink
my coffee cold. I found could
not make radio contact with
shore. Finally, for many hun
dreds of miles, the sea refused
to yield any fish, a food on
which / depended heavily.
AS these problems-and the
others-arose. I thought each
one over as carefully as I could.
But, as I reflected with a view
point maturing with time, I
realize ! did not ask myself.
"Can this be solved?" but, "How
can it be solved?" Perhaps the
many different and often diff
cult jobs I'd done in my life
helped me approach each day