Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-01
FROM TURKEY BY YACHT
AT Family Forsakes Sky for Sea
BY WALTER WURFEL
Star Staff Writer

OH q FORMER royal yacnC mas
brought Air Force Maj. John G.
Conway. his wife and son home
from Turkey where he was sta
toned.
Filled with tales of Mid
ocean mishaps the m a jor
docked his 112-foot craft with
a crew of seven in Alexandria
yesterday.
Within feet of the dock his
ship, the Nordene, scraped bot
tom and rested there until the
afternoon high tide. The major
then moved the ship to the
dock where she will alternately
float and rest on the silted bot
tom at the tides whim.
Anxious r relatives and Air
Force officials hurried to visit
the Conways, whose voyage
was delayed 20 days by engine
trouble. The welcomers said
they had not recei we'd word
telling them of the delay.
Slipping for his first time the
contents of a zip-top can, Maj.
Conway, reared In Kentucky,
related his long desire to 60 to
sea.
Once Owned Dinghy
Until he bought the Nordene
in Alicante on the Spanish
Mediterranean Coast a year
ago, he said, IT never owned
anything larger than a din
ghy."
The decision to return home
aboard his own ship grew out
OF long discussions with a sea-
loving Air Force friend, who
dreamed of sailing the Atlantic.
Close reading Of sailing jour-
mails put the major In touch
with the Spanish Count Top
TAM, husband of the Duchess Of
Valencia and nephew Of Alban-
las former King zog.
The duchess was tired Of her
yacht and the count didn't
have enough time to spend on
the craft.
That's how the Conways be-
came owners of q vessel that
was built by the British Navy
as a high-Speed sub chaser and
mine layer for use In the North
Sea. The powerful engines orig
inally could deliver IS knots.
AS she is now rugged, the
Nordene can do about II knots
on both diesel engines. The
way things went on the voyage,
however, half of the cruising
was on one engine.
Nearly Sank at Dock
Mrs. Conway tells how the
ship nearly sank at her dock
near Istanbul. They had the
engines rebuilt there and other
alterations made. The work
man who installed the washba-
sin in the master cabin left a
sea cock open. Water rushed in
as soon as the boat was re-
floated.
Another hour, If we weren't
a aboard, and we'd have been,
awash," she said. l.
Early in the voyage, which
started July 3, the Nordene en-
countered the choppy Ionian
sea and the crew met nothing
but encouragement, said Mrs.
CONWAY.
I'VE didn't have a sailor
aboard"
1t was only at Naples that
they picked up a trained navi-
gator, an expert en- gineer, a
young couple on their honey
moon and a Cost Guard radio
man hurrying home for his
wedding. Bedi Tinaz, of Turkey
who weathered the whole
voyage, had no experience at
sea.
Human Communication
Mrs. Conway continued: ut
was the toughest part Of the
Mediterranean. We haG endless
engine trouble. Everybody was
violently seasick. We had no
communications from the en-
CINE room to the bridge, so I
stood halfway between in the
galley, shouting back and
forth.
There was a To-day layover
in Naples while Mai. Conway
and Marcus Savy, an Irish
born engineer, gave the engines
another overhaul.
For the rest Of the way-to
Gibraltar, the Azores, Bermuda,
Norfolk and Alexandria-there
were constant repairs. The
Nordene even had to lay along
side the Ocean Station Vessel
Echo, halfway between the
Azores and B ermud a, for re-
pairs.
Engine troubles delayed the
trip so much that the radio
man, Bob Del Papa, flew back
from the Azores to be home for
his wedding on August %.
In the hope Of getting a fish,
the Nordene had been dragging
a large hook since she left Gil
braltar. One day in the Gulf
Stream between Bermuda and
Norfolk there was q big bite.
Mai. Conway slowed the ship
but was unable to pull the fish
aboard.
1T was a marlin, five or six
feet. 1t must have weighed l75i
or $50 pounds" he said.
Missed the Picture
Mrs. Conway came running
with a camera, but set 1t aside
A. kaI,. Ioy.A NIna fieh It1ef ne