Chapter One - d)

Friday 27th January, 1956

Did some shopping for the skipper, in town, during the morning and was presented with a 1956 "Browns" Nautical Almanac by my friends Herries & Rodriques with the request that I bring them souvenirs from South Africa.

Bought six tonic waters at the club, to use the bottles for message to be sent off "en route" for Cape Town.

"Penelope" shifted to oil berth outside dock wall at I.C.R.J. to take on diesel oil, paraffin and petrol, at 15.00h. A squall came down suddenly so we moved off to buoys directly after re-fueling. During re-fueling Juan jumped down between the boat and the quay wall to remove some bits of timber which might have damaged "Penelope's" Hull. A most dangerous thing to do, for he might have been badly crushed himself. The skipper went quite white with anxiety.

Sank Mr. Freyhoffer's tiny dinghy in an attempt to bring Juan off to the ship as too much weight in the choppy sea.

After a few whiskies with the Club Big-wigs, aboard, we cast off buoys and proceeded under power to Jurujupa Bay where we anchored off the Rio Yacht Club for the night. Harry Blakeney and family came off in a "caique" and took us all ashore for supper at his charming house on the hill. Returned on board at 23.00h.

Chapter One - c)

Thursday 26th January 1956

Joined "Penelope" at 09.00h with Oliver. Spent the morning in town with Juan in a vain endeavour to get some order into his papers. Lunched in Rua Senador Vergueiro and returned aboard.

As we are not sailing, now, until tomorrow p.m., decided to sleep ashore. "Penelope" is lying inside the basin at Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro, almost ready for sea.

Chapter One - b)

The following details of the ketch "Penelope" may be of interest:

Built: - 1934 by W.H. Hands Jr. at Minniford Yacht Yard Inc., City Island, New York

tonnage -Register 8 tons. Displacement 15 tons.

Port of Registry - Shoreham, England

Length Breadth - Overall -40.2 Feet
- Waterline - 36.8 Feet

Breadth - - 11.7 Feet

Draft - - 6.6 Feet

Call Sign - MVZQ

Auxiliary Engine - General Motors, 2-cylinder diesel 55 B.H.P.

Chapter One - a)

The inclusion of Brazil was due to that Country's recent progress and prominence in the world of modern painting and architecture, examples of which McEwen wished to observe "in loco".

In January 1956, whilst in Rio de Janeiro, a crisis arose owing to the desertion, on the eve of "Penelope's" departure for South Africa, of his original crew of three, seduced by the multiple attractions offered by Brazil, and the proximity of Carnival Time in Rio.

Anxious to reach the Cape before the March equinox, and to meet the deadline of 1st of April in Salisbury, McEwen appealed, through the Brazilian press, for volunteers to help him sail his ketch across the South Atlantic. Thirty enthusiastic volunteers came forward.

I was chosen, as Mate, owing to some previous experience as an officer in the Merchant Service. My son, Oliver, 22 years of age and a Spanish ex-Naval rating, Juan Cortizo Abeledo, 28, made up the rest of the new crew.

This article is, in effect a copy of a log-book kept by me during the 4,000 mile voyage from Rio to Cape Town.

Chapter One

Captain Frank McEwen, Director-elect of the Rhodes Centenary Museum at Salisbury, Rhodesia, is in addition to being an expert on Modern Art, an amateur Ocean Yachtsman of vast experience and no mean skill, and a true lover of the sea.

He is, furthermore, the owner of the 15-ton ketch "Penelope" and, upon his appointment to Salisbury, decided to sail in his own boat from Paris to South Africa, en route for the Rhodesian Capital.

This 13,000 mile voyage took two years to prepare and finally, on 16th June 1955, "Penelope" cast off her moorings in the Seine and dropped down the river, with ultimate destination Cape Town.