"A life at sea for former waiter"
About two years ago in th the month of March, Mr. Alain Moureau a former waiter at the Princess Hotel, completely lacking in sailing experience, set sail for the caribbean on board his 23 ft Bermuda built sailing boat, the "Beachcomber."
During the first three days he encountered nothing but wind, rain and 35 ft waves. "It was pushing me right in the right direction so I decided to wait it out" said Alain. After 18 days when he was approaching San Salvador the boat went onto a reef. He was freed with the assistance of some passerby. From San Salvador he made the three day trip to Freeport and remained there for six months doing hotel work.
While in Freeport he met two fellow Frenchmen, Roger Chevrau and Daniel Botin. The three of them decided to sail to the Galapagos. They set out calling firstly at Miami and from there they set sail for Florida Key. But while they were in the Bahamas channel a storm was brewing. Their engine was flooded by the waves coming from astern and as the 35 mile an hour winds raged bringing 20 ft seas the "Beachcomber" lost use of her main sail. Having nothing with which to propel the craft they could do little but drift.
And drift they did, right into Cuban Waters. A Cuban Gunboat came out and men on board with machine guns issued orders which the French men could not understand.
The Cubans finally took "Beachcomber" into tow. Arriving in a fishing village they were taken to a local hotel where they were interrogated. The following day Chevrau and Botin were taken into the city to see some officials. When it was decided that the trio of Frenchmen were in fact who they said they were, they were ordered released and to be towed 10 miles off Cuba.
However upon returning to their boat they found that it had been raided and all the canned goods stolen. It was clear to them that they could not survive without food so they tried to break the language barrier and make their situation known. At first the man who was to tow them out was afraid to delay the carrying out of his orders but managed to secure a quantity of fruit for them. They survived on their fruit and fish diet. Within two days they were in Anguilla where they were able to buy food. The trio spent Christmas in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Having given up the idea of going to Galapagos, his cruisemates decided to discontinue the voyage in Bimini. So after ten days there he sailed solo to Nassau. The following June saw him in Jamaica. Two days before his arrival in Port Antonio he ran out of fresh water, and only after some confusion did he get more from the coast guard.
Mr. Moureau stayed in Jamaica for a month and left only to avoid the hurricane activity. Leaving his boat in Nassau he flew home to France.
The reason he has brought his boat back to Bermuda is that he has been invited to sail around the world with American [Morton Lorage] (certain involved parties want this person and their connection to him to remain undisclosed) in his 40th yacht and he wanted somewhere to leave his boat in safety. Now that this 25 year old boat is safe in Mill's Creek he expects to be leaving by the end of this month for Nassau. From there he and "Morty" will take the "Lady Elyse" (name changed) to Miami to be fitted for the jaunt which will begin in December.
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