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For more information, Miles told that story in 'Once is Enough'. Good luck
in finding it, must be long out of print by now. His nephew Myles wrote a
biography of Miles and Beryl. Unfortunately I don't remember the title, as
it gives a good overview.

Beryl was quite a character. One of those upper-class Englishwomen (Freya
Stark springs to mind) who went where no man dared to go - in exploration -
afraid of no man, ready for anything, certainly ready to eat anything or
nothing, and telling the tale with wry good humour. Before she teamed up
with Miles she made a number of expeditions - a grand word for Beryl on her
own - eg: from Japan through China into Burma, from India to England
overland, across the wilds of Patagonia, all during the 1930s. While in
Persia her hosts of the moment were telling her how the new Shah had so
successfully outlawed banditry that a beautiful virgin could travel across
the country alone carrying a fortune and come to no harm. She said there was
then a short silence while all reflected that none of these attributes
applied to her. She wrote her own books but I've never managed to track any
down.

Visitors to Tzu Hang - their boat built in Hong Kong - were somewhat taken
aback by the, shall we say, evident lack of careful housekeeping below. It
seems the cabin and especially the galley was just a touch on the grimy
side. She favoured cans of pet food as supplies, cheaper and quite good
meat, don't you know. Anyway, they always had cats and/or dogs with them, so
it simplified the catering.

She was definitely the mover and shaker in that relationship. Miles
apparently had a mistress over a number of years (God knows how) as needed
respite from Beryl. They're all dead now. Even the nephew Myles, who also
fancied himself as an explorer, but went off to the eastern coast of the
Black Sea and committed suicide there. God knows why. Lack of stern stuff
perhaps.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]
> On Behalf Of Peter Fogg
> Sent: Thursday, 9 June 2005 7:01 AM
> To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
> Subject: Re: What do offshore recreational navigators really do?
>
> > From: Courtney Thomas
> > I wasn't there :-) but my perception is that Guzzwell is what saved 'em.
> >
> Yes, I think there is a fair bit of truth in that statement. Having cut
> the
> story to its bare bones I made no mention of John, who accompanied them
> from
> Melbourne to Valparasio and was invaluable in rebuilding the boat, both
> enroute under jury rig and later in the naval shipyard. He wisely declined
> to sail off with the Smeetons towards Cape Horn again. John was a
> boatbuilder, and even in the Southern Ocean a line of screws would be
> meticulously installed - no roughshod methods for him.
>
> Last had news of John only a few years ago, which vaguely surprised me -
> it
> all seems so long ago now, although John was a young man then. A photo and
> a
> brief article in a sailing magazine showed a brand new boat he had just
> completed (in California I think) for a new girlfriend or wife, and I was
> impressed at what a modern craft it looked - John had obviously kept up
> with
> the times.

   

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