Desperate Voyage

By John Caldwell

The Island, Spring 1999:

“One of the classic ‘How I did it on a shoe-string in an unsuitable boat, knowing nothing about sailing’ books that started with Alain Gerbault’s The Fight of the Firecrest. Caldwell starts with a minor disaster and stumbles across the Pacific carrying a small menagerie – a fact that should have led to protests from all lovers of kittens. The book is well written and at least some of it is true – but are lagoons always placid, native girls beautiful, sharks man-eating monsters and all gales hurricanes? A good read and hooray for the days when people could do this sort of thing without attracting condemnation.”

Sailing Today, December 1998:

“The sea is a hard taskmaster, and most yachtsmen have learnt something from its school of hard knocks. Few, however, will have experienced the catalogue of disasters that John Caldwell relates in this astounding tale of courage and adventure.

“In May 1946 the author found himself stranded in Panama at the tail end of the War – his new wife waiting patiently 7,000 miles away in Australia. The chaos of war meant that shipping was scarce and unreliable so John Caldwell decided to undertake the epic journey across the Pacific by yacht – despite having no idea how to sail.

“Together with his two trusting kittens, Flotsam and Jetsam, he set sail aboard the 20-foot PAGAN for Sydney. What followed in the months ahead confounds belief. Before he had even left Panama harbor he managed to fall overboard after getting entangled in the anchor. He then promptly ran aground in front of the yacht club – an ominous start.

“En route for the Galapagos Islands, Caldwell and his bedraggled companions were shipwrecked on a remote group of islands. Shaken, but undeterred, he elected to stay there a while and teach himself the rudiments of sailing; nothing though could have prepared him for what was to come…

“This is an engaging, well-written story that combines elements of romance with incredible adventure, farce, and foolhardiness. If ever there was an argument for the benefits of sail training, this book cements it. Riveting stuff.”

Excerpted from Motor Boats Monthly, July 1998:

“Ever eaten a pot of Vaseline? And how about washing it down with a glass and a half of lacquer? When John Caldwell ran out of food during a singlehanded crossing of the Pacific Ocean, he was reduced to eating anything even vaguely organic aboard his boat, merely to survive. This, the account of his journey, could rank alongside the best thrillers for sheer irrepressibility of its hero… The book is utterly compelling, a testament to man's determination to survive when most of us would have given up. It is also an illustration of how different the world was not so long ago. You'll find it hard to put this one down.”

Sailing, December 1996:

“Desperate to be reunited with his wife in Sidney, John Caldwell sailed alone from Panama with less experience than Tanya Aebi had in Maiden Voyage. Desperate Voyage is his true story of shipwreck and survival, eating Vaseline and drinking the liquid in his compass until he was washed ashore and rescued.”

WoodenBoat, March/April 1992:

“Paperback reprint of a tale of a small-boat sailing voyage from Panama, across the Pacific, to Australia, immediately after World War II; shipwreck, sharks, storms, the works.”

Soundings, March 1992:

“A reprint of Caldwell’s 1946 single-handed sailing adventure across the pacific. Stranded in Panama after World War II, Caldwell teaches himself the rudiments of navigation and sailing, then heads west aboard the 20-foot sailboat PAGAN to rejoin his wife in Australia, some 9,000 miles away. Caldwell endures a shipwreck less than 500 miles from Panama and a hurricane in mid-ocean.”

Santana, December 1988:

“Desperate Voyage is the story of the author John Caldwell’s transpacific journey aboard a small sailboat, the 29-foot PAGAN. Caldwell found himself stranded in Panama after the war, and in 1946 decided to set out for Sydney to rejoin his wife, Mary, whom he had not seen since their three-day honeymoon over a year before. His motley crew for the single-handed 9,000-mile journey were two kittens, a gannet, and rat. His account of surviving a cyclone in the South Pacific, thanks more to luck than skill, is worth the price of the book.”

Excerpted from SAIL, March 1987:

“Just after World War II, Caldwell, a U.S. merchant seaman without any sailing or navigation experience, set sail from Panama in an elderly 29-foot sloop in an effort to rejoin his bride in Australia.

“Some have called his desperate voyage foolhardy, claiming that despite his mission, his lack of preparation had stacked the odds against him. No matter; the fact that he made it and wrote about it is our luck.”

WoodenBoat, January/February 1986:

“Reprint of a sea saga about courage and daring in a small boat; if this guy can pull it off, we can all pull it off.”