Once Is Enough

Once Is Enough
Miles Smeeton

This timeless classic is an exciting true story of survival against all odds.‘There was a sudden sickening sense of disaster. I felt a great lurch and heel, and a thunder of sound filled my ears. I was conscious, in a terrified moment, of being driven into the front and side of my bunk with tremendous force. At the same time there was a tearing cracking sound, as if Tzu Hang was being ripped apart, and water burst solidly, raging into the cabin. There was darkness, black boards, and I fought wildly to get out, thinking Tzu Hang had already gone. Then suddenly I was standing again, waist deep in water, and floorboards and cushions, mattresses and books were sloshing in wild confusion round me.’Miles Smeeton and his wife Beryl sailed their 46-ft Bermuda ketch, Tzu Hang, in the wild seas of Cape Horn, following the tracks of the old sailing clippers through the world’s most notorious waters. This is an exciting true story of survival against all odds, but it is also a thoughtful book which provides hard-learned lessons for other intrepid sailors.As Nevil Shute writes in his foreword: ‘It has been left to Miles Smeeton to tell us in clear and simple language just where the limits of safety lie.’

Once Is Enough

Miles Smeeton

Foreword by Nevil Shute

TO BERYL

For she was cook and captain bold, And the mate of the Nancy brig

CONTENTS

Title Page (#uf607da50-434b-5316-87e6-08ef876a1ffa)

Dedication (#u10647f26-ff1b-5aad-a4f3-cb2a18b8d35f)

FOREWORD BY NEVIL SHUTE

1 PREPARATIONS IN MELBOURNE

2 FALSE START

3 THROUGH THE BASS STRAIT

4 ACROSS THE SOUTH TASMAN

5 INTO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

6 THE WAY OF A SHIP

7 THIS IS SURVIVAL TRAINING!

8 RECOVERY

9 THE TREK NORTH

10 FIRST DAYS IN CHILE

11 REPAIRS IN TALCAHUANO

12 STILL IN TALCAHUANO

13 TO CORONEL AGAIN

14 NOT AGAIN!

15 THERE’S A WIND FROM THE SOUTH

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX: MANAGEMENT IN HEAVY WEATHER

POSTSCRIPT

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher

MAPS

Drawn by K. C. Jordan

Melbourne and environs (#ulink_6e6e24a3-361e-5cf3-baf8-32c9f3c99a5a)

Melbourne to Seal Rocks (#ulink_1a06675f-1c93-524c-b2f3-1ce6bb9f1a74)

Through the Bass Strait (#ulink_429e32fc-896f-5d76-8372-fb2ac191828a)

Across the South Tasman (#ulink_a9d5ef82-7338-5902-9cc1-0d5d20444c4e)

January 6–24 (#litres_trial_promo)

January 24–February 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

February 12–March 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

March 6 to Arauco Bay (#litres_trial_promo)

Arauco Bay to Talcahuano (#litres_trial_promo)

December 26 to Valparaiso (#litres_trial_promo)

DRAWINGS

Drawn by the author

Accommodation plans (#ulink_c9e88d05-aa30-577c-a06f-d4fc99d33bbd)

The first jury-rig (#litres_trial_promo)

The galley and broken doorpost (#litres_trial_promo)

The first accident (#litres_trial_promo)

The forecabin and the powder-tin (#litres_trial_promo)