Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
players in the popular hall of fame. Not all sailors, however, thrived
on such adulation. Stiff-upper-lip George Muhlhauser, a genuine nav-
al hero of World War I, hated it. Wherever he and
Amaryllis
went he
was mobbed and feôted. In Sydney he was made the subject of a news-
reel film and in Alexandria the yacht club greeted him with a guard
of honour formed from the local scout troupe. But his own coun-
try was more nonchalant. No medal ceremony awaited him when
he slipped almost unobserved into Dartmouth at the end of his epic
voyage.
A few of the new breed of deep ocean sailors managed their
adventures on a shoestring or worked their way round the world,
but yachting was essentially a rich man's hobby and the majority
of circumnavigators between the wars were millionaire socialites,
competing with each other to own the most luxurious vessels and
travel in the greatest comfort. Their yachts were miniature versions
of their Manhattan or Mayfair mansions. Their crews were treated
in the same way as the below-stairs staff of their country estates.
Ernest Guinness of the famous brewing dynasty took his family on
a round the world cruise in
Fantome I
, the first of three boats of the
same name which, with all mod cons including central heating and
air conditioning, were among the most advanced craft afloat. Sever-
al stories are told about this genuine but eccentric yachtsman whose
wealth was a barrier between him and the real world. Arriving at the
ramshackle jetty of a tiny Caribbean island, Ernest landed with his
companions and instructed his butler to locate suitable accommod-
ation. The man prodded a slumbering waterside drifter into wake-
fulness with the words, 'Kindly conduct these gentlemen to the first
class waiting room.'
Another motivation for long-distance voyaging, alongside rest-
lessness, adventure and keeping ahead of the Joneses, was the ro-
mance of sail. The tall ships had not only been replaced by steamers,
they also belonged to an age which seemed far away beyond the gulf
