VOYAGE IN YAWL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 December 1939, Page 3

VOYAGE IN YAWL

FAMILY OF SEA ROVERS GUERNSEY TO AUSTRALIA. BATTLING AGAINST STORMS. SYDNEY, December 20. A family of sea rovers from the Channel Island of Guernsey arrived in Sydney Harbour in an old weatherbeaten yawl, Heine d’Arvor (Queen of Brittany), which has been their home for two and a-half years. For 16 months they have been wandering in the Atlantic and the Pacific, and for the last six weeks they have been battling towaid Sydney from; Fiji, The family consists of the owner of the boat, Mr Henry Brache, who grew tomatoes ror 20 years on the island of Guernsey, his wife, and two children, Anne, 16, and Neel, 14. The navigator was Mr Fred Rebell, who made a lone voyage in an 18-foot boat, the Elaine, from Sydney to Los Angeles about eight years ago. The only other member of the crew on the last part of the voyage was Mr W. J. Woodward, a professional photographer, of Guernsey. The Reinc d’Arvor is 50 feet long, is of about 40 tons, and is 25 years old. She was formerly a French fishing boat. Built to withstand the tempests of the Bay of Biscay, the sturdy little craft has since ridden out the storms of the Atlantic and Pacific without a wave breaking over her. The Brache family originally started off on their world cruise two years ago. but bad weather sent them back on their first attempt, and after waiting for six months they ventured forth again. Their leisurely course was along the French coast to Jersey, the Canary Islands, Barbados, St. Vincent, Panama, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, Suva, with, their journey’s end at Sydney. There were ten in the party when the voyage began, but one of the crew left at Barbados, another remained at Tahiti, and two more found employment at Fiji. The two children took turns at the tiller. Short of food, the party lived mostly on rice on the last stage of lheir voyage. “When we came off the coast of New South Wales near Sydney Heads, none of us could sleep because of excitement.’’ Mr Brache said. "We had no wireless and had heard no news of the war since leaving Suva 39 days ago. You have no idea what it feels like to have come all this distance and to find civilisation again; above all, to find a piece of Britain.” Fred Rebell, the navigator, was not allowed to land in Sydney because he had no passport, A 55-year-old, Latvian, he lived in Australia for 25 years before he made his open-boat voyage from Sydney to America in 1931. He is the author rff a recently published book. "Escape to the Sea.” When immigration officers boarded the yawl and asked to see Rebell’s passport, he admitted that he had failed to obtain an Australian passport when he sailed from here in 1931. Rebell now desires to settle in Australia, but as he has been absent for more than five years he is considered to have lost Australian domicile. His case has been referred to the Minister of the Interior, and there is little doubt that he will be admitted.