Sailing Magazine
by Richard Crockett
In the very first issue of SA Yachting magazine (November/DECEMBER 1957) I read with interest a teaser about Major Tilman planning a passage from Cape Town to the uninhabited Crozet islands.
It basically said that the old Bristol channel pilot cutter ‘Mischief’ skippered by the distinguished Everest mountaineer Major Tilman, with a crew of six, including two South Africans, was planning on leaving in the middle of November on a daring expedition to the uninhabited Crozet Island to climb and collect botanical specimens.
It described the islands as a wild and tiny group in the lower fringe of the Roaring Forties, south east of the Cape, which had last been visited by a small sailing craft in 1910 by the redoubtable Frenchman Raymond Dubaty aboard his ketch.
In the January/February issue the following account, as headlined above, tells the story of Tilman’s gallant effort to reach those islands. A sub-head simply said this: “We went down there with our pocket full of tin, and we came right back with our quarters stove in”.
This delightful feature was written by Jim Lovegrove.
READ IT HERE: 1958 01-02 – SA Yachting – OCR
