BEN CARLIN & HALF SAFE
Ben and Gertrude’s wedding day, Peking, 1939.
numerous fuel tanks. In a near-fatal accident,
Ben suffering carbon monoxide poisoning
from the fumes while doing some test runs.
By now Elinore was undecided about
whether she would join Ben on the voyage,
but finally, on June 8, she agreed and Ben
waltzed her down to City Hall during lunch
time where they were pronounced man and
wife. Shortly thereafter the couple set sail
from New York. The departure was just for
show for Life Magazine which had paid $500
for the story. Four days later they limped back
into the mouth of New Jersey’s Shark River,
having been beset by a series of problems
which made continuing unthinkable. In
mid-July they made two more attempts,
which both ended in quick failure. On 7
August they set off again. On the eighth day
out to sea the propeller shaft thrust bearing
failed. On the eighteenth day, after ten days
of drifting helplessly, they and Half Safe
were picked up by an oil tanker headed for
Montreal. After repairs they drove Half Safe
900 miles to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Nearly two years later, on 19 July 1950, the
repaired Half Safe once again set sail at a
speed of four miles per hour. Elinore was
extremely sea-sick the whole way and ate
practically nothing, but she soldiered on hour
after hour. Both were very heavy smokers.
They took turns at the steering wheel while
the other rested on a small bunk at the back.
A small portable toilet was located under
the driver’s seat. After 32 days and enough
problems and mishaps to last several people
a lifetime, the Carlins arrived in the Azores.
They set off again after a week for a 160
mile run to the Island of Horta. There they
spent the next three months island hopping
to raise money for the last 1,200 mile leg of
the Atlantic crossing.
They headed for Madeira and sailed through
a hurricane, arriving on 12 December 1950.
Poverty again struck and they sold their
movie camera for food and repairs and set
off again after two months. Finally after
several near fatal events and long layovers
for repairs and recuperation, they arrived at
Cap Juby Africa on 23 February 1951. It had
taken them 63 days to cross the Atlantic in a
vehicle about the size of a compact car and
half the size of the smallest powered vessel
ever to have made the crossing.
The Carlins left Cap Juby on March 4
heading towards Casablanca, 700 miles to
the north. They then crossed the Spanish
Sahara, travelling up the Africa coast through
Portugal, Spain and France. Ben estimated
the temperature inside the jeep while
travelling in this stage was between 170F
-180F degrees.
Italy, 1944.
They were arrested in Gibraltar for an
unauthorised landing at a RAF base. By the
time they reached Paris they were so broke
they exhibited Half Safe in department stores
to raise funds. They then set off sightseeing
through Brussels, Hamburg and Sweden and
then doubled back and crossed the English
Channel, arriving in London almost a year
after leaving Halifax.
Ben spent three years in England refitting the
jeep for the second lap of his amazing journey.
Except for the engine, Ben completely rebuilt
the jeep. Elinore supported them during this
time as a typist for the US Air Force.
After heading to Paris their route would take
them through South Western Europe, Turkey,
Burma, 1946. Barry Hanley
sits atop Half Safe.
Ben (second from right) and Elinore,
North West India 1946.
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