Forward July 2015 | Page 9

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. 9