Ben Carlin book: THE LAST GREAT AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURER

[Lang]

Mike

I have ordered the book so have not read it.

What's with the Womens Weekly scandal rubbish? Might be sensational and allow today's people to be offended and outraged. Has nothing to do with the efforts of one of the most resourceful and brave adventurers of the 20th century.

The people who write this stuff as the main focus of the story (sure mention he was not a nice bloke if you want to) not only lack the courage or skill to carry out a similar venture but are pandering to an audience of similar mediocrity who do not understand voluntarily undertaking a project where dying is more probable than possible.

Many, if not most, heroes of adventure, exploration and famous leaders and generals were probably not very nice people. It is quite possible that the rest of unremarkable humanity has an even higher percentage of not very nice people but we would rather bring down a high flyer than hear about some yobbo down the street who cheated on his wife or whatever

This is not criticism of your comments. Mike, as you are just pointing out revelations? in the book.

Lang

[Mike K]

It's interesting to me because I like to know about the whole intricate story , including the human drama that went on behind the actual round the world trip. The earlier books are factual accounts but they don't have much of the more personal insights that this book has.

Ben said the most difficult section of the whole trip was from Calcutta to Vietnam , driving across Burma on an old deserted rocky track . A Burmese army truck with armed guards escorted Half Safe and the truck had to pull Half Safe out of a hole.

In the UK they had purchased a Ford 5 cwt van as a backup car and Elinore spent a lot of time in the van following Half Safe to Calcutta. Elinore wrote everything down in her journals and her writings are quoted here and there. A rival expedition , driving in a Hillman Husky was in Asia and Ben ran into them more than once.

When WW2 began, Ben was desperate to get into the shooting war , he volunteered for the RAF but he failed the medical. Ben was actually in the SOE for 6 months but he was released to return to the engineers.

I think you will enjoy the book, the book fills in many of the gaps that the earlier books left out.

[Lang]

Mike

Ben probably went on the Ledo Road. Built during WW2 as a part of the Stillwell Road network to Burma and China from India. I will have to reread my copy of "The Second Half of Half Safe" - available from Guildford Grammar School in Perth.

It followed the route Birtles took in a 6 week near-death battle through the hills in the 1920's as the first vehicle from India to Burma. Now that IS a great adventure!

I drove it a couple of years ago in an old Suzuki but it is now quite good, if very windy. A team of two Landrovers from Oxford and Cambridge were the first over it after the war as late as 1953 - that is a great read "First Overland". They claim to be the first to drive from UK to Singapore.

Lang

[horsa]

Always speculated he married the first time since she was bordering on becoming an old maid by the mindset of the era. She wanted to travel with him and it wasn't appropriate back then being unmarried.

The first book is really amazing if you think about the tasks he overcame on the open ocean. Also really shows how much more passed as general knowledge with his wartime experiences which allowed him to have the confidence. One point he mentioned was no fear of running out of water since he could distill seawater if needed having so much gasoline available. Another was his concept of allowing seawater into his lower fuel tank so it wouldn't have a vacuum issue or make his GPA unstable as it would have otherwise filled with air. I'd never have risked mixing sea water with my fuel, even if the jeep engine only requires 68 octane to run.

[Lang]

Here is a Tv program on Half Safe and particularly Ben Carlin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Gqi-RlbO0

Lang

[Mike K]

Ben made an error and took on low octane petrol in Japan for the island hopping section to the Aleutian islands. The Jeep was running poorly and he tried two head gaskets to lower the compression.

The co-drivers didn't last that long, after experiencing the horrific claustrophobic on-board conditions at sea with oil fumes , the co-drivers would quit. Ben finished the last leg alone, driving down through Canada and the USA , even stopping off at Hollywood , the Ford headquarters and the Holabird proving ground where he tried to persuade everybody to take notice of his huge achievement.

It's been pointed out that the Pacific crossing was not really a true crossing, he sneaked up from Japan and skirted along the Aleutian islands . By this stage Half Safe was really in bad condition with many leaks and crossing to Hawaii would have been suicidal.

The author points out , Ben always got free use of garages and workshops everywhere he landed and without many other people contributing their time and facilities , the whole journey would have been impossible. Ben could be a charmer and he knew when to turn on the charm.

Ben shined in the workshop, this was his haven. A natural mechanic he was able to repair just about anything.

[Lang]

Mike

The more you write about it, the less I think I am going to enjoy the book.

"pointed out it was not a true crossing". What crap is that. Thousands of kilometres of open ocean! "sneaked up around the Aleutians" - do you think the Aleutians, plus the thousands of kilometres from Japan to get to them in the first place, is like a sail through the Greek Islands or a trip down the Caribbean chain? The bloke who wrote this and people who think it is a reasonable comment should have a look at the map, the weather conditions that prevail all year round in the Aleutians and have a think, when they double their nautical experience in a rented row boat in the city lake, about being out there.

There were very few "true ocean crossings" of the Pacific until non stop Inertial Nav/GPS great circle route flights and voyages between USA and Australia or Asia and South America began. Certainly direct from Japan to Hawaii then San Francisco is not a true crossing with more than half the untouched Pacific south of the equator.

If he had left from Australia and called into Fiji and Hawaii they would still say he "sneaked through the Pacific Islands"

I have seen on this forum several times people saying they are not driving their fully restored CMP or even Jeep from Ballarat/Goulbourn etc to Corowa, a 4 hour drive, because it is too far. People prepare for years for an MVPA convoy with modern support facilities and fully restored vehicles. Yet we have a few dismissive lines describing Ben Carlin's journey on 1950's roads in a worn out vehicle with no support, 10,000km from Alaska to New York via Los Angeles.

Francis Drake, James Cook,Lewis and Clark and Neil Armstrong all did it on the government payroll. Livingstone did it from the money the poor subscribed to the collection box while all the others did it from sponsorships or rich supporters. Somehow Ben Carlin is some sort of con-man with snide remarks about how he could not have done it without people giving him financial or use of facilities assistance - none, by the way, while he was risking his life - I can only fall back on Benjamin Franklin:

"A man brands himself a coward who disparages ( sometimes written, belittles) the efforts of those who choose to test their mettle on ventures he himself has neither the courage nor skill to contemplate"

[lynx42]

For those who are not too sure what 'Half Safe' looks like, here are a few photos of it when it was brought over to Corowa for the Swim-In by Bob Dimer WA. who managed to arrange a loan from Guildford Grammar School in Perth WA. in 1999 for the 20th Corowa Swim-In which started in 1980.
Bob Dimer and I had both been on ‘Back to the Track” to Darwin in 1995 and both owned an FWD HAR-1 truck so we had a bit in common.

Guildford Grammar had certain rules as to who could drive "Half Safe" and fortunately for me, Bob recommended me as an additional driver.

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Half Safe

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Me driving.

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Looking from the rear with me at the controls. I didn't realize just how far back from the windscreen he sat.

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My, then 15 year old, son Michael up on top of "Half Safe". Michael had represented Australia at the Dawn Service at Gallipoli in 1998, handing the wreaths to the dignitaries at the Dawn Service.

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Part of the line up of the 15 GPA amphibious Jeeps at the Corowa Swim-In in 1999.

It was an honour I will never forget. 'Budget' supplied the transport of "Half Safe" from WA to Corowa and return.

Regards Rick.

(OOPS!!, I missed your post at No. 3, Richard, with the photo of "Half Safe" and you.)