Across The Seven Seas (1960s)

a trip around the world the dream of every man woman and child back in the old days Marco Polo did it the hard way here's the story of a modern Marco Polo the kingdom of the sea [Music] [Applause] your guide is Colonel John D Craig author Explorer adventurer himself a veteran traveler of the highways and byways of the world your host and fellow wanderer Bob Stevenson as a very famous ship called the Yankee she's a beautiful Brigantine which sails every two years from the harbor of Gloucester Massachusetts on a journey round the world the Yankees owned by Commander Irving Johnson and the passengers on this glorious voyage are a selected handful of students from all parts of the United States it's indeed high adventure on the high seas and here to keep us on course is an old friend of Commander Johnson our man of the sea Colonel John D Craig thank you Bob can you imagine an amateur crew of college boys and girls being entrusted with the sailing of a 96 foot Brigantine around the world touching at 108 ports and for the most part visiting out-of-the-way places well that happens only in dreams but it was a very real dream for Johnny little of San Gabriel California he signed aboard the Yankee as one of seventeen students to sail the boisterous Atlantic in the sunny Pacific it won't take long to get the feel of the wind fill sail so let's cast off and be under way this beautiful Brigantine sales each year from Gloucester Massachusetts on a journey around the world and the passengers on this glorious voyage are a select handful of students from all parts of the United States and Canada the Yankee for me was a North Sea pilot schooner converted to a Brigantine by commander urban Johnson who created this idea of round-the-world student cruises that's a beautiful ship how long is she she's about ninety seven feet long Bob large enough for the needs of her 23 passengers [Music] there's a skipper commander Johnson he plays pranks on the novice helmsman he put a magnet right next to the binnacle which offset the compass so much that the poor lad has a hard time keeping on course that's not an easy job does everybody take a turn at the wheel yes it's all part of their training each had an hour a day at the wheel [Music] the Panama Canal was the first port and this was their first chance to wash clothes and take baths plenty of fresh water so the boys and girls brought out their linen and they had the rigging dressed like a laundry how many girls were there aboard for girls and 19 boys on the cruise all students also there was a professional sailor the first mate and a doctor a cook and mrs. Johnson from the canal they headed out into the blue Pacific toward the Galapagos Islands and the skipper on the yard there sighted a safe passage through the small channels to a safe Anchorage at South Bay it's a very beautiful spot they went ashore here took a look at the local inhabitants and found that the animals and the birds were not at all afraid of man track they could walk right up to some of them mother seal with the little baby ignored the visitors and she's trying to coax junior to go into the water for his first swim Junior doesn't look too eager does he in the Galapagus they found the giant tortoises these creatures were gathered many years ago by whalers for food are they getting pretty rare down there colonel well they're only found way back in the mountains in the grassy valleys and they're also protected now by the Ecuadorian government there were sharks all around the ship here's one they were able to catch I don't suppose they went swimming in those waters then the bigger well jhonny little and his buddy tried it once but they were chased out of the water by two big hammerheads I'm surprised the skipper let them go in at all well he didn't find out I don't think he knew it at the moment but the swimmers found out on short order that's a pretty good-sized shark he could scare anyone there's a chain ahead of that hook his teeth are very sharp he could bite through an ordinary line and they caught Turtles too these are quite plentiful they kept some aboard alive what do they plan to do it well eventually they ate them Bob you know turtles are very good eating they make excellent soup and turtle steaks even turtle livers delicious [Music] penguins live down here little penguins that have come on the Humboldt Current all the way from Antarctica that's a very cold current not very pleasant to swim in but the Penguins liked it isn't the equator a rather strange place to find penguins yes that's true Bob but there's so many strange things about these islands they brought some of the Penguins aboard and added them to the local zoo which included seals and goats and several other pets near one island way out they found a pot of whales a pile of wit that's right a school a herd whalers call him a pod they put a boat over the side and went after them these were sperm whales once very valued for their oil this is the first time these lads had a chance to harpoon anything big so they pick on a whale to be young again he must have taken quite a bit of daredevil to go out there in that small boat with nothing but a hand harpoon the only difference between them and the old time Nantucket Whaler is that they have an outboard motor but they didn't realize what they were letting themselves in for I guess they were just hoping finally they caught up with a whale and WHAM they drove that harpoon home well it took off and those lads had a regular Nantucket sleigh ride the whale pulling him along five to six knot it slashed around for quite some time eventually it took out all their line they got some of it back and then the whale turned and actually rammed the boat I'm big away losing the kernel it's just a baby whale just about 20 feet long but he's still quite a handful after long struggle he quieted down they finally got him back to the Yankee they hauled him up alongside and they had whale steak for dinner that night in the case of the head of the sperm whale there's some very valuable oil some of the finest oil obtainable so they used it to oil their watches seems to me it'd be easier to have it done in a jewelry store colonel believing the Galapagus they headed for that island so celebrated in the movies Pitcairn where they encountered some of the descendants of they mutiny on the bounty crew that's a romantic place I wonder if they ever saw the movie oh I'm sure they must have every time the Yankee pulls offshore here the skipper brings presents and supplies from the state they all love skipper Johnson and they all love the visit of the Yankee coming into the surf is a real thrill there's never a calm day here always there's some surf and these people were risk any size surf ten-foot 20-foot high breakers don't deter them a bit I've heard that they were some of the finest boatman in the world that certainly is true although this really is a calm day by comparison and they didn't have a chance to prove it how often two boats visit Pitcairn oh every month or so the Islanders like to trade with them they visit the boat it affords them a meager living the Yankee crew stayed on the island for about ten days and they're now headed back to the ship it's a real ride to the surf they're not gonna forget that one for a long time they're great numbers of cormorants here because there's lots of fish at sea and the Carlmont is a great fisherman in Japan they train these birds to go fishing they put a ring around their neck and toss them overboard they go down catch a fish when they come up the fisherman takes the fish away from them every tenth fish they're permitted to swallow so they won't get discouraged [Music] some of the members were divers and they were very anxious to gather specimens of fish undersea that they would spear fish would not be difficult to collect these fish they did collect great numbers of them here and strangely enough they discovered that 60 to 70% of the fish they speared were toxic in some form or another seals would come in and chase the fish away of course these divers were working in different places along the coast so when the hoof seals were bothering one diver the other diver had good shooting do you think those seals were self-appointed guardians are just jealous no I think they were fascinated with the bubbles coming from the divers gear the scuba gear makes a little noise and the seals can hear that underwater [Music] seals are very graceful swimmers watch this one he does slow rolls and corkscrew turns seals can stay underwater about 20 minutes on a dive they seem to be having a wonderful time they're certainly in their element underwater [Music] they always dreamed about the South Seas and now they're on their way to Tahiti rolling down through the southeast trades the sea becomes very beautiful a symphony of blue [Music] how do they work their watches Colonel board was the usual watch for hours on eight off but not at the wheel they learned to navigate [Music] they had other duties too such as painting and keeping the boat shipshape don't need to tell me the girls painted too well there's your answer the girls did everything the boys did except go aloft they helped work the sails from the deck though the skipper had everyone aboard learned something about the ship I think the majority of those youngsters learned enough of seamanship on this one voyage to be able to take out their own boat when the weather was good the bosun's chair was lowered alongside the ship and the crew would take turns riding it having a splash bath they called it while the ship was traveling at eight or nine knots seems to me that'd be a pretty dangerous way to take a bath well one time Johnny lost his shorts that's the closest he came to an accident but even the girls tried finally they made tahiti and every boat set out for the reef as they came into the past beautiful breakers would roll on either side little outrigger canoes make that passage all the time so it can't be too dangerous and these outriggers float on practically no water at all just two or three inches they fairly fly across the water they traveled all to the South Pacific can touch many interesting islands on this cruise and once they visited a real Samoan village this woman is making her noonday meal poi they pound it until it becomes like grape taste boy that's a lot of poi well he needed a lot because they were invited to a party and the chief came out to greet the visitors this wedding mat is made by a woman for her wedding bed they don't make them anymore so this is a rare item and here they are with a chief and so the chief toasted them what are they drinking her Cala Cali juice they sometimes call it it's their local wine but only the chief drank the native girl stands to hula this is the local or Hawaiian type hula with hand gestures and graceful step movements to the Polynesians the hula is a story told in pantomime and song and this one is the Tahitian hula a little more hip movement [Music] heading across the seven seas westward to more islands and more adventures with all sails set now and with the clowns alongside they had many pleasant days the clowns of course are the porpoise you'll find them all through the South Pacific at times they follow the ship for days on end but when the wind came up the Yankee put on more sail she sped ahead and left them astern I noticed the boys are working up there in the rigging yes and girls too occasionally but this time the girls like to go aloft once in a while too but they bent on more sail and they were fairly flying on this leg of the cruise notice that painting on the top gallant there that's the skipper's private insignia they next head for ug island in the Salomon group and here they witnessed a dance put on by the Native Christian school now this is a traditional dance of these people they wore the same traditional costume they used to wear long before Christian missionaries ever visited this island part of the dance is symbolic a hunter hunting a bird and in their dance they also have clowns and these are the clowns in New Guinea they headed inland to chin boo this is on a highway a highway built entirely by hand by thousands of natives actually they carve this highway out with their bare hands using just a few picks and shovels sort of a New Guinea freeway they're actually carrying dirt by hand I think that's just what they're doing Bob actually carrying it by hand they built every inch of this road by hand they were all dressed up for two following the highway they came upon these natives all dressed up in their prettiest feathers and shells and these people were on their way to a colossal Sing Sing [Music] at this local sing sing they dance for hours no rhyme or reason about it they just like to dance you might say these are the wild men of borneo so often advertised in circuses years ago and not very far removed from the Stone Age [Applause] those are beautiful bird of paradise plumes soon the crews heads west again and Christmas came at sea so they held their celebration right on board ship how did they ever manage to get all those fancy packages aboard some of them were taken aboard at the time of sailing and others were picked up along the roof they saved them all for this occasion and they try and provide them all the comforts of home while they're at sea like this and after the Christmas dinner they all came on deck with full stomachs to watch the sunset all but this diehard nibbling on the turkey bones coming into Bangkok the city of temples they sail right up the river and they tied up at a dock Bangkok is a city of Kong's they're just jam-packed with samples I don't believe I've ever seen a Kong at least not up close what is it Kong's our little stream sorta canal and most of the business is transacted on these Kong's trading from little boats they picked up quite a crowd there sure did they also are noted for very beautiful dancing Siamese are graceful people and their dancing is most distinctive these are the temple dancers originally sponsored by the King of Siam the court dancers put on a special performance for the members of the Yankee crew located silk gowns or traditional dresses [Music] after leaving Bangkok the Yankee sails south for Bali the land of rice paddies [Music] here they also saw some dancers somewhat similar to the Siamese dancers this man is performing at a VA it stands to the music of the gamelan orchestra did you say that's a man yes Bob he's portraying a woman that's very common here he's probably spent most of his lifetime learning this dance but when he reaches the ripe old age of 18 he'll be too old for this dancing and so he'll have to go to work in the rice field imagine being too old for anything at 18 [Music] under the snows of Kilimanjaro they had one of their dreams come true they saw wild animals running wild on the Bell [Music] so here they are now on the last lap on the way home all the boys went aloft set more sails speed that long run back to Gloucester you know I'll bet some of them are not too anxious for that cruise to heaven that may be right Bob but the skipper maintains one strict schedule he may arrive at any part of the world at any time but when he returns home he plans to arrive back in Gloucester eighteen months to the minute from the time they sail so it's full sails to the wind and they're really speeding along here [Music] how many feet of sale does she carry colonel 7775 square feet that's when she's fully rigged and she sails with a bone in her teeth at about 13 knots she's really flying now [Music] and after that long run across the Atlantic they finally came to Gloucester and their offshore they were met by some outboard motor boats thousands of people lined up along the docks to greet there were bands on hand and all the relatives and so right on the dot at 2:00 p.m. as scheduled by the skipper they were home home are the sailors home from the sea please thank John little for sharing with us that delightful globe-girdling cruise on the beautiful Yankee I wouldn't it be great to be a student again colonel join that crew just imagine the stories those young people will have to tell on their return strange people odd places well Bob you don't have to go that far to enjoy the sea a smaller to conserve that purpose but there are a few do's and don'ts that sail Perry will point out for us in a moment with millions of people turning to see sports for recreation here are a few do's and don'ts to get the most fun out of motor boating after selecting the boat best suited for your needs the first item is to make sure you have life preserver and a fire extinguisher that works you're cruising speed should always be within the limits of safety which depends on a number of factors such as amount of traffic presence of water skiers and local regulations special care should be exercised not to overload a boat or to place oneself in a precarious position [Applause] in the event of a skier in the water a hand signal gives the alert to all concern [Music] and as a real safety provision in case a motor failure a good substantial paddle is a must to say nothing of a pair of strong arms the hill certainly knows our way around the seven seas you know she'd have no problems even if she were cast ashore in a desert island it's strange it's you should mention that except that it's written in the script because our next adventure deals with a couple of interesting Beach combers we'll follow them to a remote spot where the currents of the vast Pacific pick up all sorts of flotsam and wash you this short places where man seldom visits we're gonna visit a Beach combers paradise we'll dive in mysterious waters we'll find rocks that float we'll even go marlin fishing in our rowboat that should be something to see speaking for Colonel Craig Zell Perry and our sponsor this is your host Bob Stevenson thanking you ladies and gentlemen and inviting you to join us again on a spree with beachcombers on the kingdom of the sea [Music] you