With Don Miller VQ8CBB
at St Brandon, 1967
by Larry Page, ex- WB2DHF, VQ8CH, VQ8CHR
In 1967 I found myself in Mahé, Seychelles after
working my way from Europe as crewman on various
yachts. There I met Jack Astley, skipper of the
30ft Piver trimaran Edward Bear. Jack and friends
had built the yacht in Auckland, NZ, and had sailed
by way of Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore
& Maldives. Money was running low, others of the crew had
left, and the voyage appeared to be in jeopardy.
However, Jack told me of a prospect for further
charter work for an American radio ham who wished
to visit small Indian Ocean islands starting from
Mauritius. So I joined Edward Bear and together
we set off for the 13-day 980-mile upwind voyage
South, arriving at Port Louis in late June to await
our charterer.
Although I was myself also a ham, I had not heard of
Dr Don Miller W9WNV. He arrived in early August
accompanied by Bill Rindone WA6SBO, and I was introduced
to the inside world of DXpeditions. At first sight Don
appeared to be a personable roly-poly individual, but
with an inner streak of extreme intensity. His
organizational abilities became apparent when he cleared
his huge inventory of equipment through Mauritius strict
customs without getting caught for duty.
So it came to be that a grossly overloaded trimaran
headed out into the trade winds for the island of
Rodrigues. Our first problem was that our skipper
Jack found that his left arm had become paralysed, to
the extent that he was unable to help operate the boat.
As we beat along the Mauritius shore I could see that
Bill Rindone in his soaking wet bunk was beginning to
wonder if the journey was going to be worthwhile, and
he very wisely asked us to put him ashore on the Northwest
corner of Mauritius. Don's determination to reach
Rodrigues was undiminished, for he was anxious that he
should reach there before expected competition from a German
radio ham aboard the catamaran World Cat
due from the direction of Australia; he gave little
credence to the seriousness of Jack's medical problem.
Back into the trades we beat, but after two or three
days one of our two forestays broke, and the jib tore.
After emergency repairs we gave up the attempt on
Rodrigues, and fell off on a close reach to St Brandon,
another island on Don's list. A couple of days of
fraught navigation found us amongst the Cargados
Carajos shoals, looking for tiny Raphael Island.
Approaching from the West we anchored in sight of
the fishing and meterological stations. There at
anchor was the fishing supply ship
m/v La Perle II.
Jack almost did himself in whilst getting into our
dinghy, and since Doctor Don was unable offer a cure, a
decision was made to send Jack back to Mauritius
on the soon-to-depart La Perle.
So it came to be that Don and I moved into the
Raphael Island Fishing Company's guest shack along
with two Collins S-lines complete with 30S-1 linears,
Hy-Gain TH-3 tri-bander & Sears Roebuck generator.
Also along on the trip was a Galaxy-V transceiver
from one of Don's sponsors, but that was strictly
for a photo-opportunity - the front cover of
CQ1
magazine.
31 years ago St Brandon was base for a line fishery
from small boats manned by indentured Rodriguans
& Seychellois living under very primitive conditions.
An interesting facet of a fisherman's life was that
he was prevented from leaving the island if he was
in debt to the company store. The meterological
observer (who was in radio contact with Mauritius)
and the fishery manager were helpful and friendly,
and I recall big fish-tasting omelettes made from
seabird eggs from the islet breeding colony nearby.
Soon the operation was underway, making lots of
contacts with hams who had missed the very limited
previous VQ8BBB operation. Notable however were his
contacts with Sonia PY2SO in which strange coded
messages were exchanged. Over a period of about
four days thousands of contacts were made, except
of course with those on Don's NJDXA blacklist.
For a ham who had never been rare DX, the experience
of operating alongside the World's leading operator
from one of the rarest places was mindboggling!
Cargados Carajos shoals cover a wide area in the
shape of a crescent with breakers, and with tiny
sand-spits, some of which have a little vegetation.
Raphael has a few maritime pines and palms. In their
tiny boats the fishermen venture up to twenty miles
along the reef whilst line-fishing for reef and
pelagic catches to be brought back for drying. At
night I would walk around the tiny (approx 1km around
at high tide) island talking with the fishermen using
the little patois I had learned in the Seychelles.
Some were living in palm-frond shelters, others in
shacks. After a gale which threatened Edward Bear
at anchor I discovered on the beach a purple murex
shell which turned out to be a rarity, and which
I later gave to a leading collector.
Finally after certain messages had been passed to
Sonia we were ready to sail back to Mauritius.
This was not going to be easy, because Don would
have to do half the steering. Very welcome was
the gift of a roast of beef on which Don and I lived
for the two day passage.
Back in Mauritius we found Jack with Margie his
Mauritienne girlfriend well on his way to recovery
and later marriage. His problem had been diagnosed
as 'Saturday-night paralysis'- a psychosomatic
reaction to being parted from a loved one!
1 CQ magazine, January 1968
(The above was posted to VE7TCP DX mailing list May 10, 1998).
This account continues With Don Miller VQ8CBR at
Rodrigues, 1967
Return to K2CD's Look back at Don Miller W9WNV
(Images fetched from the W7HR QSL Gallery)