Miles and Beryl Smeeton

Miles Smeeton and Beryl Smeeton were a pioneering couple of cruising sailors, recipients of numerous sailing awards, prolific authors, and founders of the Cochrane Ecological Institute, a Canadian non-profit responsible for successfully reintroducing the swift fox to North America.

Biography

Miles Smeeton was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1906, and went to Wellington and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He served with the Green Howards and Hodson's Horse, in the Western Desert, winning the Military Cross, and in Burma, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order during WWII.

Beryl was raised in a family of British soldiers and traveled widely throughout the world, some of which is described in her 1930’s books The Stars My Blanket and Winter Shoes in Springtime.

In 1938 they married. In 1939, the two attempted to climb 25,263-foot Tirich Mir, in the Himalaya, with Tenzing Norgay. Although they failed, Beryl achieved renown as one of the first women to climb so high. After the war, frustrated with the direction of British politics, the couple settled on a farm in Saltspring Island, BC, with their daughter, Clio.

Sailing years

In 1951, the Smeetons bought the 46’ Bermudan ketch Tzu Hang on a visit to England. The boat had been designed by HS Rouse and built in Hong Kong in 1939. The name was believed to mean “under the protection of Guanyin”, the Daoist goddess of the sea and protector of sailors. They returned on the boat to British Columbia, learning to sail on the way. In 1955 they sold the farm and sailed on Tzu Hang for Australia.

In December 1956 Miles and Beryl departed Melbourne on Tzu Hang to visit Clio at school in England, intending to follow the old clipper route. The journey would take them eastbound around Cape Horn, a voyage that at that time had very rarely been accomplished in small boats. They were accompanied on the boat by a young friend, the Englishman John Guzzwell, who had been circumnavigating the world in his self-made boat on a voyage later recounted in his book Trekka, as well as by their Siamese cat, Pwe.

Approaching Cape Horn, the ship was pitchpoled by a rogue wave. Beryl, who had been steering, was tossed from the boat and injured. Tzu Hang was dismasted, partially submerged, and the topsides were severely damaged, but the three sailors managed to sail the damaged vessel to Chile, where extensive repairs were undertaken. In 1957, a year later, Miles and Beryl departed again to round Cape Horn. However, in approximately the same position, beset by storms, another dismasting took place. Again, they managed to make the coast of Chile, and Tzu Hang was shipped to England for repairs. These adventures were published in their acclaimed cruising book, Once is Enough.

After repairing the vessel, they made a multi-year eastabout circumnavigation. In 1968, they again attempted Cape Horn, westabout, and successfully rounded.

Later years and the Cochrane Ecological Institute

In 1972 they founded the Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI), dedicated to breeding endangered wildlife. They accomplished the first successful reintroduction of a North American extirpated carnivore back to its home range, the swift fox. Beryl Smeeton died in Cochrane in 1979, and Miles died in 1988, in Calgary, at the age of 83. Their daughter Clio continued to run the CEI.

Accomplishments, Awards and Honors

Miles Smeeton authored nine books. For their lifetime sailing achievements, the Smeetons were awarded the Blue Water Medal for 1973 by the Cruising Club of America, and other awards from the Liga Maritima del Chile, and the Royal Cruising Club’s Medal for Seamanship.

Tzu Hang

The Smeetons sold Tzu Hang to a friend, Bob Nance, and moved to Alberta, Canada. She is reported to have become used for smuggling marijuana and was impounded in 1988 by US Customs Agents, and destroyed with a bulldozer in 1990.

 The above differs from my recollection from one of Miles' sailing books (I read most of them).  He touched on Tzu Hang's fate and as I recall, she was sold, it seems as if it was on the other side of the world, fell into disrepair and eventually sank at her mooring / anchor.

References

http://www.stexboat.com/books/circumnav/ci_19.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/01/obituaries/miles-smeeton-conservationist-83.html?pagewanted=1

http://www.ceinst.org/wfhistory.html

http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?cat=132&isbn=0071414312

http://www.fbyc.net/Club/History/Articles/60 Jonathan Raban

http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/featuring/adv10.html