ALONE, ON THE OCEAN...
THE EXTRAORDINARY PROWESS OF MR. ALAN GERBAULT French sportsman.

It is truly a sporting victory that Mr. Alain Gerbault has just won, by accomplishing the feat that we know. And we can add, with comforting pride, that he himself is very representative of the French “sportsman”. Born in Laval, aged 28, he has long been accustomed to all efforts. Tennis, in fact, brought him his best success, since he often represented France in international competitions and was Miss Lenglen's partner, but he had also been, during the war, a brilliant aviator (7 citations in the army order in fighter aviation); he had previously been an enthusiast of shooing, swimming and yachting; in short, this eclecticism had little by little made him suitable for all kinds of performances. which he has just given remarkable proof.
How Gerbault conceived his reckless project (From our private correspondent)
Nice, September 17. — It was in the last days of April that Alain Gerbault, a remarkable tennis player, who had just achieved brilliant success on the courts of the Côte-d'Azur, left Cannes with his little cutter The Firecrest. A few friends were aware of the audacious project. They had tried, but in vain, to dissuade him. One of our colleagues from L'Eclaireur de Nice, who had been received a few days earlier by Gerbault on board his boat, where he lived from one end of the year to the other, recounts his visit like this.
Through a narrow opening, I advance with difficulty into the hold where Gerbault penetrated so easily. Here we are in the living room, so to speak. We touch the ceiling with our heads and can barely cross our arms. Ahead, a tiny kitchen following the shape of the boat; on the other side of the rear, the bedroom whose bed is transformed into a bench seat for the occasion.
“Excuse the disorder,” Gerbault said to me. The little time I have outside of tennis I use it to repair my boat, because I have to make a very “big trip”; I asked for details. It was then that the tennis champion, while putting together a sea book from the library, confided to me his astonishing project; — I intend, he told me, if all goes well, to go soon to Gibraltar alone aboard the Firecrest and, from there, after serious supplies and a complete fitting out of my boat, I launch without help across the Ocean and reach the coasts of America. The feat is achievable. Small-tonnage boats have already done this. But no one dared to venture out alone. I have confidence in myself and in my boat. I crossed several times from England to the Côte d'Azur, and these trips were not without incidents, notably when I encountered a terrible storm which kept me for many days at sea, in the Bay of Biscay. The Atlantic crossing will be longer, but not more dangerous. If I succeed, would I not have given the world new proof of the composure and endurance of the French?

WHAT THE TRIP WAS
A test of endurance, above all! One hundred and forty-two days of solitude, a good third of which were spent in incessant struggle with the sea... The yacht that the champion of a new genre was riding is a small vessel of 10 tons, quite old, built in England and rigged on the other hand. This sail (a large trapezoid sail and two jibs) is the one that allows the simplest maneuvers. The great difficulty for the navigator was to dry out his skiff, which water, following the large squalls he encountered, had invaded on several occasions. Here is a summary of the logbook: Easy journey to Gibraltar, where supplies were completed; but, as soon as the Atlantic is reached, a harsh gust of wind carries away a support sail and tears the main sail. Gerbault repaired this misfortune as best he could and then peacefully traveled more than two thousand kilometers, spending his time fishing, reading and translating Kipling. Then three violent storms attack it in quick succession. The lashing came loose and broke the water pump in the hull, causing flooding of the cabin lounge where the navigator lived among his provisions. You have to actively remove the water with a bucket, leaving the ship to sail on in its adventures. Gerbault tries to do it, but, drenched in water, and having no respite to dry off and change, he catches a cold and soon the fever devours him. Gerbault faints. In vain does he fight against this brand new evil. When, having once again repaired a snag in the main sail, he returned to his cabin to extract the encroaching water, he tripped on the steep staircase and fell unconscious.… Two days later, he came to. . It is weaker than ever and its situation seems desperate, because the boat, swollen with water, sinks to the edge of the flood. Fortunately, the good weather returned. Gerbault, however, finds the courage to put the small yacht afloat again, by emptying it with his bucket. But here are new trials, and the most terrible: twenty-six consecutive days of storm which allow neither truce nor sleep. Finally, here is help: a Greek steamer the Byron sees the skiff in distress and approaches. Gerbault refuses to give up, to let himself be towed. He only accepts provisions, a few medicines to heal himself. And he leaves again alone, to continue his struggle with the immensity. Yet another encounter, when he is no longer very far from the goal: it is the Henrietta, a Spanish steamer which gives him meat and fruit. A week later, he finally saw land: it had been almost five months since he left.
And he talks about starting again:
Alain Gerbault is currently in New York, where his first care upon arriving was to ask for a bath and a change of clothes. He is very satisfied with the success of his business and speaks of nothing less than touring the world in this way. I want, he declared, to go on a three-year cruise soon. Let us note that the courageous Frenchman has not just broken a record: he has just created one, and the only precedent that we can find in this matter is that of Captain Drake, who passed from Europe to America in a boat of 10 meters mixed, that is to say sail and steam. But Gerbault is the only one who, with a simple sailboat, has held the sea for so long, being alone. And this performance, the practical value of which some might debate, is an admirable testimony to the spirit of daring, endurance, composure, in short, to the sporting qualities of our race.