At first glance there is nothing that newsworthy about three old friends going cruising from Bermuda via the Azores to England; that is unless you consider that these three friends were each 74 years old. In 1981, when they made the cruise, age 60 was considered “elderly.” The British press referred to the cruise as the “222”— a reference to the combined ages of the sailors. All three of these septuagenarians were special in another way; they were all highly decorated Royal Navy veterans. Each had earned the Distinguished Service Cross for their gallantry and bravery during World War II,…

The following sounds like a fairy tale, but it isn’t.  Peter Warner wasn’t happy. He’d cruised more than 2,000 nautical miles from Australia to ask the king of the nation of Tonga for permission and the necessary permits to fish for the highly prized spiny lobster that thrived in those waters. The king had refused his request, and now Warner and his crew, aboard the fishing trawler Just David, were returning home. Passing a small island in an archipelago of 169 islands that make up the nation of Tonga, they passed the small uninhabited island of Ata. Scanning the shore…

The Johnsons — Irving and Exy — weren’t your average American married couple. The Johnsons completed seven circumnavigations beginning in the 1930s, all aboard boats named Yankee, with each passage taking about 18 months. They spent their lives and raised their family while circumnavigating. Through their books and articles in National Geographic magazine, they introduced America and the world to the adventure of sailing around the world.  The first Yankee was a Dutch North Sea pilot schooner. The second Yankee, purchased in 1947, was a German North Sea pilot schooner that was re-rigged as a brigantine. They sailed this Yankee…