An amazing and inspiring story about a lifetime of sailing. In a desperate attempt to cross the pacific ocean from Panama to Australia, John Caldwell reunites with his wife and begins a life of sailing.
Article from the Citrus County Chronicle. There site is sort of a mess so I’m trying to post the entire story in case the LINK goes bad.
Globetrotter shares story in new book
 Photo by Dave Sigler |
Mary Caldwell of Inverness has written about her life experiences sailing the globe with her late husband, John. “Mary’s Voyage” is scheduled hit bookshelves Sept. 15. |
By Nancy Kennedy
Mary Caldwell’s voyage begins with her late husband, John.
In his book, “Desperate Voyage,” he writes: “It was May, 1946; the war had just ended. Ships were scarce and on chaotic schedules. I was stranded. Mary – my bride – was stranded also.”
What happens next involves the desperate attempt of a both courageous and foolhardy man to reach his wife, he in the United States and she in Sydney, Australia.
After stowing away on a ship and being found and left in Panama, John Caldwell buys a 20-foot boat he names “Pagan” and sets sail for Australia — 9,000 miles away — with a crew of two cats.
A hurricane leaves him shipwrecked on a remote island of Fiji. It would be a year later until Mary (Taylor) Caldwell sees her husband again.
Now 85 and under Hospice care for congestive heart failure, Mary Caldwell has written “Mary’s Voyage,” the prequel and sequel to her husband’s 1949 book, which is still selling nearly 60 years later.
“Mary’s Voyage” includes the story of sailing around the world with her husband and two young sons, buying and developing an island in the Caribbean and living happily ever after at their Palm Island resort until losing her beloved husband.
“?Mary’s Voyage,” published by Sheridan House, is due out in bookstores Sept. 15.
“I was 18 and living in Australia when I joined the (Australian) Air Force,” Mrs. Caldwell said from her home in Inverness.
John Caldwell was an American, a merchant marine who ended up in Australia. After his ship was torpedoed, he joined the Australian Air Force just long enough to meet Mary. Shortly after they married, Caldwell left the Air Force to rejoin the merchant marines and traveled back to the United States.
When the war ended, Caldwell couldn?t get a ship back to Australia so he stowed away on a ship. After he was discovered and kicked off the ship in Panama, he met up with a friend who said he knew how to sail.
However, when it came time to leave, the friend changed his mind.
” My father had a book on how to navigate and how to sail and he left Panama and headed for Galapagos ? and eventually got into a hurricane in the Pacific and was dismasted,” said Roger Caldwell, Mary’s youngest son. “He was adrift for quite a while and drifted up on a reef on a remote island in Fiji.”
Some children found him and Caldwell lived on the island, waiting for the local mail boat from the mainland that came only twice a year.
Meanwhile, his bride waited for news back in Sydney.
“I knew he had left Panama; the friend he bought the boat from sent me a letter that he was on the ‘smallest boat and smallest crew’ — John and two cats,” Mrs. Caldwell said.
When he didn’t show up for months and months, others thought he must have died, but Mrs. Caldwell said she never doubted that he would make it.
Eventually, he hitched a ride on the mail boat and went to the nearest American base, where he caught a plane to Australia.
They moved to the United States, but then decided to return to Australia. By then they had one young son. The Caldwells bought a 36-foot yacht and sailed to Australia with a stop in Tahiti along the way so Mrs. Caldwell could give birth to their second son, Roger.
Feeling more at home on the sea than on land, John Caldwell built a 45-foot yacht he called “Outward Bound” and took the whole family sailing up the Barrier Reef, across the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal, across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. It took them three years.
“When we went through the Suez Canal, it was very calm water,” Mrs. Caldwell said. “Cruise ships were going the other way and people would come out and wave to the boys.”
The family always sailed with three flags handy: American, Australian and British.
“Depending on what warship was near by, we’d fly that (country’s) flag and people would invite us on board for dinner,” Roger Caldwell said. “There weren?t too many yachts with kids on them in those days, and the hospitality was great.
“Everybody wanted to meet the crazy people sailing around the world,” he said. “Fishermen would sail by and throw a fish on deck.”
The family settled on a 130-acre island in the Grenadines that they leased for 99 years and developed as a resort area, Palm Island. Mary and John chartered up and down the islands for five years.
” My father was known as Johnny Coconut,” Caldwell said. “He used to take small palm trees and plant them on the beaches.”
The family lived on their island. John Caldwell wrote about it in a book, “My Island and I,” although it was never published. He also wrote “Family at Sea,” but that didn’t sell well, his son said.
Caldwell moved to Inverness in 1997 and his mother moved next door five years later.
“After my father died we sold the island,” Caldwell said.
With the help of a ghost writer, Matthew Douglas, Mrs. Caldwell penned the story of her voyage with her family.
Douglas also wrote the screenplay of “Desperate Voyage,” which is in negotiations to be made into a movie.
“It’s been quite a life,” Mrs. Caldwell said.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I went to school with Roger Caldwell in Barbados. Some of the guys from those days would like to contact him.
I too was at school with roger, john and roland. I spent a great summer on palm isl 1970
You may have been in school with my brothers. Peter, Lou or Brin. I was at Codrington.
I first met John in 1943 at the convention of the Ntl Maritime Union in NyCity he was a delegate from his ship, I didn’t see him againg until March of 1970. when I went down to Palm Is. and thereafter visited him twice a year, until 1983. John was a rare breed of a man, totally independant and was never afraid of trying anything new, his vision for the world was that of a dreamer, his dreams were endless. He gave of himself too a lot of needy people. between the two of us we brought up two boys/men and put them through college, they became successful engineers at GM and Xerox. And many other things we did to long to print. To Mary, Johnnie, and Roger I send you the Best of good wishes I know of. Gordon Thompson Lewisburg Pa.
I met Mr. John, Miss Mary, Johnny and Roger in 1967 when I was selected to receive financial help from the Caldwell’s to attend high school in St. Vincent. many thanks to the CALDWELL’S and Mr. Thompson from me and my entire family. I am one of the receipient of the giving of John and Gordon. I have since graduated with my Mechanical Engineering degree from NYIT at old wesbury and MBA fyom Central Michigan University and retired after 30 years with GM. God bless all of you who lend a hand to help me in the early days. I would love to see and or say hello to the ones who are available. Best wishesto all. Philinton Joseph
Glad to see your remarks Phil.
John and I are proud of your accomplishments.
You know what John and I did, but that was only one of many things we did together, that only he and I did, as we both did not do it for thepublicity. The Caldwells left a legacy that has pspered the WORLD, 3 weeks ago a friend of mine went down to Antigua, I told them about the Caldwells , she came back after asking about John and Mary, she couldn’t believe there were peolpe like them, I thank God I was blessed to know them.
Hi Kirk, this is Janeen from way back when. How are you?
I had the incredible blessing of spending 2 weeks on Palm Island as the guest of Wendy Harrison and her family, from Westport/Fairfield Connecticut, in March of 1973. The Caldwell family was more than generous and the stories that John told certainly made one believe in pirates and sunken treasure. Many a time I have desired to return to the most beautiful island on the face of the planet and am sorry they no longer own it. It certainly was a special place, one I will carry forever in my memories. I send them my love with fond memories….Sally
My dad used to tell me stories of how He rescued Mr Caldwell when his boat shipwrecked in my island(TUVUTHA)fIJI ISLANDS..I lived in sacramento now and i never forget about that story..Mr Caldwell was kind like the first white man they saw in my village ..Some said that his a ghost when my dad have to carry him from where he was laying .My dad was 16year old..took him home ..warm him up by the fire feed him with real food..and take care of him until he was well enough to contact his family abroad…I would love to meet anyone who is a close relatives of Mr John CALDWELL.Thank you.