The Plain Dealer Sunday, August 14, 2005 “It just captured my imagination. I could just put myself onboard. I thought, ‘Oh man, I could do that.’ ” Steven Callahan, who was inspired by Robert Manry’s trans-Atlantic voyage PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF STEVEN CALLAHAN In late 1980, friends of Steven Callahan took his sailboat, Napoleon Solo, for a shakedown cruise in Marblehead, Mass., harbor while Callahan shot photographs. Inspired by Cleveland trans-Atlantic sailor Robert Manry, Callahan left the following spring for England. During a subsequent voyage, Napoleon Solo sank and Callahan was adrift in a life raft for 76 days. Cleveland sailor inspired survival at sea, its lessons Solo trip ended adrift in a life raft for 76 days IN SUNDAY MAGAZINE: The cost of Robert Manry’s dream. Molly Kavanaugh Plain Dealer Reporter An exhausted Steven Callahan crouched in the damp 5 1 ⁄ 2-foot round life raft that had been his home for 37 days and wondered how much longer he could sur- vive in the middle of the Atlantic. He could not have imagined the truth: He was only halfway through his odyssey. Callahan scraped rust from peanut and coffee cans, which he had salvaged from his sinking 21-foot sailboat, and added the flecks to the dwindling supply of drinking water. He hoped this would add iron to his weakened body. Then he crawled to the en- trance of the canopied rubber raft to await another dorado, the fish that had kept him alive this long. On the third try, Callahan was able to ram a spear through the fish’s back. The bloody meal that followed was certainly not what the 30-year-old sailor had imagined life at sea would be liked, a life he first learned from Robert Manry. Forty years ago this week, Plain Dealer copy editor Manry reached Falmouth, England, in a 13 1 ⁄ 2-foot sailboat. Manry wrote about his 3,200-mile trans-Atlan- tic voyage in a book named after his boat, “Tinkerbelle.” Callahan was only 13 years old at the time of Manry’s trip. Soon after he began sailing, Callahan borrowed the book from the pub- lic library . . . and was swept away. “It just captured my imagina- tion. I could just put myself on- board. I thought, ‘Oh man, I could do that,’ ” the 53-year-old Callahan said by phone last week. Callahan now lives in Maine, where he writes about and de- signs boats. He also is editor-at- large of Cruising World maga- zine. Unlike with other boyhood dreamers, Callahan’s drive to sail offshore grew deeper. By 1977, he was designing and building boats and had ventured as far as Bermuda. “All along, Manry and Tinker- belle lurked in the back of my mind and served as an inspira- tion, a way to pull everything to- gether and give my life a focus,” Callahan wrote in “Adrift,” a book about his aborted 1982 sail- ing voyage. Callahan’s first trans-Atlantic voyage went smoothly. Aboard Napoleon Solo, the 21-foot sail- boat he built, Callahan sailed to England with a friend. The cross- ing was exhilarating and enjoya- ble, not at all like the solo trip that was to follow. Six days after departing the Ca- nary Islands, Callahan was down below resting as the night seas roared. There was a loud bang, and Callahan jumped up to a tor- rent of water. The boat had been hit by something large, probably a whale. He had just minutes to launch his raft. Callahan would spend 76 days drifting in the life raft he dubbed Rubber Ducky III, two days shy of Manry’s total time aboard Tin- kerbelle. He fought off sharks and de- spair, relying on much of what he read in “Sea Survival,” the one book he was able to save from the sinking ship. He collected rainwater and used a solar still to distill seawater, but keeping the still functioning was a constant worry. A handful of ships passed, but no one saw Rubber Ducky. On Day 43, a dorado got loose in the raft and rammed the bro- ken spear into the tube, leaving a gaping hole in the raft. Callahan patched and repatched the leak for days, struggling to overcome the constant sogginess and fear. The fish, which kept him alive, now had almost killed him. “In the end, they brought me salva- tion,” Callahan said. Three fishermen saw frigates flying off in the distance, knew the birds’ presence meant fish were nearby and motored in that direction. They did not see Calla- han’s raft, which had attracted the fish because of its barnacles, until they got close. He had drifted 1,800 miles, to the Caribbean islands. Callahan still seeks adventure on the sea, recently returning from Australia, where he lived on a 40-foot boat with his wife, Kathy Massimini. He has de- signed “The Clam,” a life raft with a sail and paddle, and may resume production because of so much interest from boaters. But his writing keeps him busy. His latest project is a book about survival in its many forms, from shipwrecks to substance abuse. He also speaks to groups about his survival at sea and the lessons it taught him. And Callahan tells the audience about Manry, “just a regular guy” who followed his heart. “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey,” he said. “Adventure is available to any- one.” To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 1-800-767-2821