On October 20, 1956, Dr. Hannes Lindemann began his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. If that doesn’t sound impressive, the fact that he did it alone in a small foldboat should provide more context. Here’s a look at Lindemann and his quests for surviving against the odds…
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean has held the human imagination for a very long time. While there is no record as to when humans first made this epic voyage from Africa or Europe to the Americas, or vice versa, the possibility that the ancient Egyptians succeeded at it can’t be ruled out.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ voyages across the Atlantic, which were well documented, were pivotal to increased awareness among Europeans about the American continents. Even though thousands of vessels of different kinds had made the trip across the Atlantic by the 19th Century, it was only in 1876 that the first solo crossing took place. Alfred Johnson, who saw it as a celebration of the first centennial of the U.S., made the trip from Gloucester, Massachusetts to Abercastle, Wales.
Challenges existed
While the successes were celebrated, those times were still pockmarked with plenty of mishaps owing to the many challenges. Even in the 20th Century, the question of surviving at sea for a castaway still interested many in the field of science. German doctor Hannes Lindemann was one of them.
Born in Germany in 1922, Lindemann worked his way through several jobs to pay for his medical school. Even as a student he often used himself as a test subject to find out more about human endurance.
Meets Bombard
Having begun practising medicine in Liberia in 1953, Lindemann was hoping to settle into a comfortable life as a doctor. As fate would have it, Lindemann met Frenchman Alain Bombard, a fellow physician who had taken an interest in survival at sea. Bombard had drifted across the Atlantic in a small rubber boat in 1952 with minimal provisions and had become an instant legend in France.
Lindemann was drawn to the idea of helping address the issues that were behind poor survival rates of sailors — many had lost their lives during World War II, despite being on lifeboats. Doubting some of Bombard’s claims, Lindemann decided to test it for himself.
Lindemann made his first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1955 aboard a 25’ dugout canoe. The voyage took him 65 days and even though he was able to find solutions for many of the physical challenges, he wasn’t content.
Mental needs
The psychological and emotional difficulties that confronted an individual during such times were equally, or even more important, Lindemann felt. To test this out, he started preparing for another voyage right away.
His preparation included what he called Psycho-Hygiene Training to “anchor auto-suggestions deep in the subconscious so that they would automatically come to assist in difficult situations.” In the months that followed, he did plenty of mental exercises and recited to himself suggestions like “I’ll make it,” “Keep going west,” and “Never give up.”
Lindemann chose an even smaller boat for his second voyage — a Klepper Aerius 17’ folding kayak that he christened Liberia III. He set out from Canary Islands on October 20, 1956 with his two sails raised and an outrigger providing additional stability.
Starts with a setback
Just three miles into his journey, Lindemann had his first challenge. A pilot boat approached him and ran over the kayak’s outrigger, breaking the paddle that supported the float. Rather than head back for repairs, he headed west as his inner voice stepped into action and provided encouragement.
His 72-day voyage was filled with incident and a lot of suffering. There were a couple of occasions when waves driven by storms lasting several days capsized him, and even though he was rendered unconscious, he clung on to dear life and persisted. The Lindemann who reached St. Martin on the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea on December 30 was nearly 25 kg less in weight than when he had started. After spending a night in a hotel, he got back on the kayak to sail 50 hours to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where his friends were waiting.
Alone at Sea
He wrote about his two Atlantic crossings in a book titled “Alone at Sea” that was first published in 1958. Lindemann’s observations and suggestions for survival at sea were taken into account when the World Health Organisation prepared their recommendations for the amount of fresh water that ships had to carry.
Lindemann ended his book Alone at Sea with the following words: “What drove me to test my strength of mind and body to the utmost? I realized that no one answer would satisfy me; the urge for adventure, the quest for scientific knowledge both played a part. I told myself that man has always searched for the new frontier, pushed for further boundaries and that I, as a man, would have to accept that for my answer.” He certainly had pushed the boundaries further.
First published in The Hindu In School
