Amphibious Reads

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lah20car@aol.com

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<font FACE="arial,helvetica"><font SIZE="2" PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">For those of you that like to read or those of you a little afraid to get your car wet for fear of sea serpents or whatever-----



1. A Perception of the Literary Side of the Amphibious Jeep



The amphibious jeep, also known as GPA, General Purpose Amphibian, also Seep. Contradictory mixture: Earth and air. Land and sea. It should be the preferred vehicle in the search for mermaids. Developed in haste in wartime, manufactured in a limited edition of 12,700 plus copies, of marginal military utility, quickly declared surplus, it became an unexpected challenge, really a bonanza, for the mechanic-sailor. Its votaries have lavished care and attention on each surviving car-boat as though it were a shrine in transit, a banner for the host in motion along a far shore. There are two high priests, Ben Carlin, the Australian, and the American, Frank Schreider. Each took his seep out of its garage-sanctuary and went on a chase with a goal specific yet nebulous, heading out toward the wide world's end. Frank to traverse the entire length of the mythic and incomplete Pan-American highway, north to south; and Ben to circle the world entire, west to east. Ensconced in his seep along with, initially, a beautiful and intelligent mate and companion, each voyager, with a character of indomitable persistence, carried through to an end proper and triumphant. And each reported his adventurous journey in a book: Ben in the fabled "HALF SAFE. Across the Atlantic by Jeep" published in 1955, and Frank in "20,000 MILES SOUTH, A Pan American Adventure" out in 1957. Both wrote subsequent books: "THE DRUMS OF TONKIN, An Adventure in Indonesia" 1963 by the Schreiders, reporting on a year's tour of the islands by seep; and "THE OTHER HALF OF HALF-SAFE" by Carlin which wasn't published until 1989, eight years after his death. A fifth book, called "ONCE A FOOL...FROM JAPAN TO ALASKA BY AMPHIBIOUS JEEP" 2nd edition by Boye Lafayette De Mente, Carlin's extra hand for the trip across the North Pacific, was recently republished (on January 29, 2001) as an ebook, carrying-on the tradition. Carlin's main problem, beyond interpersonal issues with his companions, was to win universal acceptance of his key over-water passages. Crossing the Atlantic his radio transmissions stopped and this cast doubt over his achievement. And on his transit between the Azores and Africa he got into serious difficulty in a choppy sea and had to be rescued by a Portuguese naval vessel. But it is a miss-the-point carp like criticizing Houdini's escape from a tank of water because it involved a trick. Yes but he was suspended, totally submersed, head down wasn't he? And Carlin made all the land side stops, didn't he? The reality behind the illusion, if we ever learn it, will be just as compelling. The world center for the Seep is at the Guilford Grammar School in Guilford, Western Australia, Carlin's alma mater, where Half-Safe, Carlin's seep, is on display in a glass-walled garage.



All can be found on the net or a combo of Carlins books at Guilford School



Alibris Book Finder

































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L

lah20car@aol.com

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<font FACE="arial,helvetica"><font SIZE="2" PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In a message dated 6/23/2007 6:20:18 AM Central Daylight Time, lah20car@aol.com writes:



<blockquote TYPE="CITE" style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">And on his transit between the Azores and Africa he got into serious difficulty in a choppy sea and had to be rescued by a Portuguese naval vessel.</blockquote></font><font COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE="3" PTSIZE="12" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">

</font><font COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE="2" PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">

This was all cut and paste from a book site and as I read it now the above statement isn't quite true, they were both caught in a storm and Carlin needed fuel to get in. A most amazing account of being in very bad weather.</font>


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