Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A sailor who sailed the Seven Seas in small craft, known for adventurous single-handed voyages.
On the island
Eight records
I've uh chosen A Wandering Minstrel Eye as my theme song, if you like.
It's a piece of music which I think comes the closest to expressing the the emotions, the terror, the fear, the fright. That one feels during a storm at sea, during very bad weather at sea, in a small boat.
The reason I chose this one was because It will remind me of the nadir of my existence was when I washed up On the shores of New York, and took shelter in the Bowery Men's Shelter in Manhattan.
1812 OvertureFavourite
London Symphony Orchestra and the Band of the Grenadier Guards
because it celebrates a French defeat. and if I had had the money, which I was owed, by Frenchmen, for some very arduous work, I would have never finished up in the Bowery men's shelter.
because uh since I washed up on the shores of Manhattan Island, New York's been very good to me.
Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
because that's how I felt. when that first check for twenty five quid came through to Majorca, In 1968, because I knew then that I had the key.
Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, Portsmouth
It's the marching tune of the lower deck of the Royal Navy, Heart of Oak.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:38Tristan, in fact, you were born at sea, weren't you?
Yes, I was born on a big ship off the island of Tristan d'Acuna in the South Atlantic.
Presenter asks
3:48What happened to you when the war started?
I joined the Navy. I went to uh HMS Ganges in nineteen forty, just before the time of Dunkirk, actually. and then from there I went into Destroyers. and spent most of the war up till forty four up in the uh north west approaches and Iceland.
Presenter asks
5:06How did [your vessel] blow up? And what caused it?
It was mined. by the uh the people who were fighting for Yemeni independence at the time.
Presenter asks
14:14How long did that trip [to sail further north] take altogether?
Two and a half years. Yeah. And by the time I sighted England again it was three and a half years.
The keepsakes
The book
Modern Wooden Yacht Construction
John Guzzwell
That is the only one at the present time that is really valid.
The luxury
Union Jack, twelve foot by eight
so that I know that the idea, at least, of fair play and justice would reign over that island.
Presenter asks
31:30Will you try to escape [from the desert island]?
Oh, yes, sure. The first thing I should do is look at those trees, and I should have them down horizontal on that beach before he could say boo to a goose.
“I'm not the kind of A person that can accept the inevitable. Yes. Maybe fortunately, maybe unfortunately, I don't know, but that's just the way I am.”
“I wanted to set the boat in and try to get a little bit further north than Nansen got in eighteen ninety two in the Fram. To break the record, further north than anyone had ever sailed before. Well, I thought if uh if eighteen Norwegians could do it, one Welshman could do it, you see.”
“I was triumphant, of course, when I got up there, because there was the Old Red Ensign, tattered and torn, but the highest in in the world.”