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A few Last Comments
I had never planned to publish any
of the information you have just read about Tristan. Now that he has
passed from the scene, and is becoming something of a "god" to
the sailing community, I think that the full story should be told. Still,
I probably wouldn't have bothered to put this site together if it were not
for the increasing number of e-mails I am getting requesting first hand
information about Tristan. I am doing this more as a defense measure, to
prevent me from having to answer the e-mails over and over with the same
basic story. I can now just send a return e-mail with the URL to this
page, and they can read it easily here.
I do regret that the relationship
between Tristan and I was a tense one, but it was not of my doing. I would
much rather it had been friendly, and that Hillary and Neil had not been
involved at all. I was chagrined and saddened to realize, while going
through my log to write this narrative, that I never recorded Hillary and
Neil's last name in the log, and I have long since forgotten it. If anyone
reading this recognizes the description of these two wonderful people, I
would be very indebted if you could e-mail me their address. They would be
about 50 years in age now, and I would assume are probably still involved
with physics and math at a high level. They are probably still living in
England, although not necessarily so.
This page is not meant to cast a
shadow over Tristan. He was a man, perhaps not like any other man, but
still had the failings that all of us have. Taken as a whole, Tristan had
a remarkable life, and one well worth remembering. He was, in some ways,
much like Joshua Slokum, only in another day and age. It will be
interesting to see how marine history remembers Tristan. I think that
there is really very little that is known of Tristan, the man, as he was
such a loner that few people ever would get a chance to know him.
We were put together by a situation of chance, and through it I did get to
know both sides of Tristan, the "hero" and the
"villain". But what is new, nothing, we all have two sides to
our character too.
I hope you found this page of use to
you. It may not fit your perception of Tristan, but few heroes really do
when you get to know them. If you wish to comment or make suggestions,
please click the e-mail link just below. Thank you for taking the time to
read this narrative. I hope to have several other sailing narratives on
the web sometime soon. Check back to see when I add more to this site.
Thank you. 
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Copyright © 2001
- 2003
by Donald R. Swartz
All rights reserved.
Reproduction of these materials in any form is forbidden without the
permission
of the contributing authors or sources. |
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