In late December 1956, the 46-foot wooden ketch Tzu Hang sailed from Melbourne, Australia, bound for England by way of Cape Horn. Aboard were Miles Smeeton; his wife, Beryl; and their friend John Guzzwell. At that time only a very few small sailboats had ever rounded Cape Horn, and none had sailed as far south as the route the Tzu Hang followed from Australia, just north of the Antarctic iceberg limit. Mountaineers as well as sailors, the Smeetons epitomized the adventurous spirit of the postwar years. Raban"s introduction to pays homage to this fine story and explores its genesis. Miles Smeeton had been an officer in the British army in World War II and was among the many British veterans who could not adjust to home and career after the war. Unlike so many others whose marriages fell apart, however, he found that his wife"s wanderlust and love of adventure exceeded his own.