All Intensive Purposes

William Peterson was on the last leg of a nine-year sailing voyage around the world, two weeks from the Golden Gate, 800 miles south and west of San Diego, when he heard a crash. The stays supporting his mast let go, the mast fell, and his ketch was crippled. He managed to cut away the mast before it pounded a hole in his hull, and although his radio aerial had been on the mast, the Coast Guard heard his distress signal. It's quite a story. Some photos, too.