Whose Yacht
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
Is It ?
More of Alsirat’s Strange Story
From a Special Correspondent
Auckland, Aug. 20.
WHEN, in the May issue of the PIM, some writer told the story of Mr. and Mrs. Harmon, and the sale of the yacht Alsirat in Pago Pago towards the end of last year, I do not think full justice was done to the Harmons.
Your article said that the Alsirat was originally the property of Mr.
Emile Sorenson, of Denmark; that Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson voyaged in the vessel to Central America; that, while Mr. Sorenson was absent in Denmark, his wife and Harmon ran away with the Alsirat, and later sailed through the South Pacific as Mr. and Mrs. Harmon; that the vessel was sold to Mr. Jennings (Swains Island) in Pago Pago; that Mrs. Harmon left Mr. Harmon there and proceeded to the United States that Mr. Sorenson, in the Philante 11, caught up with Mr. Harmon and the Alsirat in Pago Pago, and chal lenged Mr. Harmon’s and Mr Jennings’ ownership of Alsirat, and charged Mr. Harmon before the
American authorities with alleged offences; that, while a legal tangle involving the laws of various countries was being dealt with, Mr.
Harmon denarted for the United States.
That article was read by those of us who know Mr. and Mrs. Harmon with surprise, and some resent ment. All who met them liked and respected Mr. and Mrs. Harmon very much. We find the charges hard to believe.
I have been in communication with friends in Pago Pago, where the Harmons were popular. They say that Harmon claimed that he had a clear title to the boat; and Jennings, of Swains Island, is satis fied also that his title to the boat is good. Sorenson certainly made a lot of charges, but he was not able to prove them to the satis faction of the American authorities.
Mrs. Harmon did not run away from Harmon. The couple met by arrangement in the United States, and toured the West together, and eventually bought a small business and settled down in a Texas town there they still are. They have written happily from there to their friends in the South Pacific.
If the facts are as stated in* the article I refer to, why is Mr.
Sorenson not in American Samoa, pursuing his claim to his valuable yacht? I suggest that the PIM
owes an apology to Mr. and Mrs Harmon.