Memories of a Stranger : 10 Alumni of a 1936 Sea Scout Sailing Adventure Gather to Reminisce

Like schoolboys at recess, they huddled jubilantly, slapping backs, exchanging jokes and calling each other by nicknames.

But these distinguished-looking men were no longer schoolboys. They were men in their 70s--alumni of a Sea Scout sailing adventure 55 years ago. They and their wives gathered Wednesday at the Balboa Yacht Club for a reunion.

“We were mostly teen-aged Sea Scouts back in 1936, when we made the cruise on the yacht that was named the Stranger,” recalled Harold W. (Andy) Anderson, 76, of Tustin. “The yacht’s owner, Fred Lewis, had a philanthropic interest in helping Sea Scouts, so he took some of us to help with crew duties. There were 54 on the yacht, and 28 of us were Sea Scouts.”

Lewis was a millionaire who owned Diamond Bar Ranch, which is now the Los Angeles County city of Diamond Bar. In the 1930s, Lewis purchased a 234-foot-long, Swedish-built trading vessel and had it converted to a private yacht, which he named Stranger. With a crew augmented by Sea Scouts from Southern California, the yacht made several long cruises in the Pacific and Caribbean Sea during the midst of the 1930s Depression.

The then-young Sea Scouts who took the cruises never forgot them. They began holding periodic reunions in the 1950s. The reunion here this week celebrates the Stranger’s Pacific cruise of 1936.

About 10 cruise alumni, together with their wives and other relatives, met at the yacht club Wednesday afternoon to discuss their sailing days. They were scheduled later in the day to meet with current-day Sea Scouts at the nearby Scouting base on Coast Highway.

Each man at the reunion had a colorful story to tell about his days 55 years ago on the Stranger.

“I was a part of the regular crew--an oiler,” said John Keawe, 74, of Honolulu. “I got hired when the Stranger came to Hawaii. At the time, I was 19 and working on a sugar cane plantation. Taking that trip on the Stranger made a big difference in my life. I learned a lot about many places in the world.”

Ed Bucko, 77, of Dana Point, recalled that yacht owner Lewis gave the Sea Scouts “an allowance of $10 a month” for their work on the cruise. Other alumni remembered that Lewis kept half of each month’s allowance for the young men until the end of the cruise, so they wouldn’t spend it all.

“The cruises made a big difference in all our lives,” said Bob Shaw, 70, of Costa Mesa. “In my case, I was a backward and shy teen-ager. Then I took that cruise, and I became more confident and aggressive.”

Johnny Roberts, 74, of Rancho Calimesa, broke into a big smile when asked to recall his most vivid memory of his South Pacific cruise aboard the Stranger.

“It was walking on the ‘fire walk,’ the hot coals, on one of those islands, just like the natives!” Roberts exclaimed. Then he turned to his old Sea Scout colleagues and asked: “Do you remember how we could walk on those hot stones?” The men’s eyes brightened, and the years rolled away. Laughter filled the air. Suddenly it was 1936 again, and some teen-age Sea Scouts from Southern California were on a tropical island, walking across hot stones, just like the natives, and having an adventure that would bring smiles to their lives for many years to come.