Francis Brenton (17 January 1927 – 1971?) was a British

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

r. He gained international reputation as a writer, photographer and explorer.

Early life

Francis Brenton was born in the family home, Adair Road,

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...

. His father Victor Brenton, was a house painter, and his mother Mary Ellen, formerly Flattery, was apparently taking care of the kids. He was "the youngest offspring of a hardworking family of four sons and four daughters" as he is introducing himself in one of the books. He joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in February 1945 and was transferred to the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

in March 1945. He was discharged on 16 June 1948, after having received the War Medal. From March 1952 to April 1954 he served in the

Australian Regular Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

including overseas service in Japan and Korea.

Adventures

With no sailing experience, single handed, in 1961, Francis Brenton crossed the ocean first time from

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

where he was considered a spy, arrested and his boat destroyed. He provided a detailed account of this adventure in his first book ''Long Sail to Haiti''. After this trip he established himself in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The Field Museum asked him if he could get a South American

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

for their collection. So in 1966 he purchased two dugout canoes, rigged them as a catamaran and sailed all the way to Chicago. After exhibiting the whole boat on the main floor, the Field Museum kept only one canoe. Francis built a new second canoe out of plywood and the very next year he sailed from Chicago North to

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. Then, via Newfoundland across The Atlantic with destination Africa. In this trip all his rudimentary navigation instruments failed, he was lost and ran out of water. Off-course by almost 800 miles he was saved by a German freighter and finally after 106 days he reached his destination. From Africa he wanted to get back to the US in a combination balloon-boat. Unfortunately everything that could go wrong did and the whole balloon project was abandoned. Finally he sailed the "Sierra Sagrada" back to Chicago, this time in only 46 days. This adventure is described in ''The Voyage of the Sierra Sagrada: Across the Atlantic in a Canoe''. The last documents and information from Francis Brenton are dated 1971 when he tried to sail again to England, and he was lost at sea.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenton, Francis 1927 births 1970s deaths Sailors from Liverpool English male canoeists People from West Derby Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Australian Army soldiers Military personnel from Liverpool Australian military personnel of the Korean War British Army personnel of World War II People lost at sea Year of death uncertain