Robert Manry

ROBERT MANRY d1971. Copy editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who in 1965 sailed from Falmouth Massachusetts to Falmouth Cornwall, England in a tiny 13.5ft sailboat (which he had extensively modified for the voyage) named "Tinkerbelle". Beginning on June 1st 1965 and ending on August 17th the voyage lasted 78 days. At the time, Tinkerbelle was the shortest but not the smallest boat to make a non-stop trip across the Atlantic Ocean. He later wrote about the voyage and its preparation in his book Tinkerbelle, in which the sailor expressed shock and surprise at the huge crowds and armada of small boats that greeted his arrival in Cornwall. After completing his voyage on Tinkerbelle, he purchased Curlew, a 1967 Tartan 27 Yawl. He then set out with his wife, son, daughter, German shepherd and cat on a cruise from Cleveland Ohio through the Great Lakes down the Mississippi river through the Gulf to the Bahamas, up the east coast of the US and ultimately back to Cleveland. He died of a heart attack aged 52 on February 21st 1971 in Union City Pennsylvania