Stranded in the Sahara

Published on Thursday 31 March 2011 02:37

A PARTY of adventurers had driven all the way from Birstall to the Sahara in an old Army truck, only to be detained by French soldiers for their own safety.

Last week we began a tale about an ill-fated road trip to Africa in 1947, in which 22 people had set off in search of a better life in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

One of those on board was Jackie Smart, a 20-year-old typist from Birstall, who had answered an advert for the six-week trip.

When she had turned up at the address given, she had discovered that the safari was being led by her estranged father, Joseph Russell Smart, and his new family – wife Lorna, and their two young children, Gloria, aged nine, and Jack, aged six.

She decided to go on the trip to get to know the father who had abandoned her mother years ago.

Jackie now lives in New Zealand. Her daughter, Lesley Eden, who lives in Australia, has been telling the News her mother’s incredible tale, which made national headlines at the time back in the UK.

The party set off on May 23, but it soon became clear they would take longer than six weeks to reach Rhodesia as they drove through France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Eleven of the passengers dropped out in North Africa, and the rest of the expedition travelled down through French-owned West Africa, which was then manned by French troops.

The last French outpost before the desert began was Fort Trinquet, which they reached on August 1.

Picking up the tale, the Daily Express reported that the party was trying to cross the Sahara by the route even the Arabs shun – a route swept by sudden and violent sandstorms. It was deemed so dangerous that the French West African authorities would not permit an ‘unconvoyed’ lorry to risk it.

They were detained at the French outpost of Fort Trinquet for 28 days. Then an officer arrived and said they must go back the way they came, at their own expense.

The Express reported that Mr Smart refused to go back. He told his party to load the lorry and be ready to leave at dusk, but the French commandant put a guard of 12 armed men around their vehicle.

Mr Smart agreed to put in a request for a convoy to the next French outpost, Fort Gouraud, and the armed guard was lifted. But the group decided to make a break for it instead of waiting for the convoy.

Speaking to the Express, Mr Smart said: “That night - our 25th at Fort Trinquet – we left lights burning in our quarters and moved off while the others were at dinner.

“We bounced along the iron hard sand at full speed – 40mph. We were 15 miles on when we saw we were being pursued. We bumped along for another 20 miles with the moon over my left eyebrow as my only guide before they got within striking distance of us. The commandant, his sergeant major and 10 native soldiers drew alongside in their lorry and the commandant shouted, ‘I’ll shoot your tyres if you don’t stop’.

“Then the soldiers pointed their rifles at us. Then the commandant got ahead and pulled his lorry across our path. He came towards us waving his hand. I swerved around him. The chase was on again. We had bad luck and ran into soft sand. This time the commandant jumped into my cabin.

“‘Come out’, he said. I said, ‘You’ll only get me back to your fort on a stretcher’. We had a fight. Then the Sergeant Major joined in.

“But I used to be a boxer and they had their hands full.

“Mind you, I don’t blame them, they were nice fellows and were only obeying orders.

“Then the soldiers tried to pull my wife out but my daughter, Gloria, (she’s nine) bit their hands.

“The rest of the party rushed at the soldiers and it became a free-for-all. At last the commandant gave up trying to stop us, saying, ‘All you English are mad!’

“Off we went alone, sleeping by day, travelling by night. It took us two days and nights to get to Fort Gouraud and everyone there seemed amazed that we made it.”

At this point, the party, now dubbed the Overlanders by the press, had travelled more than 4,000 miles. The trip had cost £120 a head, much more than the £75 Mr Smart had charged for each place.

Lesley said: “The next day the commandant spoke to the group, strongly suggesting that women and children could leave on a plane if they wished. Jackie decided to leave but had to wait a few days before they were able to be flown to Dakar. They took her to see the British Consul and she stayed with them, until a flight back to the UK could be arranged.”

Jackie had lost a stone and a half in the desert, and was flown back to the UK with another member of the group, clerk Arnold Heppelthwaite.

The rest of the party were determined to continue, as the Express reported: “The others say they are going on to Southern Rhodesia - or bust! Already they have travelled 3,800 miles – 1,500 of them across open desert – in a six-wheeled lorry. They have been held up 52 days on their desert journey. Their money is almost gone.

“But these matter-of-fact Yorkshire people all make light of their troubles.”

n In the next Past Times, find out how the remaining adventurers fared in the Sahara as they continued their epic journey.