Miles Smeeton was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1906. In 1939, he and his wife Beryl attempted to climb 25,263-foot Tirich Mir, in the Himalaya, with Tenzing Norgay. Although they failed, Beryl achieved renown as one of the first women to climb so high. A career army officer, Miles served with distinction in World War II. In 1951, the Smeetons bought "Tzu Hang" in England and, though they had just learned to sail, sailed her to Canada. They next voyaged to the South Pacific, and Miles later wrote about that adventure in "The Sea Was Our Village". In 1956, Miles and Beryl Smeeton embarked on t...