Pensioner's plastic-pipe raft Atlantic crossing greeted with derision

The 84 year-old former science writer of the Daily Telegraph is crossing the Atlantic with a bunch of chums on a raft made of plastic pipes, and coming in for some serious abuse from the columns of Lloyds List.

Anthony Smith shows a reckless cheerfulness at the prospect of hurricanes and freak waves over 90 feet, and is undeterred by warnings of "the disappearance of substantial merchant vessels without trace. Oh, and with the loss of all hands," according to this posting in the venerable shipping journal's Maritime Blogspot.