occupied of late, rebuilding their homes after a recent cyclone to take much notice of the graveyard. Poked in all around the mound were cuttings that might one-day form a hedge. The cut palm fronds laid on top had already turned from green to brittle-brown.
The sailor's unmarked grave seemed so forlorn, so anonymous; yet we knew Fritz to be one of the few brave hearts who had set out to live his dream. That his dream ended abruptly in tragedy was a reminder to other cruisers that maybe we will not all make it home. Michael, feeling a connection with a fellow sailor whom he had never met, set about to do something to appropriately mark the resting-place.
The villagers donated a half-round plank of rosewood on which Michael carved a head marker with the words:
      Fritz Messerli
Bern
7/7/38
"Taken By a Crocodile"
14/7/98
                                  Athene III
Utupua
     At the top he carved a sailboat.
 
Fritz and Therese had realised their dream of sailing fearlessly in the wild places of the earth and had dared to live the life of the adventurous.  The head-marker is a tribute from the yachting fraternity to Therese and her two sons, for a husband and a father left behind on a remote island in Melanesia. 
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