Arabian Adventure
The storm that ravaged the North Atlantic in mid-November 1947 wasn’t actually a hurricane, but it sure felt like one. The nor’easter in the ocean off Cape Cod and Canada’s Maritime Provinces roiled the shipping lanes between Europe and the United States with hurricane-force winds of as much as 100 miles an hour. It wrecked freighters and fishing boats, flooded and damaged coastal ports and delayed ocean liners and cargo ships from their scheduled arrivals. One experienced ship captain said it was the worst late-season storm he could remember.
Among the ships caught in the tempest was the S.S. Marine Flier, a freighter en route to New York from France. For two days, the 500-foot-long ship tossed on the ocean, rolling from side to side as winds and rain battered it and 60-foot waves washed over its deck. Deep in the Marine Flier’s hold, 14 prized Arabian steeds were being knocked around in cramped, makeshift wooden shipping crates, at times falling down and being helped up by their worried attendants as the storm swirled outside.
The nasty weather was just the latest adventure involving the horses — the trophies of an Indiana Jones-like expedition that had stretched halfway around the world, through Europe and across the Middle East, with stops in Bedouin encampments and fabled cities, amid encounters with colorful desert cultures and international political intrigue. Behind it all: William Randolph Hearst, the famed American newspaper magnate and horse lover.
Preston Dyer Jr. was just 29 years old when he answered a tiny advertisement in the Los Angeles Examiner for a “horse ranch superintendent.” Job requirements, according to the ad: “Must have former experience in breaking, training and breeding horses.” In spite of his youth, Dyer had those qualifications — a native of Virginia’s horse country and a former U.S. Army cavalry soldier, he’d spent several years before and during World War II working as the personal horse manager for General George S. Patton and his family.
With a handwritten letter of application and a reference from Patton’s wife, Dyer won the job — which turned out to be managing the horses and stables at William Randolph Hearst’s legendary San Simeon ranch. Hearst was a longtime horse owner and breeder who, like other rich Americans such as cereal mogul W.K.
