THE CRUSADER.

Press, Volume XXXII, Issue 4416, 25 September 1879, Page 2

THE CRUSADER.

The first of the looked for ships from home made her number at the signal station yesterday morn, isg, and contrary to expectation and report proved to fee Messrs Shaw, Saville and Co. a good ship Crusader. The tug- boat Lyttelton went oat for her, and there bein? no sickness on board brought - her at once into the inner harbor, where she was moored temporarily to one of the buoys. Within an hoar of her arrival the health officer, T>r J. T. Hoosa, had her cleared, and notified the agents of the vassal that only they and the shipping- re- ; porters were to be admitted on board until Mr J. E. . March, as 'representative of the Board of Trade, had Blade an inspection. The business of Mr . Marcbjwhose duties in connection with the arrivals of ships were generally presumed to apply only to Government immigrant ships, seemed in this in- : _taaoo to be of no practical utility after the ship had been passed by the health oSoer, but bis mission was after nil an exceedingly good one as will be -seen. In explanation of this it should be pointed ant that the Crusader had arrived with an unusually large number of self paid passenger*, altogether some two h.nndred and fourteen. The bulk of •these, or one hundred and sixty-three of them, ■■ were steerage passengers, and all had arrived in a strange country, and many donbtless with bnt very Tj&Qa means at command. The situation therefore was one is which, the kindly offices of an adviser _ and friend conld be beneßcfaHy exerted, and Mr March in an official way was both. Prom instructions received he-was empowered:to offer to such of the new arrivals as were without mncb means the same accommodation at the depot and chances for employment as the Government extends to immi- . yrante, also temporary quarters at the depot until they had an opportunity to secure others of their own. His business was thus, as has been did. a very proper one. There was no intention to treat any of the passengers as paupers, the purpose being: purely one of assistance to strangers arriving' in a new country without homes to go to, and without friends and acquaintances in a position to render them assistance or advice. It is said to be the intention of the authorities to act similarly towards the next large - batch of passengers expected by the Waitangi, and .it can scarcely be otherwise than that such a coarse will tend to the encouragement of a self-paid stream of immigration from the country whence these new arrivals came, and thus help to lighes the burdens of the colony in respect to assisted and free immigration. Mr March farther took a at the passengers, for the purpose of gnardingr against th c introbon to the province of persons likely to become a charge upon the local charitable institutions, either from bodily or mental infirmities. The appearance Of the vessel as she lay in the bay, the eaeer crowd of passengers being stretched along the deck looking- over the rail towards the no donbt welcome 6hcre. very much resembled that presented by a .crowded immigrant ship, and it affords noinconsriderable amount of proof of the favor with which -this colony is regarded by the emigrating classes in -the old country as a fair field to so tie in, that so large a,number had sought these shores of their own free will, aad at their own expense, from a carsory look round on board yesterday, it is certain rthat no exception could be taken to the quality of the passengers. They appeared to bes-most respectable and thrifty c&s, and should do well in the «olkny. With respect to their quarters on board, the twelve second-class passengers were quartered aft, on the port side of the 'tween decks, partitions dividing their compartments from the steerage. Tbe married people and single girls, steerage, were ! amidships, and the siegle men forward. These divisions were not quite as tidy as they would have bran had the weather jc*t before coming into port been finer, a fact pointed ont by several of the passengers. The voyage was reported to have been 6. particularly rough one, and its peculiarity in that respect wa« not modj£«i by the weather met with after reaching this noast.not a day of reauyfine -weather bavins favored the ship since making the Snares. It was pleasing to not* the nnaaimons opinion given by the passengers compUmeatary to OiptUewellea Dttiris and officers. lEjas. Irving also vras greatly hied by alt i_ reply to inqniries snade, every satisfaction was expressed at the fare provided during the voyage, an abundance of everything- being- on. board, and literally ssppSed to Qic passengers in each, The monotony of the trip was pleasantly relieved from time to time by amateur concerts, waxwork exhibitions, and ..hristy Minstrel performances, and each Sunday was remembered by the usual religions observances regularly kept ap. Upon the vessel beimj taken in tow yeitstdfty, a very pleasant occurrence took jSaae, in which Captain Da vies was -mads tfca recipient ef a flattering testimonial, supplemented •witk a parse eontairdn?: fifteen sovereigns, and the request that Jne would, on his return home, purchase something- for Mrs Davies as a souvenir from tas donors. Insddition to the second and third class Isassengers, thsre were thirty-eight saloon, th&owltose g*ed graces Captain Davies appears to kavaStßgraSated himself as thoroughly as in the other parte of the ship. Tha voyage oet has ooespied niaety-two days, m wifiyi*. WW. by jfcas. following report, snjplied by

the captain. The health of the passengers was remarkably good, no serious malady having ,<>ccurred to any of the 211 daring; the pissaga. Oa August 4th Mn Boeers gave birth to a son. The following is the master's report;— On Saturday morning-, June? 21st, towed from the , East India Dqeks, remaineS at Greenhitha until . late in the afternoon adjusting compasses, -with the emigratioii surveyors on board; then towea to Gravese-d, where the last of the passengers embarked, and was cleared by the medical officarabont 8 p.m.; slipped from tie buoys at Gravesond, and towed down; anchored off the Noieabont 11 pjn. Wind B.W. June 22nd, at 9 a.m., weighed anchor '. and proceeded in tow; auchore* in the Do was at SJ» p.m. Wind fwsh from the westward. -Monday. June 23rd, at 7 a.m., weighed anchor, and proceeded 1 to work down Channel under sail, sgainst fresh westwardly wind. Abont noon on the 24th, en Beachy Head, wind S.S.W.. and at no#n of the 25th off the Needles, wind W.S.W. Oa the 26th pilot left at noon, Start Point bearing W. half N., with an increasing wind from the westward; sighted the Lizards both on the 27th and 28th, and the Wolf Bock lighthonse bearing N.W. two miles at 7.30 pjn. of the 2Sth; Csbant Light both on the 29th and again, at 4 p.m., of the 30th, bearing N.E- sixteen mfilea. from which I took my departure. The W-S.W. winds experienced from the time we started had now veered to S.W. strong gale, and eontinoed until the 3jd July,. veering gradually to the westward. Sighted Cape Prior on the night of the 3rd: after few tacks weathered it on the 4th. Light N.E. winds were experienced 1 along the coast of Portugal,- and continned with occasional light airs np to that 19th inst. when in lat. 10 deg. X. long. 30 W. On the 20th the south-west monsoon commenced in a heavy squall; on the 2*th wind south, and on the 25th to S.S.E. Crossed the Equator on the 29th, In 25 deg. 50 mm. W. long., the trades continuing light from B.S.E. until the 31st in lat. 16 8. long., 32deg. 27 mm. W.: from thence to E S-E.-until the 3rd Aug., when the trade was lost in 23 dag. S.; then light variable winds continuing until the 9th, when it commenced again from N.E. fresh to strong, veering northward and thence westwardly. Passed the meridian of Greenwich on the 16th August in 39 deg. S. lat. on the forty-seventh day from the English Channel, or nftr-fooxdays from the Downs. Passed meridian of Cape of Good Hope on the 20th inst. in 40 deg. S.; Hog Island, Cro.ets, on the 28th; Kerguelen's land (centre) on the 31st; Cape lieuwin on the night of the Bth Sept.; South Cape, Tasmania, on the 14th; and the Snares on the 21st. Between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape I/euwin the principle part of the easting was run down, between the parallels of 48deg. and 44deg. S. Easterly winds ware experienced between 23deg. and 45deg. E. longitude, again in the neigbbourhourhocd of Cape Leuwin and the approach to the coast of New Zealand. Very stormy weather, with the barometer ranging betwen 29" and 2860 was experienced while to the south of Australia, but as soon as the meridian of Tasmania was passed the barometer went up gradually to 3935, with Very fine weather up to the latter part of the 17th. when the N.E. winds and thick fog set in, and TeeredtoE. Thick rainy weather on the night of the 19th; wind veered to the northward, being in the neighbourhood of the Snares, and Very thick weather and no observations for three days previously. Hove-to, heading to the westward duringthe night. At noon on the 20th sighted the Snares, distance about twenty-two miles. Had S.E. winds coming np the coast, and thick rainy weather. About 5 p.m. on the 22nd sighted Akaroa Heads; weather thick and rainy. Sailed round the Peninsula, but being so thick could not see anything; at midnight anchored in sixteen fathoms, weather being so very thick and wind from S.W. On the 23rd, while getting under way, parted the cable. On September 24th. at 2 a.m., took pilot on board, and about 7.50 the Lyttelton tug took us in tow and proceeded towards the harbor, making the [ passage from the Channel in eighty.five days, or i from the Downs in ninety-two days. List of ships spoken by the Crusader:—July 18th. 1879, in lat. 11.40 N„ long. 29.58 W.—British barque Canoma, of Glasgow, from Sulena creek to Falmouth, 120 days out; all well on board,' but abort of provisions. Supplied her with necessaries, and sent mail home by her. July 24th, lat. 5.17 N., long. 21.76 W.—Signalled the Aberdeen clipper ship Cairnbuly, from London to Sydney. July 25th, tit. 3JO N., long. 25.21 W.—British Ship Dunbar Castle, from London, via Plymouth, to Sydney. July 27th—British ship Garteonhol, of Greenock, from Glasgow to Bio Janeiro. July 28th, in lat. 5.27 S., long. 29.4 W.-Ship Cairnbuly . again in company. August 9th, in lat. SI S , long. 26 W.—Ship Cairnbuly again in company. On Sunday afternoon, the 21st of September, while off the Nuggets, sighted a foil-rigged ship and a barque to the southward of us. Since her last visit the personnel of the officer* has undergone a change. Mr Bichards, chief, returns in the old position; Mr Seabourne, who was third, has been promoted to the second position, the gentleman he succeeded having taken a position ashore. Soon after eleven o'clock yesterday morning the Crusader was shifted from the buoy and berthed at the Gladstone pier, astern of the ship Oraii. Her agents, Messrs Edwards, Bennett and Co., enter her at the Customs this morning.