WITH THE COASTAL CRAFT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 11

WITH THE COASTAL CRAFT.

SOME IDEA OF TIIE LIFE

(ByH. E. Currie.)

The deepwater sailormen will tell yoi —«nd" they ought to know— that on no coast in the -world where the trading ships go do seas run rougher or tvinds blow harder than on those of New Zealand. . And. the skippers and owners •wilt tell you that nowhere is there leas room for the incompetent seaman. Of the lives and work of our coastal sailors, however, it is curious how little is generally known. Even in Auckland, one of the principal ports of the trade, how few people realise that under the dirty cap of the slip-shod sailorman, who loafs from the wharves into Queen-street like the taniwhas in legend, coming out of their element, there is probably a fund of reminiscence and experience big enough to fill three books of adventure. The life they live is in many ways a hard one. The fewest possible number of men. is carried; even the cook often appears on the articles as an A.8., and gives a hand on the ropes -when required. In consequence, there is no room for wasters. Even with good sailormen, both watches are frequently required on deck at once to,set or reef the larger sails. "When the mates have the watches, there is little rest for Jack." In port, ordinary hours of labour are observed; the crew frequently does all the cargo-working, both loading and discharging, without; outside assistance, performing, that is to say, ordinary lumper's work —no further description of its arduousness is necessary. At sea; though there is a, little Jess of. the strenuous life, since half the time is "watch below," there is always plenty of toil for the watch on deck during daylight hours. Apart from the working of the ship, the deck-must be -washed down every day,, the running and standing gear undergoes a continuous steady overhaul, and there is paint to be chipped, paint to be scraped, paint to be cleaned by "sodgerin" (that is, by the application of washing soda); paint to he put on, both inside the ship and out, wherever one can reach from the decks. And in a ship, which is one kind' of household, all the •rdinary ■work of a household must be carried on. " . '? .• ■

The. actual amount- of "pulley-haul-ing"-varies-with the weather and the rig of the ship. Sometimes she will run for hours without the touching of a sail or the bracing "of a yeWL Sometimes, in beating to windward on , short.tacks, the' order comes to "'bout ship" every teK I minutes. There is, of course, always a linen at the'wheel. ;

Paint and pulley-hauling notwithstanding, it .is an exhilarating life, when the vessel >is moving swiftly and the weather is decently warm. But the attraction yanisnes -in xeally heavy, weather, when a whole knot of men hauling at some vertical rope will be swung with.a. lurch, like a pendulum, right across the deck; or, -when standing in a long irregular line, the mate at the head giving the •word to heave, the crew -will be suddenly drenched by the-top of"a. wave coming right over the veseeL And m complete darkness, only lit by the lightning, when mingled rain and spray are driven with such force that even through oilskins and sou-wester the crew gets soaked to the skin, -when the wind is blowing straight from the Polar iovandthe only thing to be done is to take in every inch -irf sail arid;" turn run for it till the wind :his itself 6ut\ there ; are> plenty of coeer pjacesHhan the shelterless deck of a'coasting hooker. Andvthe. man who goes «loft in soch weather, balancing on a- swayingfobtrope while he uses all his strength and .both' , his hands to make fast * topsail, where every lurch or roll is doubled in speed and distancethat man verily deserves honour as a master of his trade. ; Worse things than that happen, as every newspaper reader knows. All too often we hear of seamen swept off the deck; little beats wreckedj and one,or more of'the crew drowned, either in trying to get ashore, or iatrying to save the vessel for '■■ the owners. No passengers are carried, and the public soon forgets the incident. But it may be safely i3aid that ■ for .every such, occasion ending in disaster, there are six narrow escapes that do not get into the papers—cases where seamen,all but fell, where sound seamanship only managed to prevent- dismasting; where a big loose as the downhaul earned away, only tniaeed sweeping a deck-hand overboard by half an inch (as Sms happened to the writer personally); or, very rarely, %x\iaclee whereby a sailor has been washed off the - deck by one wave and washed back again by the next. ~ It'is no child's play to be skipper of a coaster. . Shoals, bars, channels, anchorages, shelter, the captain must know as fie does his'own deck. . He must be able to run for shelter in a stormy twilight through a narrow channel, where a few chains' error: in: his' course: will pile the* ship on the rocks, and to drop anchor within the-twenty acres of good holding ground that the anchorage offers. He must be able to take his boat

*_ A good deal "of mystery for a long time--surrounded the flying machine, which, it was announced a year or two ago, had been invented iv America by the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright: There were numerous stories of secret trials with marvellous results, and of extraordinary precautions taken to prevent the Press and the public from obtaining information about the invention.. At' the beginning of this year the invention was patented in Great .Britain. and it then appeared that "the aeroplane I is sustained in the air by the reactions which result from thin surfaces or wings moved horizontally, almost edgewise, through the air at a small angle of incidence, either by the application, ot. mechanical power or by the; force: of gravity. The wings are made "fctotfl Btretcfaed on a l«ht frame of wood and win. ■iHiim irtiiiitf>; Jill .liiiiiil'it J«*»

through the winding track of unbroken waves-for "miles among heaving whit* " horses at any of the many hartjour Hare •:■ that the New Zealand coast include*;; for the owners are not.goingvto lose the gilt off their, profits in paying'pilot feei. \ He must be skilful to-'dodge, asfar as : ; human skill can, the mischievous water- 4' spouts that spring .vp .three;.ot:"four : ;at' : ( a time some gusty-morning, and.threafcif; en to capsize any vessel they approach.- -.! ~> it In fine weather he need never show his head above the cabin scuttle; but in any emergency or evident risk, of. whatever • nature, he must always be on deck, > whether it be for six continuous hours,. , r 'K or sixty. ..-.- -■ '■ . . ... The captain's responsibility: varies with ■■':■■■ the competency of his mates. The state of things now is not quite what it used ■ •'■■-. to be, before two mates were required. vS by kuv. In olden days a skipper could, leave a good deal to a steady old bbsuri, : ; whose knowledge of practical seamanship'; '....£= was practically equal to his own." But '■'-' a boyish second mate, though he' has". ""-.>■ scraped through his exam., and may. be ' ■„" assumed to understand navigation, can-- • not be so depended, on. However, wheaT ' : a young New Zealander, who has, been, : " at sea from boyhood, gets his mate's! a ticket,, after, .the necessary term as;anl ■ . A.8., you. may depend on finding .him- : ■. every inch-a sailor, and his experience is enlarging every year. There is no formality on the coasters, and the discipline, though strict enough,.' "■'.--/ is that of men working for a''common'. •' iend. The skipper gets "Cap'n," .or " "Skipper," the first mate "Mate,'.'- or • else "Jim" (or "Mac," or "Dave,"as tfte -r. case may be), and the second mate his-, first name, like the rest of the-hands;! . : - The boy is usually called "Johnny/ on; : : general principles. An order given is -''-I generally repeated by. the man-receiving;' 3: it. The remark, "Aye, aye, sir!"'if it .■•'.:•- ever really obtained outsied Clark Rus-. r '- sell and "Pinafore," is not heard q» the:, New Zealand coast. There :is a-.wide-; -spread, and curious, objection, amonj £ manual workers in the Dominion to tne •■ use of "Sir" to any man—ran objection? which the charitable: may ;interpret a*. : \ some blind, wrong:hieaded form of 'sett-. ' respect. This objection is noticeable .;■: at sea. .'.'. . ■ '. •, ~ :'.;■'.;; . ;; And what sort of inesn. are they,whe! do their work among the ; conditionft sketched above,'.and pass their leisure, . •- mostly in sleep.in a tiny, foetid foc'sle, and smoke remarkably strong tobacco, : [ and use \remajrkably-strong ;languager— . (thereby helping to preserve -the deep : blue colour of:, the ocean) ?' ■. That they, are first-rate saUormen has already been* implied. .Simple souls for the mostpart,...... generous, and honest, they .are, at &&*,■ a splendid stamp of man. Ashore th* , - . worst vside >of them comes upperrffoiie. ' Perhaps reference.to "marttil: ■men"; may'serve for explanation, if not ' for -. are' given; to .wine, . for perils.commonly ask',to be paid,in -I pleasures.". Nevertheless,; it is a little incongruous to hear an - . headed old- shellback, the squl of ■ quiet geniality, ;wbx)ife favourite Sunday pi*; ■■'■• time /is 'to;.turn over the leaves of an" :." nlbum of:;family photographs, relate how; :f last trip he ruined a: suit ■of clothes by, j : falling over, the end of :tl»e -wherf >(an accident is supposed -happen, sponsor .late,- to" every seafaring man);; ■:';■. trip befprei • how,' thie trip before that, he fell backwards down the scuttle and split opea :, his skull; his explanation for each incident Jjeing, "I wass "ferry troonk." ' . >/srge proportion of the foe'sle hands are foreigners—that -is,, f ,T>utchies" and > "Dagoes/ the former term including all Teutons, Scandinavians, and Roskujus, > and' the latter the'MediSen'entSn'pWptes- —"~ They generally; or have been, deep- ■ water men, attracted to the coasting, trade by the good food and compara- : tively high wagesj. or.ehse waiting for *. ;" ship going to a port tha£ sorts them. They talk of "ye s straunge landes, ayont the sune arid moose," as familiarly a* < we. refer to the suburbs of Auckland. "••- -~. Four men in the foc'sle may easily among them claim acquaintance with all the greater ports of the seven seas—and ] , be reliable authorities on nothing bat the Uquora sold m each.:. To hear their; ■' : casual talk, after a meal, -while awaiting the call of the mate, in his deep bosun's voice, to '"TanitoSf fa Hfee feidsome new, wild, unexpurgated geography; text-book. . - . The number.,of New Zeafenders in the foc'sle is comparatively small; it may; . be explained in part ■ ty; the rapidity; r ■-' with' which, if there is any good ambi- '-••■•; tion in them, they, get .tbrir.'•'tickets* ■ ■ and go aft. In any case, it is mattet V for satisfaction that the Dominion has ■ on her. coasts saiktrmen of such a stamp, wherever born- H.eyer. trouble cmnes,'' and we have a navy to send them tei ■■-.■' sea in, these are : the men who, grtimb-" ;■■■■;■..; ling a good deal and swearing nota little, . , will sailvthat'navy/ wherever steam and . steamship can take it/"for the'.sakelibf ; seven poujids a month and their tudcer* .. It is." true there will .be' gunnere needed y,l ateo, and you cannot train a. gun crew fn ; one week, or in fifty, even 5 the ships '_'. were there to train them' on: t .-;I ~; : But that is a matter of politics, riot coastal shipping. ■ ,3feanwhiley.when yoa ■ . see the cre-w of ;a wind-jammer making . a night of it, -remember, that for all their faults, they do?men's.3>rk. \ : x

by upright standards, aai out both "flex and twist. Tim : front" hflcuws'tal' ' rod? ■: . ■ der is almost free from pressure in ac-T- •.>.-•• tion. When the' rear edge ie raised 6* lowered the course of the machine i» kept upward or downward at the nS of ths operator, who lies prone on, th* >,; lower wing surface. Hβ grasps the n**e roller, which controls <he rudder. T** tail or rear rudder coiiirol*'the :;moOan of the machine to right or irft. ±*T rudders arc moved by tiflerwr(^ l ' °" hips of the operator r«fc on a rnofaWe ; cradle, and -thereby he impsrbnootion > to-the wings. ' / J" N / r , - to :otnr;C»blee » -few.oa.ye ■/ ago,v»fter 'making; i phenomenal tlighC ~( at high speedj one. of the / ! wrecked their machine by •/ wrong lever at a critical momeot. Bdia ':. the flight of 47 mDea that btdtwjl- : tccomplwhwH a )<SR **y BtßpMMvetff* ■■«•■■ ■■' ■■■ > ■*■ « »_' * ■"■l .;';:-,T<»»Jt.-.;-; fly VnMlrTTPMß*..^ —n^B^l: L V-