CLIPPER SHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 160, 8 July 1922, Page 17

CLIPPER SHIPS.

THE FAMOUS LOCH AWE AND

VANDUARA

LONDON TO NEW ZEALAND.

(By HENRY BRETT.)

No. II.) Many fast passages were made to New Zealand by the clipper ships winch in the cany days flew the house nags of the Shaw, "Savill Co., New Zealand Shipping Co. and other lines. During this period many of the ships were running light and bringing on each trip from 300 to 500 immigrants, who came out under Sir Julius Vogel'e scheme of colonisation, and were destined for the four chief ports, Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Ihinedin. Many mis-state-ments have appeared in the papers when referring to the time occupied by these noted old ships, but more has been published about the Loch Awe's record passage to Auckland than about any other vessel. The correspondence has frequently emanated from persons who were passengers by this vessel, and it is surprising how they differ. I propose further on to give the actual time occupied by this vessel in her run from London to the Waitemata, but before doing so must epeak of the famous Miitiadea. CONCERNING THE MJLTIADES. I have recently read a very interesting book, "The Colonial Clippers," published in London last year and edited by Mr. Basil Lubbock. The volume contains a list with fine illustrations of vessels which have made fast passages to and from the Australian and New Zealand ports in the early days. Unfortunately I there are also several inaccuracies in i this book when recording ships trading to Auckland. Referring to the ship Miltiades' voyage from London to Auckland, Mr. Lubbock states: "The Miltiades while beating up to Wellington slid Jon to a reef. Ca;tain Ferritt iinmedijate'y fired h r s signal guns and sent up I a rocket to attract attention. L ckily I for him an inter-colonial steamer had just rounded the North Heads bund in, and at once went to Ms assi tance and got the Miltiades off." SHIP ASHORE. Scarcely a sentence in the foregoing ' e"<tract from Basil Lubbock's book is c r- i rect. The MUtiades let Gra esend on May 2 at 11 p.m. with 470 immigrants < ■ for Auckland, not for Wellingt -n. After i ja good run ehe crossed the Equator on ( , May.24,,.and the meridian of the Cape on 1 I June 23. Tasmania was sighted on J '.y t j 13, and the Three Kings on July 20, the ' I ship making the run in 77 days from l land to land. Ten dpaths (inosUy elttlii- J ren) and birthe occurred during • J the voyage. There was much excitement ' in Auckland when at Mount Victoria, oa ' j the morning of the 23rd, the signal 1 I was hoisted "Ship ashore." The Mil- < ; tiades was beating up between Tiri and I J Rangitoto, and when between Takapuna * and the Wade, about 1 o'clock, the ship missed stays and drifted on to a m d <i bottom. The wind was light from the I south, but suddenly changed as she was ! goin<r about. •- - - .. .. The small paddle wheel steamer Lady Bowen, Captain Kasper, bound out for Waiwera (not an intercolonial steamer as mentioned in Mr. Lubbock's book) went to the Miltiades , assistance, and remained alongside until all a-prehen-sione were dispelled regarding her eafetv. With the rising tide and a little assistance from the Lady Bowen the Milt'adee was soon in deep water, and sailed into port without sustaining any damage. The voyage occupied 81 dayg into port. I may mention that no rockets were fired; the ship -went ashore in midday as described above. There was considerable talk among shipping men in Auckland when Captain Casey, owner of the Lady Bowen, cent in a claim to the agents of the ship demanding many thousands of pounds for a couple of hours' work. The case eventually went to arbitration, and Captain Casey, to everybody's astonishment, was awarded £1625! The Miltiades had made several fast passages to Australian ports, but this was her first voyage to NewZealand. LOCH AWES REMARKABLE RUN. 76 DAYS LONDON TO AUCKLAND. STANDS AS THE RECORD. d — c As stated before there has been more , controversy over the time in which the * Loch Awe made the run to Auckland , than over any other vessel's performance, and all of the' correspondents writ- a ing in the "Auckland Star" and "New Zealand Herald" have fallen into the same error. Only last week a correspon- t (lent who claimed to have been an officer 0 on the ship made the same mistake as s many others by stating that the run was f done in 73 days. The same inaccuracy | f appears in Mr. Basil Lubbock's book at I s page 211. The Loch Awe was a vessel' of 1053 tons, commanded by Captain." Weir, and the time actually occupied i * on the voyage was 76 days 4 hours. j t The "New Zealand' Herald," in |c announcing her arrival, says:—"With ■ c regard to the passage of thh ship, sh: ji appears to have made an extraordinary ! s quick run from London, having com- j i pleted the passage in 76 days. This per- J formance so elated the master that he ( could not be induced to furnish the t shipping reporter with an account of the 1 passage out. This behaviour ir altogether different to what reporters have i been accustomed to receive from tap- l« tains of vessels arriving in our waters." 1 The "Southern Cross," in dealing with I Captain Weir's rudeness, says: —"The Loch Awe is commanded by a. person named Weir, who indulges in Billings--gate slang in a manner to which shipping reporters are not accustomed to be , subjected. The New Zealand Shipping 1 1 Co. have made a mistake and substi- r tuted a man fitted perhaps for a New- " castle collier trade in its worst days in place of a person who could conduct f himself with ordinary courtesy." , GREAT SAILING. t On the morning after the arrival of 1 1 the Loch Awe the reporter of the "Auek- j Jland Star" was supplied with, and pi;b- j " lished at the time, the following report, ■ 8 particulars being given from the log! s book by the chief officer, Mr. t Bovd: * "The Loch Awe, with t 3G9 immigrants on board, left Gravesend i on the 6th April, at 4 p.m., and parted c with the pilot on the 9th. We crossed a the Equator on the 30th April, pased d the meridian of the Cape on the 22nd t May, ran down the easting in !atit::de 1 45 "degrees with strong south-west to; r north-weft winds: took in the main top- , p sail for the first time in the passage on t May 29 in longitude 51.36 E., latitude 1: 45 I*S l>. Passed longitude, of Cape t Leeuwin on June 8 in latitude 45.10, and . I were abreast of Tasmania on 13th June, s being within 30 miles of Kuric Bock at|t

10 p.m. On the 14 th we fell in with a very heavy couth-cast gale, and at 3 a m. on the loth the ship tdok a very heavy roll and filled the port lifeboat, which carried away the davits, taking with them the topgallant and main rails and everything movable on deck. From thence the weather became better, the wind settling into a steady south-east breeze, which carried the ship to within ten miles of the Xorth Cape. The Three Kings were sighted on the 19th June at 1 p.m., the passage from land to land being thus made in the unprecedented time of 69 days 4 hours. The ship experienced south and couth east winds down the coa=t. and anchored in Auckland Harbour after competing the voyage in 76 days 4 hours. From Tristan I'Acun'na into t rr we necupiuu only Si" j days, a time probably never apprrached I by any ship. The log shows f an average

daily run during this time of 247 nautical miles, the highest record for the day being 330 miles on the Bth June. During 'one week from the 4th to the 10th June the Loch Awe' ran the extraordinarydistance of 2159 milee, representing an average of 308 miles a day." A GREAT "DRIVER." Captain Weir had the reputation of being a great driver. During the tt"rm on the 15th June the married couples and single giris. on board had a very uncomfortable time, and were'battened'down for two daye, but the single men did not suffer this inconvenience. The ''Star" report of the tripetatcs: j "Dr. Wylie, in charge of the passengers, when civilly asked some queiti ns returned very bearish ansv ers. To uee hie own elegant language, 'He didn't care a damn for-'any paper.' The doctor was ac unpopular "with the majority of the passengers ac the captain, although I am informed fry some of those still living in Auckland' that Mr. Lockhart and a few passengers presented Captain Weir with a case of pipes after landing in Auckland." Thr- Loch Awe, under another commander, on her next voyage to Auckland some years later occupied S9 days on the passage. She was then rigged as a barque. END OF THE LOCH AWE. During-the war with Germany a message was received narrating the sinking with loss of life of a Norwegian vessel, the barque Madura, as the result of a torpedo attack by a German" submarine. This vessel was the. old Loch Awe when she flew the red ensign. A correspon- j dent writing to the "Star" at this time; referring to the Loch Awe's voyage said: \ "There were some curious features about] this remarkable sail over more than j 13,000 miles of . the globe, the time being before the days of the cable service: The first announcement the Loch Awe's agents ir. Auckland had of the sailing .from London was her arrival in the . WS.itema.ta. The consequence was that considerable delay occurred in passing Customs entries and other papers connected with the cargo. The documents arrived a week after the ship dropped anchor. The fast passage was not at all appreciated .by the passengers. The captain of the Loch Awe was a regular old 'sea dog, , and when an opportunity to crack on occurred.he would batten d own his 'live stock,' as he called his passengers, and drive ,the ship through the water like a railway train. He was bent on making a record passage, and one of the consequences was that •when he arrived at Auckland he

had only two boats left. The Loch Awe covered the distance from London to .New Zealand in six weeks .less time than the James Wishart and Queen of Nations. These two ships left London and Belfast respectively on the same day, just three days before the Loch Awe left London, and they arrived at Auckland on July 5, 1874, in time to see the record-breaker discharged and almost ready for sea again." BATTENED DOWN. As Mr. Boyd, in furnishing the report of the Loch Awe's voyage, made no reference to passengers being battened down, I inserted an advertisement in the personal column of the "Star," asking the passengers to write or call upon mc, so that I might substantiate some of , the sensational statements published. I received more than a dozen replies from, .

the city and country districts supplying many, interesting details. Two days after the advertisement appeared three gentlemen who had been passengers called upon mc and they all-arrived at about the same time. They shook hands- and coni versed in my room. They had not met since .leaving .the ship over fifty, ycnis ago. When asked how many times the passengers had been battened down, one man said "Never"; the others to . some extent corroborated the published statements, but they agreed that it occurred only on the occasion of the big gale in the Tasman sea.. The one who stated they , had never been battened.clown came out

as a single man; they, apparently were allowed their freedom, but the married couples with their families and the single girls were not. allowed on deck during the gale. These men sat and discussed many incidents. which occurred • during the voyage. They did not agree upon many points, "but they were all of the opinion that the passage had been made in 73 days and were surprised when I read Mr. Boyd's report to find their memory had failed them. » The chief officer of the Loch Awe, Mt. Boyd, was later. given command of the ship Piako, bound from London to New Zealand. The vessel caught fire marly

miles off the South American coast. All the immigrants on board were placed in boats and safely landed at Pernambuco. Captain Eoyd remained on board and succeeded in steering his ship into Pernambueo, where the rire was got under. The immigrants were again taken on board and were safety landed in New Zealand. VANDTJARA'S FAST VOYAGE. 77 DAYS LO>TDON TO AUCKLAND.

It is not generally known that another ship ran the Loch Awe very closely for the record. The ship Vanduara, 2012 tons, Captain Carrance, left Deal on the loth October, 1885. She passed Madeira on the seventh day out. Then for several days southerly winds and calms prevailed, during which very little progress was made, the Equator not 'being crossed until the 24th day out'Tir longitude 29 degrees west. The south-east trades were taken from otf the Equator, but though they proved steady were only moderate in force. The meridian of the Cape was passed on the forty-fourth day out in 43 degrees south, thence fine strong westerly winds carried the ship 100 degrees east, when, owing to strong easterly gales with rain, five days were lost. Tasmania wae rounded on the sixty-sixth day out with westerly winds, which continued the two following days. After 24 hours' calm strong northerly winds set in, carrying the Vanduara close to Cape Farewell on Christinas Day. On the 27th December, at 10 a.m., sighted Cape Maria van Dicman, and passed the North Cape at 1 p.m. the same day, 73 daye out. Thence down the coast experienced light baffling winds, arriving at Auckland on December 30—after n .splendid run of 77 days. (To be continued, next Saturday.)