TALES OF ADVENTURE

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 148, 23 June 1923, Page 24

TALES OF ADVENTURE

AFLOAT AND ASHORE. A Sailor's Memoirs —Reminiscences of Captain Rose—One of the "Blue Water" School.

Britain still builds line ships, and she , rtill has line men to man them and I command them, and, as Kipling poi"*s j out, romance did not disappear from the sea when steam drove sails over the j horizon. But there is less mystery, and j the whole seafaring business has become so complicated and strenuous that it ; s \ impossible to take in it that personal j interest that people felt for the beautiful ships that brought our ancestors to j Xew Zealand from the other side of the j world. In tlKw leisurely days the tall-sparred vessels, with their pyramids of snowy canvas, were known by name to every man, woman, and child, and about their captains, when popular, there was almost n halo of fame. Seamen and gentlemen, they achieved a popularity that would have turned the heads of men with less character. The master of :< fast and favourite liner in the "windjammer days" had ''Esquird" tacked after his name in the newspaper advertisements announcing the ship's impending departure, and his comings and goings were matters in which the whole town had a most lively interest. When Captain Ashby, for instance, took his departure from Auckland, the occasion was marked by quitej important functions, including an escorting fleet down the harbour —the sort of thins we now reserve for Governors and such big fish. Just such another of this splendid "blue water school" was Captain Henry Rose, who for many years was manager of the Xew Zealand Shipping Company in Wellington. When he died in London he was in his 79th year. 'LVentv-seyen years alloat. and twentyfour years ashore, lie was connected with shipping for 51 years, and in knocking round the world be saw many stir- j ring scenes. He remembered the horrors of the old convict days when men and women were transported to Australia, some of them for trivialities: he was' "trooping" ill the Black Sea ill the time of the Crimean war; he carried coolies from India to Uemerara; and then in a fortunate moment his course was laid for Xew Zealand, a country of which he became very fond, and in which ha eventually settled and brought up his family, one of whom is Mrs. HbUghton, wife of Mr. C. V. Uoughton, who for 36 years Mas manager of the Xew Zealand Shipping i ompany at Auckland, and is now retired. Captain Kose was full of good stories of lite at sea, and he was induced in the evening of his life to commit to paper some of the main incidents of his career, a document that bristles with interesting passages, and from it we have been permitted to make some extracts. The story gives a very vivid idea of the roving." adventurous life of a sea captain; in the middle and latter half of the last century, and after perusing it one is compelled to admit that while much of the romance of the sea has gone, much danger and suffering have gone with it. GUIDED BY A DREAM, Rom in Mompox. Columbia, South j America, in 1S3:!. Captain Rose at the ] age of nine years went to England with j his mother who. on the death of his I father, decided to return home. Up to-j that time tse lad hud not been at school, J having been taught at home by his ' fatl'Cr. who deeded he should first learn! Spanish, that being the language oi their adopted country. But the death of the father changed all their plans. AVhen the family got to England, young Ro-e was sent to school, and as he could then speak very little English, the boys looked on him as a "foreigner," and gave him a very lively time. "I had to tight my way," he used to say, "and not being able to eNplain my version of the trouble to the masters, I generally got the worst of it." The age limit of the school—the Ban-f-roft School, managed by the Drapers' Company—was 14. so he had to leave at Christmas in the year 1847, and as the time drew near it became a question as to what he was going to do to make a living. The sea was suggested, but he did not take kindly to the idea. Strangely enough, however, a few nights before the fateful day when he was to leave the schoolroom behind him, the little chap "had a very vivid dream. He dreamed that he went to sea and did well.. "It may se?m strange." he afterwards wrote, "but it is none the less trup, that that dream decided my future career, and T have never had cause to regret having followed what was then revealed to mc. Good fortune certainly nttended mc from the first. T was only with three captains before I received a command myself T got. each step when I was ready for it. and was in command at 26." STORMY LAUNCHING. A trip to Cuba in a barque called the Orestes was young Rose's first experience of the sailor's calling, and it was a rather inauspicious start, for in the notorious Bay of Biscay, the ship, being heavy laden, made heavy weather of it in a gale they struck. One of the boats was smashed, the first mate had his lea broken, and to add to the little fellow's frlooray fears, the cook, when parsing him the deck, volunteered the opinion. "You'll never see your mother asain." It certainly was a chperful Christinas for a youngster just starting out on a sea life. WLcii the Imrque returned to Knghinsl. the master (Captain Xcwby) left her and Rose was sent home, where he remained \vaitills f <"" something to turn ' up. In October. 1848. he was appren- j ticed to the owner of a ship called the St. Vincent. A month later bo sailed in the St. Vincent with Government! emisrants for Svduey, which was a very different niace from' the present fine eitv. In 1849 Circular Quay was only half finished: thers were soldiers' barracks where t!ie Market now stands in George Street: what is now Hyde Park was open land where at one time there had been a racecourse; and one very small steamer, the Fairy Queen, used to ply across the Harbour between Circular Quay and the Xorth Shore.

HIDE ISOUXD I'ORKERS. It was the end of May before fcuj ship sniifc: again for London, and they had a terrible trip to the Horn, which was not rounded until the 70th day out. i Constant X.E. winds drove the ship a. ] long way south. It was mid-winter, 1 and so cold that the spray from the ! waves froze on the rigging and on the sides of tlie ship. The exceptionally long delay in getting round the Horn ! led to the captain putting into Bahia for fresh provisions for the cabin passengers, of whom there were a large number on board. Among the stock that came oil' were six small pigs, which ■ proved to be hide-bound, but the cookj a Yorkshireman, was well up in the ways of the unclean animal. Every forenoon he used to put the piggies into a tub of very hot water, scrub them with a hard brush, then grease them well, and finish up by chasing them round the decks, after which he ; would give them a generous hot meal. | The result was surprising to those who i had feared they would have to forego their anticipated meals of nice crisp pork, for each little Bahia pig grew fast under the treatment, and the cook j ■was looked upon as a bit of a wizard. ' The trip home was an exceptionally | long one, taking no less than five months , from Sydney. j Hobart (then called Hobart Town) j was the S£. Vincent's next port, and instead ol" taking out emigrants, she carried women convicts who were embarked at Woolwich. It was the prac-1 tice in those days to allow a fortnight after embarkation for the friends of the "compulsory emigrants" to go aboard and make their farewells That, of course, is a very Ion" time ago, and of just how long" we are re- ! minded by the mention in Captain Roses manuscript that while the ship was anchored oil' Woolwich. Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV. died. The St. Vincent was the first ship to take the news to Hobart, where they found 11.M.5. | Meander, which went into" mourning for a week for her lato Majesty, in which the St. Vincent ((being in the Government service) had to join, although she had already at Woolwich paid her respects to the Queen's memory. Commanding the Meander was Captain Kcppel. aferwards Sir Hairy Keppel, who lived to a wonderful age. and was known as the "father" of the Xavy. WOMEX CONVICTS FIGHT: When women convicts were carried it was the custom to carry double crews, and firearms were served out in case there should l )e trouble. -'.On this voynge.' , wrote Captain Rose, "the women behaved well, and gave very little trouble. Sometimes, however, they would indulge in v tight. On one occasion they arranged a prize-fight between the two biggest women in the ship, one being Irish and the other Scotch. The two had no quarrel whatever, in fact they were good friends; it was simply a fight 'for the championship.' The mill rame oir o:ie morning on tiie lower deck when breakfast was being served in the saloon. "As soon as word came along that a fight was on the officer sent the boatswain and half a dozen men to put a stop to it. This, however, was easier said than done. The hatchways were barred all round and the only way to enter was through a. small gate*, but'this was kept well blocked by the two hundred women inside. At length, however, 1 the men got in and stopped the fight, j And it was none too soon, for although i the two champions fought fair, the i others got so excited that they joined in. and used anything they could lay their hands on. I can tell you that the sight was not pretty when the two principals were brought on deck!— Tha fight was declared a drawl" TICKETS % OF LEAVE. I As the women taken out by the St. Vincent had served part of their sentence in England they were placed on tickct-of leave when they reached Hobart. In some cases they were transported for quite trivial offences, and as many of them were quite young they had no difficulty in finding situations as domestic servants. When Capt. Rose returnel to Hobart three years later he found that most of the women had done well. Some ' of them had married shopkeepers and seemed quite happy. While the St. Vincent was at Hobart the ship Neptune arrived and had on board a, number of Irish political prisoners, including the famous Smith O'Brien. I This man O'Brien was concerned in the I disorders that marked IS4S in Ireland, j and he was originally sentenced to be j "hanged, drawn and quartered" after , being convicted of a charge of treason j He was rigorously kept in custody while in Tasmania, but was eventually pardoned and 1850 found him back in Ireland. • Of course cargoes were hard to pick jup in those days. There was nothing at Hobart, and the ship was also disappointed at Sydney so Captain Youii" i decided to go on to Bombay, via Torres j Straits which had not then been properly surveyed, and if possible ships I used to arrange to go through in oomjpany in case of accidents. Eventually ;the St. Vincent got a cargo of cotton at Bombay and reached London in March. 1851, the year of the exhibition at the Crystal Palace, that notable event in the Victorian era. GOLD FEVER. 1 The .lext voyage of the St. Vincent was to Sydney with immigrants, and when they reached port they found the place in a great state of excitement owing to the discovery of gold. The crews of most of the ships in port had do=erted and gone off to try their luck at the diggings. The St. Vincent's third mate and young Rose's fellow apprentices caught tiie goM fever and one day went ashore for good. >■ Young Hose stood by the ship, and his faithfulness had its reward, for he was promoted to third mate. wli;ch was a stroke of luck as he still h.ul eighteen mouths of his apprenticeship to serve. After the trip Home. Hohsrt was once more the destination of the ship, this time her passengers lining male convicts. As third mate. Kose had to act as purser, having elia>'ge of nil stces, mi important pot for one so young. but he fulfilled his job to the coni|llete satisfaction of Captain Young. Carrying men convicts was n very different business from carrying women, and to look after the. men a guard of fifty ■soldiers, a captain, two lieutenants, anil (the necessary non-commissioned officers

I of His Majesty for a figurehead. For some reason or other she was not accepted when finished, and being a fast ; craft—she could steam a good twentytwo knots—she was chartered by the I British Government as a dispatch boat, j and there she was in the Black Sea being used against the very royal family for which she was built. While the St. Vincent lay at Varna Prince Napoleon arrived and the allied Uects of France. England and Turkey j all dressed ship to receive the royal I personage. The day was line and in noting what a splendid show the Meets made Captain Rose remarks that the glorious old battle ships and graceful I frigates were more suited for that kind I of show than the ironclads of to-day, which are jusi, about as u£*y as they ♦•.an wall bo made. WARS TRAGEDY. Those were stirring and tragic times and the young sailor tells of many inj foresting people and things he saw. : On the return of the ship to Constantinople they embarked the llth Husj sars, "Prince Albert's Own.' , and took them to Varna. "They were si splendid lot of men, and sad to tell nearly all of them worn afterwurds killed in the celebrated Balaklava Charge." On another occasion young Rose was a visitor on board the line of battleship The Qneon when the <:,ll came for volunteers to place the scaling ladders at the fii-t. storming <>f Sevastopol. j The whole cr?\v volunteered as ona man. lmt only one hundred were : wanted. :v.;,\ tlie Commander selected I the party- "11s fine a b>! of ">'•» as 1 you would meet anywhere" says Capt. Rose. "Two days afterwards 1 saw them march off for the;front with their Ship's band playing "The Girl I left Behind Me." I was told lhat only three of that hundred men returned to the ship!" It was not until the end 011855 that the St. Vincent was paid out of the service, nnd she was afterwards sold. Young Kose had served seven years in her with Captain Young and Mr. Upton (chief officer), to both of whom be held himself indebted for the splendid training he had received, and another man for whom he had a great respect was George Bulmer. This George Bulmer was the carpenter, and bad served with Captain Young's father, then with Captain Y'our.g the son, and afterwards with Captain Rose, when the latter got a command. "He joined mc as carpenter in the Mermaid." says Captain Rose, "and remained with mo us carpenter ot the different ships until I retired to take up a shore appointment, when he also gave up the se:i. lie took up his abode in Lyttelton. where he died after reaching a good old age. George Bulmer was one of Nature's gentlemen, and as a tradesman ho could not be beaten, land could turn hia hand to most things —a most useful man on board a ship.'" [ IX THP: CHINA TRADE. j After the Crimean war a spoil ashore to get rid of rheumatism contracted in I thiT-Meditorraneau. was the lot of Captain Rose, who used his spell to qualify ' as first mate. In April. ISfi"), quit': 1 recovered in health, he joined the barque ! Colli nsburjjh (Captain Hindol as chief I mate. The (Dllinsburgli. which hnd a ! good turn of speed, was in 1 lie China J trade, and in her Captain Rose made itwo voyages to Shanghai and hack with I tea and silk. On the Hrst voyage sin: 1 raced against the Kriar Tu.'k. a now dipper, nnd beat Imr by a day. Xe\t voyage she raced with the Truce. Both ships loft the Shanghai r.itrhtship together and did not sight, one another again until they arrived in London. There were, of course, bets hanging on the result, and the crews made a wager as to which ship would first be made fast in the dock, decks cleared up and , all work finished. The losing crew was to pay for a gallon of brandy. The Collinshurgh was favourite, and when ;-lio arrived at Gravesend there j was no sign of the Truce, so the crew concluded, they were an easy first. Arriving at tlie dock gates hall'-an-hoiir before the state of the tide would allow the ship to enter, the crew of the Colliusburgli wore surprised to see the Truce being towed up the river, and making for the- same ilirk. Having prior right of entry, the Collinsburgh was sure to get in first, but the Truce hung to her. and they entered together, being made fast one alongside the other. I Then both crews set u> work to clean J up. It was a great nice, and ifraidst, , intense excitement the crow of the , Collinsburgh won the, gallon of brandy ! with only live minutes to s-pare. A race ■from Shanghai to thp docks in London and only, live minutes difference between them at tlie finish! I THE GENTLE CONVICT. j This time when ashore Rose passed j his examination for master, and after v trip to .Madras (making five years in the Collinsliurstli altogether) he left, (finding there was no chance of promotion. 'He looked round for a command, but ' ships we. ■ bard lO get. and to fill ;n time ho ( went na chief mate of a vessel ! vailed the Sir .Folm Laurence, which was ! to Ink ■ convicts fnun Woolwich and j Portland for Bermuda. j "The usual doctor appointed to take I charge of tlic convicts iippoarcd to mc to l>e tuo line a gentleman for thnt sort of work, und as ! had sailed on convict ships before I gave him as much inI formation as possible.'' says Captain l,Rose. "I told him they would try to frighten him by making threatening remarks when lit; went, below each .night at eight o'clock, and cautioned J him not to take uny notice, as it was 1 l.'lufl" on their part. l!v the time we J reached l-'ortland my 'friend had had enough, and telegraphed to be relieved. It must have caused surprise to the. person that got him the appointment, us it was well-paid work, tlie doctor's naval pay going all the time, and in i addition he got free ■ tabic and wine allowance." Tlie doctor who took his , place wax an old hand with convicts, ■mid the living freight of the Sir John j Laurence w:is landed at Bermuda without any trouble iieing experienced. I From Bermuda the ship went to • Savannah to load cofton for Liverpool, ■and being the Hrst iron ve.-sel fi'ttc.l j with iron masts and wire rig»iii2 to .visit thai port. *he «a.-i an V7bj,M't of j great intcrost to the people of the 1 tow,,, who use I to Ih.ck down to see , her. l>lll rrlurrciiii; to England, and ■ lindimi tiliil there was m> i-hanoe of I proi::o ion in the firm that owned the iS-r John Laurence. Rose left and joined tlie While star Line. Shortly 'afterwards ho was appointed to command la ship called the Jessie Munn. His elation at getting a coin maud was soon ■damped when he found that his pre- ; decosaor, who had a great reputation for "keeping down expenditure." had actually starved tire ship, and a groat ; deal of money had to be -pent on her to put her into first-rate order. i ' Soldiers. emiflTaiits, and convicts had been carried round the world by Captain ! Rose, and now he was to have oxperi- ; once of a different class of passengers, tiie ship being ordered to Calcutta to take on board Indian coolies for the

was embarked. That such a precaution , < was necessary was proved by an mci- ' i dent that happened on the voyage. Four ; of the convicts managed by some means ( to steal a chisel and also a dinner knife, . and from the latter they made a rough ] but very serviceable sort of saw. With i . these two tools they managed to cut a \ \ way through the deck into the storeroom. , Their object was to secure possession of the magazine, but fortunately it was . at the after end of the ship and they ' were not able to get through. Foiled of ' the powder and firearms they turned j ' their attention to some brandy among I the stores, which led to their undoing, > as it was easy to see who had been in- J dulging. i LEG-IRONS AND THE CAT. j ' To try 'breaches of discipline a board |, was set up, comprising tiie captain of , the ship, the eaptiiin «i i3m guard, as-J the doctor. Two tiozen ntrokes of the "cat" was the sentence of flic board, and in addition the men were ordered to be : ! kept in leg-irons for the remainder of the I voyage, "I well remember that after- '■ t j noon," wrote Captain Rose. "It was ah ■ lovely day. The whole of the Gi.-ard were , [stationed on the poop overlooking tlielj main-deck, and the crew, each man armed ] with a loaded pistol, wore stationed on , I the main deck. The grating was placed ' ( I in position and beside it. stood the carpenter with the leg-irons ready. Thor scene was most impressive. Never before \ . had I seen a man Hogged, and never shall 1 forget it. When all was ready the ' whole of the convicts were paraded on ' J deck to witness the punishment. The I 'leader of the gnng that 'had broken into the store-room was a big burly Thames j ' lighterman, and lie waa the first ordered ' to stand forward for punishment, lie 11 refused to move. Captain Anderson, the I captain of the Guard, walked up, placed t ' his revolver close to the man's head and '■ said, "I will give you three chances. If 1 jyou don't walk over on the third warn- i jing 1 will shoot you dead!' , s "You could have heard a pin drop. "Captain Anderson called out. 'Will ' jyou go , ;' A second time came the call. ' I'Will you go?' Voice and hand were as 1 steady as though he were giving order.' , . ' ,on parade. All the time the convict who refused to stir kept his eyes on those of)' I the officer. For the third time Captain ji I Anderson called out, 'Will you goV The i man stepped out. • "Captain Anderson told us afterwards that ho never felt so glad as he did when I the man moved. The captain said tluit ' in another moment he would have shot the man dead, and he was greatly re- '• lieved when there was no necessity to ' shoot. Yet to all appearance the captain was perfectly cool, and those of us ' (looking on had no idea of the tension of ' his mind. '• MEN SHACKLED TO ANCHOR ' CUAix. ; "When we reached Hobart Town the j, four prisoners were taken K-fore tln-j. magistrate, who v entenced them to Xor-1. folk Island for life. When the big| Thames lighterman heard the Sentence | he retorted that it. made no difference I to him where they sent him. lie boasted j i that the authorities in England had [ failed to master him. and he didn't think that anyone else would be able to do it.' i I The magistrate advised the big fellow to I; i keep his tongue quiet when he got to j i , Xorfolk Island, where they would shoot ' a man for much less than the prisoner' , had said that morning. ; "Xone but the worst characters were i . jse,nt to Xorfolk Island, and at the time! of which I a in writing the treatment : there was very severe. The Governor of . the island (Mr. Price) wns very brutal in hit conduct toward* the convicts, and i eventually ho was retired when the Gov- . eminent found out what his conduct was , like. After his retirement he went to ' Melbourne, where ho was one day shot : dead, and no one was summed. ; { ''The Government barque Lady Franklin, which was kept for thn pufpopp of, I conveying convicts from Australia to Xorfolk Island, was to. sail soon after] our arrival, and our four prisoners were, , to go in her. At the invitation of the mate, j ■ of the barque I went on boa r<l her to c have a look round, so that T might see i how they managed the convicts, and T ■ certainly got a surprise. On going i below I found n length of chain cable on ( I either side of the deck where the priso- ■ ! ners worn kept. The ends of the chain , ■ were stretched to the. anchors on each . : side, and the convicts were all shackled , to the chain liv their feet. When the , men went on boar<l they were warned that, if any attempt were made to mutiny! ■ . the anchors would be let go, and, shack- ■ , led as they all were, the result might lie ■ imaginrd were the threat ever carried ( .out. The mate told mc the barque did I. ' not carry a guard, and only liikl the ordi- r nary crew to work the vessel—hence the , methods adopted for keeping the con- , , viets quiet. "When I passed our big Thames light-J erman. shackled to the ominous chain.] he fairly broke down. There was noj| question about his beinj beaten-—and no . ' wonder; i THE SAILOR AXD THE HAIR OIL. I I '"Once more the ship had difficulty in ■ finding , a cargo for tin- return trip, and so the captain decided to go through | Torres Straits once more and see if he: , could pick up anything by calling at: some of the islands to the north of Alts- j tralia. ' "The first place they touched at was ' Macassar, where they loaded coconut oil | and other tropical produce. Captain!' Rose used to tell a good story against i ' himself concerning that once famous pre- . paration for the hair, Rowland's Jlacae-j" sir oil. At one time every dandy and belle URivl to plaster it on their hair, and; as n matter of fact thnt familiar article' , of the Early Victorian drawing room.: the anti-macassar, was invented specially! to save the furniture from the heads of j ■ the guests who favoured the product of ' Rowland's brain." i It was part of young dose's duty to ; • sro ashore every morning for fresh pro- : • visions, and while hanging round one ; morning it struck him that he would i i . pet some Macassar oil to take home, i • fining into a shop he asked the clerk. \ > who was not sure they had any. but : i after a search at last carnc back with j one small bottle of Rowland's Ma'av!, sp- oil. made in London. The snil-.r | ; told the dork thnt was not what lie': : wanted -he wanted some nf the <reniiiiie ! . loeil article. The dorl: retcr»ed that tl>» \iiilt- <=orf of .oil they kn™ in' I M"fuses'r wa« the smelly coco nut oil •■ . \ th-t I!ic slrp iras thon' loiuling. All' ' ld«t t l '" Pai'T woke up *o 'be ro-lis-ntinn that Rowland siini>l" used tl>'i ! ~.,"-. : »« ■! ti'"di-Tnnrk. "Wp ccrh-'iilv i wero green in the <l»ys of our youth." I , confesses C.iptnin Rose. I; i , OFF T0 THE CRIMEA. When the Sf. Vincent got back to ] ' London the Crimean war was starting.' ; and the ship was taken by the Govern- i' ' nient for a transport. Rose, who in the !' j interim had passed the Board of Trade ' ' examination, being appointed second mate. At that time he was only a ' httlo o»c twenty years of ags. ' Em- : ', burking artillery with their horses at; Woolwich the St. -Vincent proceeded to ! Constantinople, and was afterwards , towe.d to Varna by the dispatch i steamer Emperor. This steamer was i : built in England as a yacht for the , Emperor of Russia, and had an elligy

took his bride with him. Upon returning to London, Captain Rose was transr ferred to the llerope, in which he remained until 1873, when he retired from the service of the Shaw, Savill and Company. WITH THE X.Z. SHIPPING CO. I He then decided to join the newly esI tablished Xow Zealand Shipping Company, in which he bought shares. At first the company had to use chartered ships, but when their first new ship, the Eakaia, was built, Captain Rose took I command, sailing in her in the New Year jof 1874 for Lyttelton. When he got : back to London the company's Waimatc J Avas ready, and he took command of her for the voyage to Lyttelton. While ,in the colony Captain Rose was offered ■ and accepted the position of Marine .Superintendent for the company. At . a dinner aboard the Waimate to celebrate his retirement. Dr. Donald, the health ollicer at Lyttelton for many years, said lie had been looking over the .records and found that during the many years Captain Rose had commanded ships in the Canterbury trade he had bought out a greater number of passengers to Lyttelton than any other captain, and with less sickness and fewer deaths. I In the following year the directors of the company appointed Captain Rose manager of the newly-opened branch ofliec at Wellington. Ife took over on August 1, 1874, and held the appointment until ISn.S when he retired. During the 24 years Captain Rose was in charge of the Wellington office he saw ] great strides made in the company's I affairs, including the change over from sail to steam. Still more remarkable were the changes that took place afloat between the year 1547, when he made ; his first voyage on the old barque , Orestes, and the year ISO.S when he retired from active service, after half a century among ships and shipping, twenty-seven years of which were spent iat spa.

plantations at Demerara. The great danger with such a freight was sickness, but Captain Rose got safely through the voyage without any trouble. In this he was fortunate, as the doctor appointed turned out to be a madman, and had to be put off duty before the ship was many days out from Calcutta. Another, coolie ship spoken on the voy- j age reported that fifty of her coolies had died of the dreaded cholera. DISOBEYS ORDERS. A.s the depth of water on the bar at Demerara was not enough to allow the ship to load for the homeward voyage . Cant Rose's instructions were to pro- • ceed in ballast along the American sea- i board calling at the principal ports, and if he was unable to get a cargo he was to <ro on to Quebec ami buy a cargo of tim- . her on ship's account. Captain Rose, however, did a daring thing for a young master on his first command. He deliberately disobeyed orders. "I thought the matter over," he wrote, ■■then consulted my agents as to getting . a cargo and as to the rates of freight for London or Liverpool. I also saw the harbour-master about the deepest draught with which the. ship could get over "the bar, and found that owing to the mud on the bar being very soft I. could load the ship two feet deeper than | the depth of water on the bar by getting v coasting steamer to tow mc over it and out to sea. I went into the mattei and came to the conclusion that the shin would carry sufficient Cargo to miikv a very fair'freight, and that this would be better than carrying out my owner's instructions, so 1 made up my j mind to run the risk and load for, London." YELLOW JACK ABOARD. Yellow fever wns raging, and Captain j Kose was naturally anxious about his; crew lie got a "good despatch and thought that for a time his troubles were over, but they had not begun. Four days after leaving Demerara three of the crew showed decided symptoms of the fever. There was no doctor on board and when Captain Kose came to gf> through the medicine chest he found that most of the quinine had been used. The fore-saloon had been fitted up as a hospital for the coolies, and after some alterations the captain put the men in it as they took sick. When he found the fever spreading he had all the small sails furled, putting the ship under topsails, jib and spanker, and as she had entered the northeast trade wind where fine weather could be depended upon, the ( ship only required one man to steer and another to keep the look-out. j '•Only six of us, including the steward and myself escaped the fever." wrote! Captain Rose describing this trying ordeal. "The thoueht kept passing through my mind that it was quite on the cards that one day the ship might be found with her sails flapping- the last man lying on deck, find no one to tell the tale. We lost live of the crew and the only passenger, an Knglish engin- j eer who was leaving Demerara on account of the fever. This poor fellow had come down from up country intend-' iiic; I" leave by the mail steamer, but he wns too Into", nnd as we were the first ship sailing he took pa«eaff with us. When ibn fever broke out on board he told mc it was all over with him. and in: two clars be wns a dend man. I have' no doubt in my own mind that he died , from sheer fright, as so far as I could; see he had no signs of fever about him. i "Thompson, one of the ship's boys, | was very ill. and one morning when going 1 my rounds with the steward, I remarked that the lad would be the next to pass,' speaking very low so that he should n it. hear mc. To my great surprise he re- j covered. Years afterwards when I was in Wellington, New Zealand, the ship Bombay arrived under charter to the New Zealand Shipping Company, and when I went on board a man came up and addressed mc by name. He asked ( mc if I remembered him. It was Thomp- f son. He reminded mc that I had given him up when he was so ill on the "Jessie Munn," and told mo that he heard my remark about him being the next to die, but he bad never shown that ho had noticed it, and never mentioned it. "By degrees the crew recovered, and. with care and sea air they were fairly | strong again when we reached London. Captain Rose quite expected that he would be told his services were no lonsfcr required owing to having disobeyed instructions at Demerara. On i the contrary, ho was congratulated, but' the owners told him that he had run a great risk for a young man, a stranger, and one making his first voyage in the service. [ BOUXD FOR AUCKLAND. ! "So ended my first command, the most trvinf in my experience,"' says Captain Rose. "It caused mc much anxiety at the time, and little did I think what good fortune was hi store for mc." His • owners then gave him the ship Mer- j maid, under charter to the Shaw, Savill and Company, for the outward voyage to Auckland, New Zealand. The voyage was a healthy one, he was told, and it ' would set him up again after his trying experience, for his health had suffered. Tliis was the beginning of Captain Rose's long and honourable connection with Xew Zealand. The Mermaid was a regular . trader to Xew Zealand ,was well found, a favourite, especially in the Canterbury trade, and Captain Rose was naturally very pleased at his unexpected good fortune in getting command of such a vessel. Christmas. 1861, was spent in : Auckland by the Mermaid, and in April of 1862 the! ship left Lyttelton with a ' cargo of wool for London. ; A LOST BET. ; . j "When I first arrived at Lyttelton," says the. narrative of Captain Rose, "the Lyttelton-Christchuivh railway tunnel had not long been started. Owing to the hardness of the stone, progress was very slow, and I used to say that if. the job was finished during the time I commanded a ship in the Lyttelton trade 1 would aive a big ball. On my arrival narly in 1S(5O r found the work sufficiently advanced to allow mc trains to run during the day. the men still working at the tunnel during the night, so I decided to rarrv out my prnmis-o. nnd with the assistance of Mr. Edward Richardson. managing contractor, and Mr. William >Vftoii Moor-l-oiiM. Superintendent of the Province, it was arranged that a special tram should take the guests for the ball to be given on hoard the Mermaid. 1 believe this was the first special train outside ofliciiil business to take pa*sencers from Christchurch to Lyttelton. Thanks to the help of my lady friends, who took great interest in thp affair and made a number of silk Hags and otherwise helped mc, the ball was a great success. A few days before 1 sailed, mv Canterbury friends paid mc the rolupMment of giving mc a return l>al!_ in the Town Mall. Christcliurch." Upon his arrival in London Captain Rose found that the White Star Line had failed, and he joined the Shaw. Savili and Company. While on shore ho got married, and when he went out to Xijw Zealand in August, KSfiO. in command of the new ship Zealandia, lie