COAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 167, 16 July 1924, Page 7

COAST.

CHAT WITHHOLD HAND. A TERKIBLE STOKM. | over S% d SerVd a struggle to Ta®, Viwrpn In consequence . c f this,. 3lr - P Ho gut some schooling fe f 4&" panics'Bav "n. ,t thely^r , a p.". J deal, waterfront ~h ^r k; d Mr _ shepherd smee the?, r « m into Mechanics'l * W vl tifo and discharge their aU the pretty bays have j Sow Tto-rh zu i s run out , ten reo α-njed and lo d . toto the Harbour » d tnen ext; n my year were at le h " of t i, c Maoris for . J t9 ff ere teacher Society. SoSfji at man Catholic station Here was also » t Father Btle fSnk hs nan/was, worked GarriveU Y" n^. th parents. There; those early, ™ 5 there W ample room for all-, days, as "ere wu at Te * Wtlv after we arrived there. ] or "large number of \ It « , I "^ e in the windows. Those j WjSli from England, and ™"i ™ done by the Rev. Morgan ' Srher I believe the stained G. A. SelwynShipping Out Of Auckland, i there is nothing that * ' Terh e fcarlvcolonists like myself SO \ the "reat change in means "f Irf dipping that now obtains ; • nd A™tland as compared with the " ?nf the olden days. The fleets of SVd stll Reamers which now run Sarly to the various ports of >.ew zfS are indeed a wonderful improveSt upon the uncertain date ot arrival 3"the old sailing vessels but for SLherv a nd beauty of modelling, the tot KeUed by sails were far ahead 7the Wern iron tanks run by steam. ■•Tlcre were a large number of sailing vwkls trading in and out of Auckland Sarin tte days when I first went to sea and what was more, most of theln were built here. There were topeauVand fore and aft schooners, ketches and cutters in the running. In many instances their trips ended m tragedy, astheywere wrecked on the rocks ana teaches around the Xew Zealand coast I sMpped in the topsail schooner built by Bagnall Brothers at Matakana. A Dane, Captain P. Iwerson, was master. Other shipbuilding yards were in various bays of the Waitemata, also Onelumga, Mahurangi and Omaha. Many] fine vessels were turned out in those days,' one oi them being the well-known i toque Handa Isle. She was built by Dirrach in the Sorth, and was a famous trader to and from Australia. When I Joined the Excelsior the West Ct#ist goldfleldswere in full swing, and quite a number of sailing vessels were carrying farm and garden produce to Greymoutfl andy Hokitika, where, owing to the number of miners, there was a^great demandfor all kinds of food at good prices, At that time both places -were practically .unapproachable excepting by sea. Passengers were also carried to these places, notwithstanding the lack of accommodation on the sailers, which lad been built to carry cargo only. Hardships did not deter men, and even ¥omen, from getting to the goldfield3 in the hopes of making a fortune. "Some of them were lucky. I remember one Swede who left our ship at Greymouth, and came on board two trips later with £1600 he had made by alluvial digging." "Crossing the Lar." "Ton know, of course, that both Greymouth- and Hokitika are bar harbours. It vas no easy job with a sailing vessel to cross the bar, as everything depended upon the wind, which might fail you at » critical moment. Vessels came from Australia, and even the United States, to Greymonth when the goldfields were in full swing. They had to wait outside fot t favourable chance with both wind Md tide to cross the bar. A good number of them touched. Some . of the Tessels were taken across to the Grey fiiver on "waye," but many were broken HP by the heavy seas, and their bones Mold be seen on the beach. .'Aj times as many as 20, and occasionW SO/aailing vessels would be waiting outode, watching for the signal that it *»b safe- to crews the bar. If that Wart come before 4 p.m., the whole lot Wuld cad out to get a good offing for tie mght, as the West Coast was not a we place to lie close to on a lee shore. ■«rt morning they would all come back •P , ?' I have known times when yesIfu r llo * CTOSS the bar for a fort - . You can imagine how the pasaagers, huddled 'close on a little ship, £ ye i the ■ waiting to get over. SometaKs there weuld be as many as 50 crowded on a schooner Returning In Ballast. "Another serious risk was the absence « return cargo for the vessels. They m to get gravel from the river as bal- *«.- bometimes in ! bad weather the JjPrt would shift, and unless it was W n Ts ei the result be the "Wlom of the vessel, with aU on board vaS 9 g , e ° e , rall y Relieved that several *e» Which sailed out of Greymouth in 2,?!, T'? T reached p° rt > were los * the ballast shifting. In An Open Roadstead. th n West Coast trade fell awa -y. Oarnaru was brought to Auckr«e the slup to moorings put down Ctt? Overnment ' and then run a line S^™ 1 «° the shore ' the S , a i° puU the surf boatß ba ck*St and . f°fyards with their loads of ■"odd*** w M a heavy ocean swell incraspt ?v ° re there would be an y dip »r * - Wmd ' and then w e had to Pour rnoormgs and try to get out to bette CT? VeSSelB Were little tt^J" 6 me morable occasion, I <hink in OamaT 18 °e.>e were lying off &L. and hHd about I,alf our «*rg g o on •S&^i^ ° Ut 3 p - m - a he "T sea to roll m; and in a few moments PitcW/^ 5 tte moorings were lean L d One of «iem, a W* ii barque ' broke awa T. and pr.aS UP ° nthe beacll " About 4 °n shore w v r ° ke aud went *d al' a , , sll PP ed our moorings, as ,fc.; [tB Al *»'l ketch Coquette and ■■im: *C t ' and &txd Ollt to Mβ. Our Was to get clear of Banks Penin-

snla, as the Forty-mile Beach is shallow, and the waves break upon it for miles out. All hands wre on deck throughout the night. It was a terrible storm, but, our vessel being new, we wnathered it all right, and in the morning found we were clear of Banks Peninsula. We turned into one of the little bays, and there found a little ketch from Akaroa at anchor. We found two men on her in a very bad way, as their legs were badly swollen through standing in saltwater the whole night long. The Excelsior went back to Oamaru, and finished loadin;-. Of the five vessels that got away when the Excelsior left, two went ashore, but all hands were saved. Three others went ashore on Banks Peninsula, and every man perished. The Coquette weathered the storm, and reached Auckland with a short cargo. One dreadful tragedy was that the whole crew of a vessel were found dead in a securely padlocked cabin. When the Excelsior <_ot buck to Auckland, Captain Lillewall Lthe owuers were Lillewan and Rattray) came on board, and congratulated the captain and crew on not only weathering such a storm, but bringing back a full cargo of grain. Shipping a Bank. "One trip we took a bank to Wanganui. We had on board all the nails, paint, and windows, also the carpenters and painters, with their apprentices. Wo called at Taieri for the sawn timber, and went on to our destination. Wanganui, as I first biw it, consisted of a number of sandy bills, with a few small buildings scattered around. On the return irip we brought to Auckland the wives and children of a detachment of the ISth Eoyal Irish Regiment. There were about 50 women, as well as a fair number of children. There was no accommodation for them excepting the hold. We came out of Wanganui right into a westerly gale. In sailor parlance, the ( ship stood on her head, and the hatches j had to be battened down. The stench from the bilge water was awful, so you can guess the sufferings of those women and children in the hold with the hatches on. Still when we reached Auckland those women came up on deck neat and clean, although they looked pale. When I the Thames goldficld was discovered, the ! vessels were laid up as they reached Auckland, and captains and crews all went to try their luck. As the old song j says, "I went with them."