THE BOMBAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 170, 19 July 1924, Page 17

THE BOMBAY.

CRAFT OF MANY STOSMS

DISMASTED AND TOWED TO J AUCKLAND. v (By HENRY BRETT.) XCIX. Ii is not generally known (hat the. ! Bombay gave the name of Bombay to the settlement situated about 29 miles south of Auckland. Most of the early i settlers in this district came out from ] England by the. Bombay on her first | voyage to Auckland in ISG3. I The Bombay seldom had a fair i chance when trading to New Zealand of showing what she was capable of doing. as on nearly all the. voyages out she had the ill-luck to strike furious storm?, either in the English Channel or later. The Bombay was a full-rigged ship of 937 tons, and (lying the Shaw. Savill (lag. On the four voyages she made to the colony she was under the command of Captain fl. i Rellars. a fine old gem lonian and a ' skilful sailor. i On her first voyage to Auckland the j ship sailed from Cravesend on August , 2li. and reached her destination on December K. ISC:!. Sli" encountered a heavy storm the iluy after sailing, and sought shelter at North Foreland. Sail- .' ing again on the 28th, she soon after met j with a strong westerly gale, and was | severely handled. She again ran for shelter, and finally left Falmouth Roads on September 3, a week after leaving [ Gravesend. She then experienced light contrary winds to the Equator, and met another severe gale when running down her easting. The Bombay had a similar experience in the English Channel on the next voyage to Auckland. She sailed from London on November 20, 1804, and met with strong westerly gales, again sheltering at Xorth Foreland. She lifted her anchor once more on November 30. but immediately/ ran into bad weather, and did not leave the Lizard light until December S. twelve days after weighing j anchor at Gravesend. The Bombay then

had a fairly good run xmCil ten days 1 before reaching Auckland, when she was struck by a squall from the south-east. which carried away the bowsprit, the fore topmast with several yards, and the mail! topgallant mast and royal mast were sprung. A number of sails were blown from the yards, and altogether then- was a pretty mess aloft. With considerable labour the wreckage was cut away, all speed being used, as it was feared that tiie heavy spars, with i their attached iron work, would chafe j a hole in the wooden sides of the ship. The next day the gale increased until it was blowing a hurricane. Nothing could be set except the upper topsail, and that was lowered down on top of the lower topsail yard. Early in the day the ship gave a sudden lurch in a more than usually severe squall, and to crown the misfortunes of the crew and passengers (there were 400 of the latter on board) the main mast ivcnt by the board and the mizzen mast was sprung. It was at first feared that the mizzen would follow the main mast, but eventually it was saved. Naturally this was a most anxious time for the passengers and crew. The ship was rolling fearfully, and the work of clearing the wreckage was terribly hard and dangerous. Later the starboard quarter boat was blown from the aft davit, and had to be cut away to prevent it doing further damage. Welcome Help. In spite of the buffeting the Bombay had received she was still keeping remarkably tight. During the night the ship lay bove-lo with a tarpaulin in the mizzen rigging—all her canvas having been blown to ribbons —and all hands were hard at work straightening things as far as they could. In the morning tlie carpenter set about setting up some sort of a jury rig, and many of the passengers lent a hand where they could. At halfpast seven the welcome sipht of another ship appeared over the horizon. She proved to he the Circular Saw liner Constance, from Sydney. :md her skipper (Captain Elliott) at oner- offered to give the derelict a tow. A line was passed and the tow commenced. Fortunately the breeze held in the right direction, and the strange pair—a smart barque and a sadly disabled ship—made steady progress.' By the time the Three Kings were reached the Bombay people had succeeded in rigging up jury gear, and they were able to get some sail on their vessel. They were in great luck; for the next day H.M.s. Curacoa hailed in sight, and Commodore Wiseman, taking the 'iame duck" in tow, brought her safely into Auckland Harbour. There are. no doubt, many of the passengers and their descendants still living in the Dominion, who will recall the anxious days experienced during this terrible storm. It was four months before the Bombay was ready for sea again. H. Niccol am! Sons had the contract, which included a fine set of kauri spars. Arfother Dusting. In ISiiO the Bombay left London for Lyttelton, leaving the docks on May 3, and arriving on August 18. The passage was made in 105 days, or 94 land to land. When supplying a report of the voyage to the Lyttelton papers, Captain Sellars said he had experienced a succession of heavy gales throughout. The ship was nine, days clearing the gnglish Channel

with light winds, and immediately after leaving Start Point the first westerlygale was encountered. On June 27 a heavy squall carriitd away the miz;cen and topgallant masts. Three days later the main topsail tie broke, and the yard j was broken in two. On .Inly I*V tin , j mizzen topgallant mast and yard wji~ got up. and live days later tin , ship i struck another furious ,yalo. with .i heavy cross confused sea. which broke on board and carried away a portion of the bulwarks and stove in the main hatch. A large quantity uf water rushed below and greatly frightened ih' , , passengers. ' Xine days later, on July 2.". tin , Bombay was rolling heavily and taking in largo quantities: of water during i another gale similar to Ilie last, and in . spite of all attempts to stop it t he i cabins were again flooded lielow. On ! August 3 the ship was labouring in I another heavy sale. "Indeed." said i Captain Sellars. "it lias been gale, ealin, ' gale, calm, rolling continually round, flying about round the compass, for the past six weeks." Just before sighting the Snares on August 13 the ship struck another severe gale, and then light variable winds carried her to an anchorage on August IS. 18CG. The Bombay made one good voyage (o Dunedin in ISO 2. She sailed from London on June 17, and arrived on September S, making the passage in S4 days. I The passages outwards by the Bombay

i Another vessel bearing the name ; Bombay, a boat of 400 tons register, - arrived at Nelson on December 14, 1542, I under Captain Moore. She had a tedious . run'of 135 days. It was, I believe, this , same vessel which arrived at the Bluff 1 in 1863. She sailed from London on I August 1, and arrived on November 21, i under Captain McLeod.

THE WARWICK

When comparatively a new ship, tho 1000-tonner Warwick, a beautiful iron vessel owned by Temperleys, of London, and sent out by the Shaw-Savill Co., made her first appearance in the Dominion in ISG7. The ship was built in 1564. The Warwick made good average passages to the several ports visited, and brought out a large number of passengers to Auckland and Southern ports. On the voyage to Auckland in 1867 Captain 1). White, commander of the ship, found it necessary to call at Port Chalmers owing to provisions and water running out. The Warwick sailed from Oravesend on January 15, and very soon ran into a severe gale from the south, and was hove-to for 14 days in the Bay of Biscay. After the gale, owing to the extremely light weather prevailing, she was 38 day 3 from the docks to the Line. There she was becalmed for several days, j tlience moderate south-east trades prevailed, and the meridian, of Greenwich was passed on March 16. The ship then sailed through masses of broken ice for ■ four days, this point she was :J4 days to Stewart Island, where she was becalmed for four days.. The Snares were sighted on April 22, and three days I later she called at Port Chalmers and , took in provisions and water. Sailing 1 again on the 30th, she was fortunate in having a good run tip the coast, covering the distance from Otago Heads to Auckland in six days. I The Warwick did not return to New i Zealand after 1883. She sailed from I Auckland during May of that year for j San Francisco, via Newcastle, with a i cargo of coal. j The passages made to New Zealand i were: —

THE PLADDA,

j One of the earliest ships sent out by I the Patrick Henderson's Albion Co. was ' the Fladcla. a. vessel of 952 tons. Slip ! made only three voyages to Port ' Chalmers. Nothing unusual occurred on • any of the passages. She made her first ! appearance at Port Chalmers oil August ! Iβ, 1800, in command of Captain Ritchie. j She arrived the second time on the 7th j September, 1861. under Captain Dunlup: and on the third voyage she made Port Chalmers on December -'.>. 1802, in command of Captain Boyd. The Pladda was a fine comfortable ship, and brought out on the three trips over one thousand immigrants, all from Scotland. She wag , not a clipper, her best run out being .98 days, j (To be continued nest

TO AUCKLAND. Arrived. Captain. hays, Allfr. JC. .Nov. er,. I T.3 I Dec. •f. i Mar. IP. (■.:, ScUai-ii 112 TO LYTTELTOi". M ay 5, '06 ; .\ug. is,'co Sellers •JOS ■ I TO PORT CHALMERS. June 17, '62 Sep. 9, '62 Sellars 84

TO AUCKLAND Sailed Arrived Captain. Days. ■ .1 an. 1 5 | Sov. -i, '7 1 May i",, 'C7 Feb. '.<, -7:) Jan. a. '7.-> Apr. li,"S;i White Skinner Skinner 111 96 104 12S Oct. 0, '7i Dor. 9, '8-.' TO WELLINGTON. .Nov. 15, '75 Feb. 2-2,'70 Tlzarcl TO PORT CHALMERS. | i Jan. 12 Oct. 26, '73 Apr. 10, '72 Feb. 2, '74 Skinner Skinner a: 9!