THE VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1925, Page 27

THE VICTORY.

A FINE CLYDE-BUILT SHIP. ROUGH EXPERIENCE IN ATLANTIC OCEAN. (Edited by HENRY BEETT.) The 1199-ton ship Victory, Captain "William Gibbons, arrived at Auckland on January 4, 1865, with 247 passengers, of whom about 80 were Albertlanders. She left Gravesend on September 2, 1864, and three days later when in the Channel she came into collision with a French schooner, as a result of which the ship had to put back to Spithead for repairs. She sailed again on tlie 15th of the same month, and took her departure from the Lizard on the 17th. The Line was crossed on October 36, and the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope on November 26. The Three Kings were passed on New Year's Day, and three days later the Waitemata was reached. The voyage was quite uneventful after the ship left Spithead. The Victory was a 'magnificent specimen of the Clyde-built ship. Her maiden voyage was made in 1863, in which year she visited Port Chalmers, the passage from the Clyde taking *77 or 72 days land to land. She left Glasgow oil April 26. crossed the Line on May 20, the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope on June 13, and reached Port Chalmers on July 12. ITpon arrival she was placed in quarantine, as there had been a case of smallpox aboard, and several cases of measles, the latter resulting in three deaths. The decision of the authorities to put the vessel in quarantine almost caused a riot among tbe passengers. About 250 women and children were sent to Goat Island, and the younger men were put on a smaller island. Some of the men refused to leave the ship, and 35 were permitted to remain on board until pratique was granted on August 19. Three deaths occurred after the passengers were landed, but the rest of them continued in good health. In 1866 the Victory had an eventful passage to Lyttelton from 'London. She sailed from the Thames on December 16, and when in the Bay of Biscay she was caught in a terrific gale that did considerable damage. It was the same gale as that encountered by the ill-fated London, which foundered with the loss of 270 lives. The Amelia also foundered in the same locality, but the passengers were rescued. Owing to the buffeting she got, the Victory did not cross the Equator until the thirty-fifth day out, and the passage to Lyttelton took 99 days. Captain Gibbons was still in command upon this voyage. NINE FEET OF WATER IN HOLD. The Victory had a close call during 1870, while on a voyage from the Mersey to New York. Besides a fair quantity of general cargo tucked within her holds, the vessel carried 297 passengers when she was towed out of the Mersey on May 4. Writing in " Seamen All," Mr. Keble Chatterton says she encountered westerly gales for the greater part of the voyage. It was not until May 7 that she was clear of Ireland, and by the 11th it was blowing a hard gale. Most of the terrified passengers were prostrate with seasickness, and tlie banging about of luggage and cooking utensils did not add to the peace of the ship, which was frequently well over to leeward. On deck the cable and some barrels went careering about with a noise like thunder. Aboard came the seas, carried away the main hatch house, poured below in tons, rose as high aft as the bunks, floated the luggage about, and generally terrified the screaming women and children. Aloft the main topgallant .sail, skysail, fore royal yard, and fore topsail yard carried away. The sailer then sprang a serious leak, and soon had nine feet of water in her hold. Passengers were called to the pumps, and only thus was the water kept down. Then suddenly there was heard a crash, and a large iron tank containing a thousand gallons of drinking water broke adrift aft and came bursting through into the bunks. An elderly- man was killed outright, and was promptly stitched up and buried over the side. The passengers were nearly frantic with fear. After an interlude of a fortnight the gale recommenced, and the Yictor/s boats were smashed to bits, the fore hatch carried away, the galley roof lifted off, another yard broken, and sails torn. The look-out man was washed down and crippled for life, and the

passengers were again sent to the pumps. A sailor was thrown from the mizzen yard arm into the sea, but miraculously a wave hurled him back on board. There followed a period of light weather, when the gear was repaired, but this did not end .the series of discomforts. Some of the emigrants were a hard drinking, rough crowd, and continually quarrelled among themselves, accidents being frequent. Off the North American coast dense fog was encountered, and the Victory narrowly escaped being run down, her sidelights havin-r been carried away at the beginning of the trip. Finally, on June 22, the Victory was towed into ]S T ew York Harbour, and thus ended perhaps as eventful as any of the old sailer's many voyages