"A DOLL TO SAIL"

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 245, 16 October 1931, Page 3

"A DOLL TO SAIL"

TOPSAIL SCHOONER HUIA. ARRIVAL FROM MELBOURNE. . RECORD TRIP RECALLED. More than thirty years ago the topsail schooner Huia crossed the Tasman from Sydney to the Kaipara in four days and a quarter, shattering all previous records. To-day the trim little vessel is still very much afloat, and her long-standing record is recalled by her arrival, at Auckland this morning with explosives from Melbourne. . ■ There is- at least- one : man in Auckland to whom.the presence in port of the Huia recalls probably the happiest days of. his life. He is Captain George McDonald, a veteran master of ships, who is spending the evening of his life on shore,- and he was master of the Huia :when she sped from Sydney to Kaipara in six hours over four days. He remembers that'her arrival set local shipping circles agog. On this trip the Huia was loaded to her Plimsoll with A mixed cargo, but the weather conditions were all in favour of a speedy voyage and she was under full sail almost from the time she passed through Sydney Heads until she dropped her anchor in the Kaipara.

Captain McKenzie has . known many ships, but he confesses the Huia will always hold the warmest spot in his heart. "She was a doll to eail," he said to-day. "It's no use me telling you all about her, for no one would believe me. She was my baby. If you were giving her too much sail or if you were not giving her enough she would tell you, but she never complained if you treated her right. If I was in my bunk I could' tell if she was not at her case. I don't know how she did, but she always told me. . Mind you," added the veteran skipper, "she would squen.l if she wasn't handled properly."

Built at Aratapu in 1594 by Mr. James Barber to the order of Mr. (now the Hon. Sir) Edwin Mitclielson, the Huia frequently logged from 14 to 1G knots under sail alone. On one occasion, when commanded by Captain McKenzie, she nearly ran down a Newcastle passenger steamer, only 12ft separating the vessels when they passed. The incident happened late at night, when the Huia was reeling off over 14 knots. After making a number of sensational rune the schooner was fitted with auxiliary power, and for a number of years now she was sailed under the flag of the Nobel Explosives Company her present owners.