WINDJAMMERS AND N.Z.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 285, 2 December 1931, Page 6

WINDJAMMERS AND N.Z.

In an article in the "Star" recently and in a discussion in "The Times" the Lady Joceljn is referred to as the.last ehip of'the windjammers. Let me say that every article I have read during a period of many years every one without exception has mentioned the Lady Jocelyn. Katikati and To Puke settlers, who werc # all gathered together in London, mostly froni Ireland, arrived in New Zealand with their little money, bags containing their life savings, to be afterwards melted like snow in a hot frying pan. Now conies a letter from"'the Rev. H. P. Hale, of Surrey, and no. mention is made of the bonny little-May .Queen. Sho came softly to Tauranga one year after the Lady Jocelyn. I was one of the passengers of tile May Queen, one of the smartest little cockleshells one may ever wish to see. That good little boat had to zig-zag along.the deepblue sea Avith a heavy load of settlers and their luggage during a period of sixteen weeks, the longest 112 days of my life. She called at no port, and we saw no land until we espied Mount Maunganui, Tauranga. 'The pilot, Captain Best, no doubt did his best, but the "little hussy refused to enter Tauranga Harbour. "She on the sandbank sat and shiiled, while all around her scorned and frowned." The passengers were removed, and a portion of the cargo was taken out. The full tide lifted her gently, and she then proudly entered Tauranga Harbour in the second week in December, 1881. The mishap and trouble were hushed np, and I have never seen her name mentioned in print. Those in power and authority whispered that this calamity must be kept dark; the May Queen was disgraced. "It will condemn our splendid Tauranga Harbour, and deep-sea accommodation," they said. Basic facts remain, however, and the passengers had a bitter experience all the way from Loindon. It was wretched, and was a long voyage of storms, Avith calms in the tropics. The ship had bad accommodation, abominable food consisting of dog biscuits, cold pork (salted) and oatmeal porridge, with not a taste of milk (tinned or and the first and the worst porridge I ever had to gulp down. The gallant little boat, often driven along on her side in storms and without canvas, danced upon the mighty waves. She seemed sometimes' to stop a moment upon the peak of a mountainous wave, to look down into-the deep trough of the sea, before, she dived down that one, and up she came over another.

Those of us who bought our.sections of land in London of those wonderful Te Puke estates after glowing accounts or them by a lecturer in England for his company were assured there was no danger from Maoris, and all was quite safe in To Puke. Yes, there were magnificent bridges and lovely, roads all the way from Tauranga. Behold when we arrived at the Hairini, the great bridge was not erected, no portion, of it built, only, the piles were driven. This meant about half a* mile of water to "wade through-, except when the tide was out, and also small creeks to cross. . Finally, we had to cross over two miles of swamp with a row of fascines of tea-tree. Our horses were plunging and some went very deep with their hoofs through the fascines, and then they fell. This was the experience of six of ns in the first week of January, 1882, and I give the names of those gentlemen to confirm my remarks of that wonderful journey, if any of them are still living. They were: Messrs. Booth (nurseryman, of• Tauranga, as guide), David Griffiths, Richard Griffiths (his brother), Win. Jones, Ryder, and myself. Ho\v many passengers of the May Queen are still living I know not. But I know that I paid full price in London for. a pig iff a bag. ,;'. : —T. HEWITT. '