NEARING HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 134, 9 June 1933, Page 5

NEARING HOME.

KETCH MONSUNEN.

VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

AUTHOR AND SAILORMAN.

Author and sailorman, Captain Knud Ajndersen is nearing home after an eventful trip round the world. A cablegram from Copenhagen yesterday stated that his ketch Monsunen had been "spoken" in the North Sea and that Captain Andersen expected to reach Copenhagen shortly. News of the intrepid Danish voyager and his 57-ton ship is of interest to New Zealanders, for at the_ end of last year the ketch put into Wellington for repairs. In search of material for a new book Captain Andersen sailed out of Copenhagen exactly a year ago yesterday. Fair weather waa experienced to Teneriffe, where Captain Andersen called to visit his wife'and three children. The ketch left Teneriffe again on July 12, and the first night out carried away her main topmast in a moderate gale. Kunning into the monsoons in latitude 10 degrees north, the "Monsunen strained herself, and began to leak, making about 36 tons of water a day. The crew decided to carry on, and when calmer waters were reached one man was lowered over the side on a staging to effect what repairs were possible. Battle Against Gale. Captain Andersen intended to call at Tristan da Cunha to see if he could be of any. assistance to the 150 odd inhabitants of this lonely outpost of _ the British Empire. For three .days he tried to make the island in the teeth of a westerly gale, but was unable to do so, and the strain increased the vessel s leak. On a previous cruise Captain Andersen called at Tristan da Cunha and took two sick men to Cape Town, from this, the loneliest colony in the Empire, when years may pass between the visits of ships. Further heavy weather was experienced, and the vessel was mak^igj

water as fast af> the crew could cope with it. Thev carried on, however, round the Cape of Good Hope to the south of Australia, and rtnally put into Storm Bay, near Hobart, where the crew put patches on such leaks aa were above the waterline. A course was then set for the Auckland Islands. Before he left Copenhagen Captain Andersen was asked to keep a lookout for any signs of the Danish training ehip Kobenhavn, a five-masted barque, and > the largest sailing ship in the world, which disappeared when bound for Australia. She had about 80 cadets on-board, many of them representatives of leading Danish families. Though Captain Andersen believes the Kobenhavn capsized in a squall, he visited the Auckland Islands, but saw no signs of men or wreckage. .While in these islands two branches of a tree weS-e lashed to the yard, •in place of the original extension pieces, which had carried away. Hands to the Pumps. When about 1000 miles south-east of New Zealand a heavy north-east gale was encountered, and the vessel's leaks grew steadily worse. The crew were at the pumps day and night for 12 days, and the Monsunen was making 100 tons of water a day. Captain Andersen then •decided to put intp Wellington for repairs, arriving early in December. On January 21 he sailed again, bound for Copenhagen, via the Cape of Good Hope. One of the test known authors in Denmark, Captain Andersen specialises in sea stories, and a number of his works have been translated into English and read in many parts of the world. On his present trip he is studying the reactions of himself and his crew—five men cooped up in a small vessel—as the subject for a new book. He is also making a record of the voyage with a small motion picture camera. The Monsunen, which means monsoon, was originally a French fishing ketch, and was built in 1895. Later she was owned in Sweden, and was used for car-, rying heavy stone paving blocks. Captain Andersen bought her about four years ago, and has made an earlier cruise in her. She is a stoutly-built little craft, with a very heavy spread of sail. On his previous cruise in the Monsunen Captain Andersen, accompanied by his wife and three children, travelled 25,000 miles, the course being from Copenhagen to Buenos Aires, Tristan da Cunha, Cape Town, Saint Helena, Ascension Island, Barbados, St. Thomas, New York and Jbacfc to Denmark.