A LARGE BARQUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 9

A LARGE BARQUE.

MAGDALENE VINNEN. DUE THIS AFTERNOON. CARGO TBOM SEYCHELLES. Said to be the largest windjammer afloat, the German four-masted barque Magdalene Vinnen is expected to drop anchor in the stream at about 4 o'clock this afternoon. After pratique is granted she will berth at the King's wharf to unload 3600 tons of guano from the Seychelles Islands.

It is nearly a year sin.ee the vessel paid her last visit to Auckland, when she unloaded cork from Spain. In full sail the vessel is a rare sight, for she carries 4600 square yards of canvas. The tallest of her steel masts towers 193 ft above the main deck, and the steel main yard is 70ft long. Her overall length is 100 metres, or 328 ft; she has a 50ft beam, and a draught of 25ft.. The ship has a cargo capacity for 5200 tons, and carries 1700 tons when in ballast, in a double bottom.

The vessel is named after the wife of the head of the firm of F. A. A. Vinnen and Company, of Bremen, owners. The Magdalene Vinnen is the youngest of the large sailing ships, having been built in 1021, at Kiel, by the firm of Krupps. The ship is therefore modern in both construction and fittings, and she has electric lighting and other present-day amenities. She was specially built to carry bulk cargoes. The same company owns four other five-masted barquentines. Good Turn Of Speed. Captain L. Peters, who was master when the ship last berthed at Auckland, is proud of the vessel's speed. She has logged between 14 and 15 knots on many occasions, and seldom uses her 500 li.p. Diesel engines except in calms or when entering ports. The barque left Bremen on June 30 last "year for the Seychelles, calling at Barcelona eh route. She left Mahe on October 22 and arrived at Townsville at the end of December to unload cargo from Spain and Bremen. On January 2 she left that port, and was first reported last Sunday by the liner Monowai, 500 miles west of Cape Maria Van Diemen. The Vinnen company did not own a steamer of any kind. It is the oldest German shipping company to control sailing vessels. Formed in 177!), it has retained its original name, and its original mode of transport.. The Magdalene Vinnen has made a number of voyages to Australia, -where she loaded wheat and wool for Europe. The local agents for the vessel, W. E. Lewisham, Ltd., advise that 1000 tons of her cargo will be discharged at New Plymouth.