TALL MASTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1937, Page 8

TALL MASTS.

BARQUE ARRIVES. WINTERHUDE HERE AGAIN. MUCH CALM WEATHER. Once again the tall masts and maze of ringing of n r-ailing ship loom among the cranes and smokestacks' at Auckland's wharves. Bearing down in a gentle northerly wind with the rare stateliness of her kind, the Finnish banpie Winterliude entered harbour early this morning and. furling her sails, was. escorted by tug to the King's wharf to begin the unloading of her 3001) tons of guano from the Seychelles. Auckland last saw the Winterliude when she tied up at the same wharf on the morning of January 2S.- l«):i:!. I Sixty-seven days out from the Seychelles, which are in the Indian Ocean. I<>(!() miles north-east, of the northernmost point of .Madagascar, the barque made her long journey in weather which was mostly, as Captain G. llolm put it. "too fine." On the previous occasion r-lie had completed her passage in .">li days, beating the ship Passat, which bad left the islands a week before. This time there was no such pictureque race, and the ship idled through much calm weather, with occasionally a favouring wind, and bit into a hard easterly between Tasmania and New Zealand, which she sighted on Friday. ' Few Good Sailing Days. Leaving Seychelles on December 3, the barque experienced only 15 or Ift of -what Captain Holm considered good running days on the whole jonrney. A favourable wind carried the chip along soon after the islands of New Amsterdam and St. Paul, in the Southern Indian Ocean, were parsed. She bore down to about latitude 46, which is approximately that of the extreme south of New Zealand, as she did on her previous trip to the Dominion. It was explained that it was really shorter to make what looks like a wide sweep round the "small end" of the globe than to go direct in other latitudes, where the earth is "fatter." The weather became "too fine" again, but this side of Tasmania the barque struck a hard easterly towards the end of January. "It was pretty rough, I suppose," admitted the captain, "but not what I would call really rough." Last Friday the Three Kings Islands were sighted, and the Winterhude made her way down the coaat in weather that was agim./'too fine." 1 Passing tlje Rangitoto beacon not long after six-o'clock this morning, the barqne made a rare picture as she moved into the harbour unassisted, before, long, however, the tug William C. Daldy steamed out to greet her. Sails; were furled and the tug brought the sailing ship to the wharves. There were strange contrasts and a tinge of madness in the scene—the busy tug, a thing of steam and horse-power, stepping in to lead the barqne, among the last of her kind, to hlr berth.

1 Sixty-seven day 3 at sea, and Mauritius the only land sighted between Seychelles and New Zealand! It had not been possible to charge the radio receiver batteries, and so no wonder the crew eagerly listened -to titbits of news from the group of spectators on the wharf, and ■openefl letters from home over a belated breakfast. There are several nationalities aboard—the crew of 1& young 'men Ahd ; boys includes Danes, Britishers, Frenchmen and Swedes—and their homes are widely scattered. Many of them, however, speak English, although orders artf /given in a foreign tongue. Captain Holm's first and sec And mates are Mr. Karl Lemon and Mr. L. Saderland respectively. Undercanvas. « The visit of a sailing ship to Auckland is a comparatively rare occurrence, and throughout the day the wharf at which the Winterhude is discharging was lined with people who know of the romance that still lingers on th e ocean. The barque is undercanvassed for her size, carrying only five sails on a mast. She has had her masts cut down since the war. The ship was In fine trim on her arrival, and there was no sign on deck of her unsavoury cargo. Rigging and spars were in good order, and the ship as a whole was noticeable for her smartness. Captain Holm said that her best days run on the voyage was 250 miles and her best speed 13 knots. tl,» a w ?( l a , fte f a Bl,burb of Hamburg, the Winterhude was built in Germany and is owned by Gustav Ericklson, of Finland. She has no fixed schedule, travelling where a cargo offers and trading mainly in wheat or phosphate Her next commission will probably be to oad a cargo of grain in South Australia.