THE CAP PILAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 8

THE CAP PILAR.

EIGHTEEN DAYS OUT.

1 BOUND FOR MANGAREVA.

NOW ABOUT HALT-WAY ? Eighteen days out from Auckland and somewhere in the South Pacific, cut off from the rest of the world but a complete entity in herself, is the small jackass barquentine Cap Pilar. She sailed from this port on the afternoon of September 17, and is now but a memory to most New Zealanders.

When a ship, lie she of sail or steam, drops the land astern, she sails simultaneously from the minds, if not from the hearts, of the majority of those left behind. But where is the Cap Pilar? How has she fared? What fresh adventures has she encountered? To these questions and many others friends ?nd relatives of those aboard would like to know the answers.

In the first place, she should be aVxmt half-way to her destination of Mangareva, in the Gambier Archipelago. At this time of the year the South Pacific can unleash itself in tempestuous furv or be glassy smooth for days on end. Naturally these conditions must be taken into consideration when estimating her position, for the ship of sails has no motive power other than the winds and currents.

Once clear of the New Zealand coast she would have borne off for the higher latitudes in an effort to pick up a good west wind and at the same time make ae much easting ae possible. A steady westerly should have been mtft anywhere south of about 30-33 degrees south but the skipper of the Cap Pilar announced his intention of touching a* far as 44 degrees south. That means that she would be right in the heart of the vrwt winds with, paradoxically, a shorter distance to sail on a cmir.;e roughly approximating a great circle. However, it is perhaps unfair to the vessel and to her crew to estimate or calculate where she is or how she lias fared, as everything depends so entirely on the elements. Shore critics wove astonishing tales about the Joseph Conrad when she passed through Cook Strait on a "mystery" errand and subsequent events proved them to be wrong. With average conditions the Cap Pilar should be at Mangareva in another two or three weeks. She may be there in less, but that would be unusual, considering her sailing qualities, and she may not be there for ten weeks. As she is right out of the regular shipping lanes it is not likely that she will be reported by other shipping and the first intimation of her whereabouts will probably come either bv letter or by radio ' from one of the stations in French Oceania.