WHO WOULD BE A SAILOR?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

WHO WOULD BE A SAILOR?

"Hi- can :,o c-i>.,lc boy and work in J-! ..>-y. He can stand on a stool ' :■! uread. He i< too small anytaing el-e." said the skipjx-r t.;c ~.ll{i '.u v.hich Captain Karl- • 1 I the barque I'enang. first went ~ ,- a. He was 14 then and very !>!•? age. H'r- mother had r !:i:n terrifying tale- of the sea. • -p-i'.g to prevent him from leaving ■ ■•me a- his elder ',r>.ther.- had done, 'it she did Hot -a,-, ced. " I here w.i- n,.i much opportunity !"'■ "Mug ;':.c food." -a id' Captain 1 n. " \\ e did not nave much 4 ' ' ' > ii ; '• ■'11 «as jn-t tin- war ami food v. a- -ca'Vc in l.uropc. Finland r-uii'cred with the ' :hei' countries. l'e-ides -he had j 1.-t freed hei'.-elf from the domina'"ii of Kuss;a. The ordinary fare sailor- in tiiose days «a- mainly ; 'tatoes. cooked in their jackets. 1 err.ngs a!l j », t . a son;>. Sailors to-day ; it'iity of good u ho 1 c-ome food ■ ii tae windjammer-. The modern -crier know- that he cannot get : ae : e-t work from his men unless tluy are properly fed. The fare 1 ecoines monotonous. of course, lecause so much has to he bought tinned. Sailing ships are so long a way from port that they are not a'ile to have constant supplies of fresh fruit, meat and vegetables. Captain Karlson. the youngest of a large family, spent his earlv rears on I'd- father's farm at Saltvik in the Aland Island-. Saltvik means "Salt Bay. ' It is a narrow arm of the sea almost entirely landlocked. Travellers approaching it must often mistake it for a lake, so bright and dear the water looks in the northern summer. And many a one must have hurried down to its shores expecting to find fresh drinking water. T-ater the family went to live at Abo on the mainland. Abo is one of the oldest towns in Finland and used to be the capital. Few of its historical buildings remain, as the citv suffered constantly from disastrous tires. The last' destroyed the State T nivarsity, winch was rebuilt at the modern capital. Hel«ingfors. Abo is -til! a centre of learning, for it has two privatelv endowed universities, one in the Finnish and one in the Swedish language. There are several other important schools in the old town, including a School of Navigation. which Captain Karbon attended for a time. School is "in" during the winter in Finland. The summer brings holidays—long months (from Mav to September) out of doors in the sunshine. Agricultural research has brought great benefits to Finland. Captain Karlson spoke with pride of tomatoes that had been grown in the open in Finland. Apples are now being

grown as far north as Vaasa on tlie Uulf of Bothnia. Research workers have discovered the varieties that will mature and ripen in the shortest time, thus taking advantage of Finlaud s long liours of summer sunlight. The Penang is Captain Karlson's first command. He was to have skippered the Ponape. but at the last minute Captain Gustav Erikson. the owner, came to tell him that he was to have the Penang instead. It was a great diappointment for he had helped in refitting the Ponape and making her ready for sea. The price of scrap iron had risen more rapidly than freights and Captain Erikson thought it better for the interests of his firm to sell the ship a.s scrap metal. It is not always possible to find cargoes for sailers as soon as they are idle. Finland is rapidly building up a strong mercantile fleet. In the last couple of years it has almost doubled. Before the war engineers and skilled artisans used to go from England to Finland to instruct the people in their factories and workshops, but this is no longer necessarv. The Finnish engineers and teachers are quite as skilled a.s those from abroad. Lntil he received orders to sail to Xos-i Be. the last port before Auckland. Captain Karlson had never heard of the place. He had to find it on the chart—in Madagascar. The Knropean people there are mostly trench or of French descent and are very excitable in manner. It must have been amusing to watch the agent for the Erikson Fane gesticulating vigorously when talking over the telephone. Hie cargo of guano which the Penang brought to Auckland was .-hipped at Juan de Nova, a low-lving island between Madagascar and the mainland of Africa. " Xo one lives there. It is absolutely barren and at no point rises higher than 15 feet above sea level.

The agent had very vague ideas about New Zealand. Bluff was the ■inly port lie could remember; so he .old the captain to "proceed to 31ufl. Fifty days later the Penang cached Bluff ar.d out came the pilot, ■vho told the captain that he had irrived at the wrong port. The ship dropped anchor for the night and next morning orders were received trom the Xew Zealand agents to proreed to Auckland. The delay spoilt the Penang's chances of making a record trip and also prevented Captain Karlson from meeting an old friend end former shipmate, Captain Bjorkfelt, of the Pamir. At one of the South Australian .main ports the Penang will load wheat for England. Captain Karlson laughed at the mention of the "wheat race." "It happens mainly in the newspapers," he said. "The ship that makes the fastest time home wins, but the skippers do not race as thev did in the old days when thev thought nothing of losing a set or two of sails. Th_' first ship home got the top price. Now, when there is competition with steamships, it is too expensive. Sails form a very important item in the budget of a mailing ship." A life at sea is full of thrills. A >nilin£T ship affords a very fine training for the young sailor, but he must be strong and willing. There are not many comforts of modern life. ith a fresh following breeze to swell the sails and whistle sea songs in the mastheads it is a grand life with many an idle hour on deck. But when a storm arises to "awake the deep" all hands must be on deck for long weary hours, fighting for their lives and the life of their ship against the elements. Then. too. there is the long monotony of weeks away from shore— nothing to see but the wide stretch I

of ocean with, perhaps, a solitary seabird overhead and far on the horizon a steamer moving rapidly out of sight. There may be many weeks of battling against contrary winds and days of calm when the sails hang limply from the yardarms. The sailing ship will always have an atmosphere of mystery and romance about it for the landsman. Those who have a deep love for the sea and are acquainted with its varying moods may echo the sentiments of the poet Barry Cornwall, who wrote many a stirring song of the sea : I'm on the sea ! I'm on the sea ! I am where I would ever be— With the blue above and the blue below And silence wheresoe'er I go. If a storm should com" and awake the deep. What matter? —I shall ride and sleep.