LONG VOYAGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 34, 10 February 1939, Page 8

LONG VOYAGE

; LUXURY SCHOONF.R. I NAVIGATOR ARRIVES. 1 37 DAYS FROM SAN PEDRO.3 MASTER WELL KNOWN JHERE. Thirty-severi days '" put from Srin Pedro, California, ■" tho American .auxiliary! scbooncr Navigator, arrived, iii the Hauraki Gulf last night, nwl.Mmdcr. power from ber 50-horse-powcr,; Diesel engine, came up the harbour 'and berthed; at the slipway wharf, St. Mary's liny; . sliortly before ten o'clock this morning. Owned by Mr. G. Hnrton Singer,' jiin;, a prominent Pittsburg banker, the 4S- , ton vessel is under the .command, of Captain Fred Klebingnt, well known to , Aucklnndcm as master of /a ne; Grey's i three-masted schooner Fisherman 011 her visit to New Zealand in ll)2(>-27. Captilin • Klebingnt married an Auckland . girl, ■ Miss Phyllis Keid, who now lives /in , California, and tbey have a son seven years of ag«. The voyage from San Pedro 'byway of Danger Island and Pago Pago, American Samoa, was marred by fewer. ..than four days' bad weather—two days ;off tho American coast and' 36 hours when 200 miles off tho coast of New Zealand. On both, occasions the vessel was hoye-to and rode out tilt storm. There was;a fair wind from Pago.! Pago, tho last port of call, until the wind changed when Hearing the New Zealand const,' blowing up a southerly half gale. '■■At 5,45 o'clock on Monday evening 7. tho Navigator was hovc-to on the starboard tack, getting under way again at seven o'clock on Wednesday morning. '; Main Boom Sups.* : 'i ■*¥?"■ An accident happened off the Californian coast when the main boom'snapped 10 or 12 feet from tho end, part of-.the, boom tackle carrying away in a heavysea. A new booni will arrive on the Monterey next week and '.will "be fitted, here. ■'. The owner of the Navigator, Mr; CI. Hartou Singer, juii,, wili also arrive in tho Monterey, accompanied by live guests. It is their intention to spend about two months in New Zealand, visiting tho various fishing grounds mid tho southern sounds. The party will leave Auckland about February 20 and New Zealand in the schooner some time iu April to return to the United States by way ol«Fiji, Tonga, Cook, Society and various other South Sea islands . and Honolulu. The remainder of tho crew on the schooner when she arrived this morning were the mate, Mr, Krnest Adcrmnn; tho engineer, Air. Cus Wirth; wireless operator, Mr. Oliver 'Headway, and steward, Mr. Ivar Thorcn. Another member of the crew is an auxiliary wireless operator, Mr. Leon Wyndbm, who has worked his passage down from .California, on his way to join his wife; a Melbourne girl ho married 14 months ago when lie was third wireless operator in the liner Mariposa! The cook of. tho .vessel, Mr. Henry Cnrlstrom, fell ill a few days lief ore reaching Pago Pago, , and was put ashore, but will conic to Auckland to rejoin the schooner.\ In the meanwhile Mr, Tlioron ha« been acting as cooksteward. ' All-Electric Equipment, '.The vessel is 80ft over all, with n . beam of 10ft (tin, and is a model of compact luxury below decks. She is equipped with high frequency and intermediate radio transmission' and has been in daily touch with San Francisco. As the gear is all-electric, little work is thrown-oh-the orew, sails and anchor being manipuMsd by the oleetrio winch,

The liulio outfit is carried in the man: ;.'.'.l"'i'r 'wliieli: caii also; be iusod ■.nnr'H sleeping cabin... Altogether", there; 1110 throb gin I cabins and snug crew's" ijiin.rl.o.o all. jo .berth <.iv. '. . ~ , The g'alli " fell n'ettc" would be a hot for;wtin!—Hs.fa o.ook's ]>:\;];nVlUc;, .Neat' and-compact, ;i Urge sfo.ve, operated by; bottled gas. provide, 'the cooking' laeilitie'S- .Alt the -. fi.erishab.lc'"stores ■''•"ri'r.q, 'oanded-.in; the -.roi'ngeratorsV- and' - Air;" .Tliorcn; .tlircjv. ■ open the ineii t> ''icebox'*HhisJ mm-niiig to display 11 tempting and succulent In I 1 11 1111 ii 1 piopoitioiif, Together with a 'collection' of meats that'. would .tempt epicure.;:"There■■■';;'' : ls' a.ppai'cntly.'.no: hardship : inbciiig;a,sailor. on such a vessel as this. The crockery carries the owner's insignia. /■'• ■•':]:

' Captain F. K. Klcbingat lln i tjit (iii Hid llk in hi him : ''WorkwV.aioiiS'sidQ.'encli'o'tiicr in diffenmt. vessels for 'almost JS; years, ; so;-;tlH;y ; ' that l'iargei,"~ : said Captain Klcbiiigat. | AmVuiost of the ronuiindcr of'tho crow have been with tlie vessel since the now owner bought lior in-;. 1034, ■'■-.. Cruises Every' Yoar. ' Last year Mr. Hartoii .Singer.!anil his j crow spent about throei'iiiqnths'ycruising around Tahiti and the on ;; a ; pleasure trip, and every.spring they go down to the. Ciulf of ".Mexico for' the; swordfishing. For the, hist 'three-," years thoy have paid seasonal visits ■to , ; Honolulu—each time with a different -party. The spares wireless operator, Mi\ Leon. Wyudotu, who is on his wn.yS.to .join : . his young Australian' wife in Melbourne, ' confessed this morning tlint-lio was tired of being a wireless operator and .was"'.. looking forward to a shore job ;,with.a i homo life, ~ , "Cooking is my hobby," he said, "and •Km looking forward to opening ji. sand- i wich shop or. restaurant; in one'of the i Australian cities," Ho said ho had had ; some experience of the ■■■>business, ."in ... Chicago, and he denied indignantly the < suggestion that Chicago people did i nothing but shoot each other, The only. < time ho saw a idiooting affray was,when ; there was a tai war, and, as ho'said, i he "lost no time in going places."'■'''■'■■. A shipment of 15 donkeys fromPoiiui i Island was landed at Auckland by the "1 -motor, vessel' Barnonn last owning. ' Donkeys abound h( practically, .a wild,: state on the island, which is nb.nr Wai-. 1 hcke Island. Thoy'are, however, only! rarely sent to the mainland. The animals 1 bocomo tamo . quickly. It is oipectdd 1 that two or three "donkey! cargoes" will u be. brought from Ponui'"- in the near i future- ■ i;'." '•■;.- * ■':/■:;.>«