TO BE SCRAPPED.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20919, 28 July 1933, Page 19

T O BE SCRAPPED.

T HB STEAMER CYGNET. UNDENTS IN HER CAREER. joe old steamer Cygnet, which has tad laid up at Lyttelton for some jjjtl, has been sold, and is being of her fittings preparatory to jdng broken up for scrap metal. for more than a quarter of a century «ie Cygnet was a regular trader out of lyttelton, and her passing will not to without interest. Built in 1885 by QlvJg and Clow, Abingdon, she was aerially designed for river work. She il a jteel steamer of 124 tons gross, and her dimensions are:—Length 120 ket, beam 173 feet, and depth 8.7 fe«t She was first employed in Tasnania running between Hobart and lie Huon river. Later she was taken to Sydney, where she traded up the pirramatta river. The Cygnet arrived in Lyttelton ibout 1898, and commenced trading between Lyttelton and the bays of Sink* Peninsula and Akaroa, replacing the little steamer Akaroa. By ljjff the trade had dwindled, and the retfel was then put on alternate runs between Lyttelton and Akaroa and lyttelton and Kaikoura. Shortly, afterwards the vessel ceased to run to Akaroa, and commenced in a new trade—from Lyttelton to Kaikoura, ttence to Motueka and Nelson. She brought many a full cargo of apples J«n the two last-named ports to LytWtoo. After the wreck of the small steamer Wjkatu, the Cygnet, in response to requests made by Kaikoura business pwple, ceased to run to Nelson and feotueka, and took up the Wakatu's no between Lyttelton, Kaikoura, and Wellington, in 1925. She maintained fiky. service until about four years she was partially condemned. As the cost of renewing nost of her hull would have been too peat, she has been laid up at LyttelW) ever since. Many Mishaps. The Cygnet, since she has been in Sew Zealand, has had more than her jbare of mishaps, and, indeed, more I Aid one narrow escape from becom§Mt total loss. Perhaps her closest IcaUWas'on August 13 and 14, 1920, I then after a hard battle against a big I Ink in her hull she arrived at LyttelI tin in a sinking condition. On AuI tltt 13 of that year the Cygnet was I fitted at the Kaikoura wharf, where 1 all the morning, waitI ftf for the heavy rain to cease. Early I ia the afternoon the sea commenced to I ttjfe rapidly. The Cygnet was comI plld to put to sea owing to her lines I pitting, and a course was set for LytI wm. At 8 o"clock that night the I (titoeer reported that the vessel was I aßng. The position soon became I Kdous, the water rising until it I wdtta the coal out of the bunkers, I s&' the pumps became blocked. All I houb set to work with buckets, and I Sunt of strenuous efforts managed 1 fcSep the water below the level of I The crew baled while IW engineer and firemen groped I Wmd the flooded engine-room for I (dftwith which to feed the furnaces. I totanately the cook had about a ton I *;?oal in the galley lockers. This I Mfeplssed down in buckets, and the I to keep moving at I mtaut knots. The Cygnet arI iMfoff the heads at 5.0 a.m. on I apt 14, but the weather was so I w that her flares and other disI tut signals were not seen. She was iHte picked up by the tug off DiaI llrHarbour, and the tug's pumps ■ Iff Used to pump her out. ■ Aim the Cygnet struck a rock oft 1 Pit'GibßOn, and the master, Captain ■ Utarray, suffered a broken rib while ■ ttitog to clear away one of the lifeiJafc;- The Cygnet, however manIVd to make Lyttelton safely. In K'lltbe went ashore at Motunau, but H Witfoated immediately, and placed KIW Blip at Lyttelton for repairs. ■ Sfcws* again in trouble in 1926, when ■ INNM ashore at Flag Rocks, about ■ Mfiflw south of Cape Campbell, and ■ 9l|ttiously damaged. She reached ■ Wlmgton. where she was reDaired. ■ * ji ' A Fast Ship. ■ Aitttily engined, and with big boiler ■ «Hcfty. the Cygnet was fast for her ■ feind could usually better 10 knots ■ iJftadid little vessel in fine weather. ■ f?»n«t had the reputation of being m SPUnjfly "dirty" in rough weather. I S«'Cthe crankiest ships I have m mWaX in; she has given me many 1 *Jf*tQU« night,," said one former ■ Wtt, In describing her. Designed ■ sJ™* she had a low free- ■ JW, and was very "wet." She was ■ Ite worst when running before a H «*ohly survivor of the once nu- ■ 2?»» Banks Peninsula fleet of trad- ■ «M* the small steamer John Ander- ■ &&& making only one trip weekly I L%l».ys- Others besides the Cyg- ■ 2# JOnn Anderson were the AKa■'SJ&Jane Douglas, the Wakatu, I S*2* S*den Powell. These vessels ■ £Ftitd passengers, in addition to ■ 2& **£ what is now little known, ■ St? town, in the early days, had ■ 28?' licenses and a "bar." Old M sßfe* « the Peninsula will remem- ■ jEMMr, the steward-barman of tne I mEE Needless to say, the arrival ■ 3Tt«t«»iners at the various ba^ ■ za.ftroed forward to by some resiR iPt«f hiore reasons than one. ■ ». The Masters. ■ master of the- CygB ffiss Captain Alex. Murray, now ■ StUP retirement in Dunedin. CapKffi»sP!? y wa ß formerly in com-i ■ sSkL 11118 Shaw > Savill and Albl °" ■ KB?** barque Akaroa. He left ■ tEiSr to settle in Lyttelton, and he VI £riSSatoand of the Cygnet from K 3K«!?* tui W 2 *- Other masters M WaSP™** W. Jones, L. Larsen, W. ■