PAMIR READY TO SAIL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25304, 2 October 1947, Page 3

PAMIR READY TO SAIL

Round Cape Horn To England MASTER EXPLAINS PLANS FOR VOYAGE From Our Own Reporter WELLINGTON, October 1 Fully loaded with 4500 tons of tallow, wool, and hides for Great Britain the four-masted barque Pamir is waiting at Wellington for a favourable wind before she starts her long voyage to London via Cape Horn. If conditions improve, it is expected that the will leave to-morrow This will be the first time for 25 years that a sailing ship has left New Zealand for a voyage to England round the Horn.

Interviewed on board the ship today. the master (Captain H. S. Collier) said that he was not anxious to break any records for the trip. His main object was to get the bsrque to London in good order and with her valuable cargo intact.

“We have a first-class crew—in fact. I would say that the Pamir has never been better manned than it is for this trip,” seid Captain Collier.

Radio Reports of Progress New Zealand would be kept fully informed of the barque’s progress, he continued. The ship had been fitted with a short-wave transmitter which was expected to have a range of 5000 miles. It would keep .in contact with New Zealand direct for the first part of the trip and after the ship has rounded the Horn it will send messages by relay through the Falkland Islands. When the ship got closer to England it will probably keep in touch with New Zealand through the radio service in Great Britain. “It is our wish that everyone here will know how we are faring, and arrangements to see that this is done have been made,” he said. Captain . Collier described the proposed course of the barque. After leaving Wellington she will sail a south-east course and will pass south of the Chatham Islands to a latitude of 50 degrees. Then the barque will sail east until she is about 1800 miles off Cape Horn. A gradual southerly course will be set to clear the Horn, the distance the vessel goes south depending on the weather and visibility.

“The iceberg season is approaching, and as we get near the Falkland Islands sharp lookouts will have to be posted,” the captain continued. “An endeavour will be made to pass east of the Falklands, but in seasons of heavy ice this course -is not prudent, as ice may be met as far as 40 degrees south. If we have to go the other way. we -will have to sacrifice the benefits of the south-east trade winds which are so important to a sailing ship. “If we can keep our planned course it will put the ship in a good position to pick up the north-east trades, to’ take us past the Azores, Luck in the Doldrums “The success or failure of a quick passage depends upon the luck we have in the doldrums. “We hope to pick up the pilot and tugs off Dungeness.” As a safety measure, the Pamir has scrapped the Norwegian foghorn and has been equipped with an E.P.S. siren to warn approaching ships in bad weather. Captain Collier said that this siren would overcome engine noises on the bridge of Diesel ships, and was likely to prove more satisfactory than the foghorn. The Pamir is carrying a crew of 39. Mrs Collier is a passenger. Besides the master there are three deck officers, one radio officer, 10 able seamen, six ordinary seamen, 12 boys, a boatswain, a carpenter, two cooks, and two stewards. The chief officer is Mr A. S. Keyworth, of Takapuna, who is one of four brothers who are officers in the Merchant Navy. Mr A. F. Jenkins, of Wellington, who has been on the Pamir since it was taken over by the New Zealand Government in 1941, is the second officer. The third officer is Mr E. C. F. Irvine, who came to New Zealand early this year from Scotland. Mr A. J. Stanton of Grey Lynn, is the radio officer. One Christchurch member of the crew is Malcolm Pearson, who has been with the ship for about two years. He is the son of Captain Pearson, who was killed in the examination service at Lyttelton while boarding a Russian ship during the war. The average age of the crew is 20. The two youngest are Auckland boys, Malcolm Lowe, who will have his seventeenth birthday during the voyage, and Geoffrey Stichbury, who has just turned 17. Jack Carey, the boatswain, and Carey, a seaman, are brothers from Westport. - .

The chief cook, Thomas Redmond, is an Irishman iyho served with the Bth A Pointing out the training benefits of service in a ship like the Pamir, Captain Collier said that the last chief officer, Mr W. Galloway, of Milford, had since obtained his master’s certificate and had recently been appointed a pilot in the port of Wellington. Another man who left the ship after the last voyage was ready to sit for his second mate’s squarerig certificate. He was only 18 years of age. An Acre of Sails The Pamir, which spreads an acre of canvas, has practically a new set of sails for this voyage. There are 2.000,000 stitches in the foresail alone, with 96 feet in the head and 33 feet in the drop. , „ With her spread, the Pamir can make 15 knots before a stiff breeze. In the annual sailing ship grain races from Australia to England, the Pamir has always been among the first arrivals at Falmouth, and in.j1931 deadheated for first place. The average time for a voyage from New Zealand to England via Cape Hom is about 90 days, 25 to the Hom, and 65 to England. Captain Collier, who was brought up in Temuka, has served for many years with the Union Steam Ship Company as a master. He has an extra .master s square rigged ticket, the highest that can be obtained in the Merchant Navy. The Pamir was built 42 years ago at Hamburg by German shipbuilders The barque will carry a huge shark s tail on the jib boom as a good lucK piece. This tail was brought back by fishermen from the Chatham Islands fishing grounds. Mrs Collier said to-day that she was looking forward to the trip to England. Her only sailing experience, she said, was in yachts in the Hauraki Gulf, and she admitted that “the Pamir may be a little different. However, I am a good sailor and feel sure that anj rough weather will not worry me at all ” Mrs Collier added that while she had been on board a woman had applied for a position as her companion, bne said that she could cook and would act as a stewardess if only we could take her to England with us,” said Mrs Collier. “Unfortunately we had to refVsetill with the Pamir after two years’ service is Viscount Traprain, of Whittinghame, who is-the heir of the Earl of Balfour „