Retiring Harbourmaster Went To Sea At 14

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31392, 10 June 1967, Page 5

Retiring Harbourmaster Went To Sea At 14

(Specially written for "The Press" by

JOHN LESLIE)

Captain A. R. Champion, Harbourmaster at Lyttelton since 1950 and New Zealand’s senior harbourmaster, will retire on October 21, this year—his birthday and Trafalgar Day. He will be 65, and this will end a distinguished maritime career which began in 1916 when he joined the barque Rona in Wellington at the age of 14.

In the intervening years he has established a reputation as a stern disciplinarian, a seaman without peer, and one who does not suffer fools gladly. But he is also kindly and compassionate, and quick to offer help when it is needed.

Whether he is chatting with a governorgeneral or an admiral, a watersider or a fisherman, or singing round the piano at a party he is always the same: a man without pretensions. A Lyttelton woman who has known the Champion family for many years said recently that if Roy Champion had been bom in another age, he would have probably been a buccaneer, a Raleigh, a Drake, a Frobisher or a Hawkins. This thought came to her one day when the harbourmaster gave one of his most impressive ship-handling displays. Berthing The Orion He was berthing the liner Orion in February, 1946, during a south-easterly gale which caught her great bulk and swung her round. On Gladstone Pier were relatives and friends waiting to welcome the Orion’s passengers—members of the Second N.Z.E.F. who were returning from war service.Aboard the ship was the then Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones) who had boarded the ship down the harbour. Ships normally lie starboard side to the wharf at this berth to facilitate their arrival and departure. Captain Champion turned the 700 ft liner round in the 990 ft Inner harbour basin under savage gale conditions, and berthed her port side to, using the two tugs during the final operation. Seafaring people and others from all walks of life who watched this performance still speak of it as a triumph, a harsh challenge overcome. “I could see him on the Orien’s bridge,” said the Lyttelton woman. "His cap was off. He was all concentration and his greyish-white hair was waving. It was then that I thought of buccaneers and things.” Captain Champion has piloted millions of tons of shipping in and out of Lyttelton harbour, In every kind of circumstance but this showed his greatness as a ship-hand-ler. Third Generation His work and that of his pilots, all skilled and capable men, is taken for granted, and to the layman appears effortless, but Lyttelton's inner harbour limits are confined and call for a skill probably greater than that required in any other New Zealand port. A third-generation' master mariner, Captain Champion is the grandson of Captain William Nile Champion, who was master of the missionary schooner Undine, which carried Bishop Selwyn about his oceanic diocese comprising this country and Pacific islands. Captain W. N. Champion was also well known as a pilot at Onehunga. His son. Captain William Champion, father of Captain A. R. Champion, commanded among other fine vessels, the barque Otago. Captain Roy Champion attended the Beresford Street School, Auckland. With so much salt water in his veins.

it was natural that he should go to sea as a boy, and he ' joined the barque Rona in ' 1916, at the age of 14. The Rona traded between New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Coast of North America. In 1920 when only 18 years old, Roy Champion left Lyttelton in the barque Rewa for Cape Hom and Great Britain with a full cargo of wool. He recalled that the Rewa was the last ship to leave Lyttelton with her wool cargo screwed by timber jacks into tight stowage to use every available inch of space. In 1922, after he had passed his second mate’s certificate, he joined the Makura as fourth officer. Captain Champion still speaks affectionately of the popular handsome Union Line Makura, so well remembered by thousands of passengers on the Sydney-Auckland-Vancouver trade. Master In Sail Subsequently he served in other Union Steam Ship Company vessels in various ranks. Among his ships were the Maunganui, Marama, Maheno and the earlier Navua and earlier Tofua. He returned to the Makura, but this time as her second officer. When Captain Champion passed the examination for his master’s certificate in sail in Sydney, a month before he was 23, he was the youngest New Zealander to hold that certificate, and the record stands. His Union Company career concluded with an appointment as master of the former Wellington-based tug Terawhiti, after which he spent a year in the New Zealand Government’s Island Territories’ motor-vessel Maui Pomare, as chief officer and later in command. This was : followed by a year ashore at i Lyttelton as a stevedore for ■ Kinsey and Company, Ltd., : and in that year he married I Miss Edna May Monks in Auckland. His career as a pilot began ■ in 1930 with an appointment i to the Bluff Harbour Board ’ (now the Southland Harbour Board). In 1937, he joined the Lyttelton Harbour Board. He was appointed harbourmaster in 1950 after five years as deputy harbourmaster. During the war he was released by the board to command the Finnish barque Pamir, which the New Zealand Government had seized as a prize of war and was using in the New ZealandPacific coast service. Trained and experienced sailing-ship men were very scarce then—and scarcer now. Many young New Zealanders were able to commence their sea careers in sail aboard the Pamir. Captain Champion still speaks fondly of the Pamir, his favourite ship. On his first voyage in the Pamir, Captain Champion served under the late Captain D. N. McLeish, as chief officer before taking command. Captain Champion’s brother. Captain D. C. N. Champion ; who retired in 1964 from command in the Union Company, also served as master of the Pamir. When Captain A. R. Champion returned to pilot- 1 age duties, his brother, who i

had served for a voyage as chief officer, then took command of the Pamir. Captain Champion rises early, and the signalman on duty telephones him daily at 6 a.m. He has a glance from, his hillside window on Lyttelton’s eastern heights, which takes in a sweep from Diamond Harbour, through Charteris Bay, Quail Island, Governor’s Bay, back again through the reclamation and oil tanks to the waterfront immediately below. His staff have orders to phone him at home, at any hour of the day. or night and frequently do. Many uninvited people telephone him at odd hours, too. The harbourmaster has his staff, several craft including tugs, and plant to supervise. He has three telephones in his office in the Port Building’s upper floor. One is the normal telephone service. A second is the service linking all operations points of the Lyttelton Harbour Board's plant at the port, while a third has a direct line to the signal tower at the extremity of Gladstone Pier. By means of the third telephone, Captain Champion can speak directly to a ship at sea via the signal tower. He deals with his telephones and his many callers promptly and courteously. Visitors to his desk include his own staff, sihpmasters, local shipping officials and others. People telephone him about a dozen different things: people whose sons want to go to sea; people who think they have seen something unusual —unidentified objects, flying saucers and anything else. He always takes careful note, just in case. At some time during the day, the harbourmaster visits the whole waterfront in a large, familiar, light blue car. His keen eye misses nothing and he has a brief word foi everyone. In mid-afternoon, he holds a port conference in his office. This is attended by key shipping men, the stationmaster and labour employment offiI cials. Problems of berthing, i allocation of ships, cranes, : berths, tugs and priorities are • ironed out In this compli- , cated exercise of waterfront I chess, he arranges the movei ment of liners, tankers and sundry craft

Public Service d r Captain Champion served e on the Lyttelton Borough e Council for nine years, and r for three years was deputys mayor. He resigned because of the pressing demands of e the harbourmaster’s job. He o is a member of the Lyttelton e Rotary Club, a Justice of the Peace and a member of the j R.S.A. Twice he has visited s Antarctica as the guest of the . Americans, as a mark of ap--1 predation for his services to , their Antarctic ships. In 1965, Captain Champion , stood as an independent can- , didate for the Lyttelton Har- ; bour Board. He has decided . to stand again next year. . He has given encouragej ment to many organisations, sea scouts, fishermen, the Lyt- , telton Rowing Club, and ' always to those who wish to , go to sea for a career. In retirement he will continue to live in Lyttelton and will set up in business as a ’ marine consultant, and he ex- . pects to be available for the coastal pilotage of cruise ; liners and so on. Captain and Mrs Champion • have two adult children, a son i and a daughter.