THREE IN A BOAT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 228, 21 June 1920, Page 5

THREE IN A BOAT

DEVONSHIRE TO THE PACIFIC. I Mr. Ralph Stock, a well-known contributor to Australian, English, and American magazines, has rctumsd on a visit to Sydney (says tho "Morning Herald"). Mr. Stock, who. is accompanied by his sister, was a passenger by tho Makura. They came, however, only from Auckland by tho uteamer. Tho other portion of tho journey from Engf.and was mado in a 21-ton cuttor, by way of tho Panama Canal. And a pleasant and very interesting voyage it was, too—that of (two men and a lady in a boat.

"When I was invalided'from the amy, nine months before Hie end of the war," said Mr. Stock, "my sister and I decided to be fishermen, and, 'buying tho gear and a cutter, went to live on tho Devonshire ooaßt. Wo were fortunate in the boat we got, n. craft built by Norwegian!) for service as a lifeboat among their fishing fleets. It was 47ft, long, had a beam of 15ft., and had been put together strongly enough to stand anything. By aud bye we conceived the idea of a, round-the-world cruise, and, after taking lcssoiib in navigation, duty set sail on July 21, accompanied by Mr. B. A. Rundle, nn army officer, whom we have left behind in Samoa, where he has joined the Local Administration,"

From the coqfit of Devonshire tho voyagers ruflde Vigo, in Spain, then i lias Pnlmns, and so across the Atlantic to Barbados. The latter stago took 30 days, the cutter being at one time beoalmed for nearly a week, Nearly a mouth was passed cruising about the West Indies, until Cdlon was reached, and the little crnft was presented for passage through the Ciina!. "There," Sjiid Mr. Stock, "we took everything off the cutter wo could to reduce measurements before the official measurer came along. He went about his job with tho utmost solemnity, and finally wound up by saying that he 'couldn't make it more than 12 tons— and that will be 12 dollars.' So we paid the 12 dollars—the smallest amount,. I

think, over paid in canal dues—and wore 'locked up' with two big steamers." At tho canal the party saw H.M.S. Now Zealand, with Admiral Jellicoo on lioard, and attended a dance given on the big cruiser. Thence they steered to the Gaiapagos Islands, and, coming by Vinj of the Marquesas, the Low Archipelago, Tahiti, JPalmcrston Island, and Nine, reached Nukualofa in April. Thero such an attractive offer for the cutter was mado that it was sold, and is r.ow the property of the Island Government. "Wo enjoyed ourselves immensely on the trip," says Mr, Stock. "All tho places we visited were cnovntou-ry interesting, and- the weather was so iine that, incredible though it may appear, ono/ could have almost' paddled the whole way in an open boat." ' , Miss Stock was previously in Australia; and was-wrecked on Norfolk Island a few years ago, with'her brother, i*hilo on a yachting cruise. Mr, Stock describes his sister as having been "the best of the crew." -All the way out pho kept ]iqr regular watch and took her turn at the tiller. Their intention is to buy a cutter in the north, and, after a cruise in the North-west Pacific, to snil back to- their fishing on the Devonshire coast, by way of Suez.