PALATIAL STEAM YACHT

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 156, 29 March 1926, Page 8

PALATIAL STEAM YACHT

ARRIVES AT WELLINGTON SURPRISE ON TWO YEARS' CRUISE An interesting arrival at the port of Wellington on Saturday evening was .the palatial steam yacht Surprise, 1495 tons, from Southampton, via the Suez Catial route, and various ports on the wav, on a two years’ cruise with her owner, Mr. Godfrey 11. Williams,, a proprietor ‘of large estates in South Wales, who is accompanied by Mrs. Williams and their two daughters. The vessel dropped anchor in the stream shortly before 8 o’clock on Saturday evening, and was passed by the Port Health officer and Customs officers yesterday morning, when Mr. and Mrs. Williams and daughters came ashore. A Dominion reporter who visited the Surprise in the anchorage yesterday morning found the vessel to be a veritable treasure ship. The furnishings and fittings are most elaborate, and are said to be worth £200,000.. There nre n Gainsborough and a Wilkie painting and a table centre-piece, at one time the propertv of Napoleon, is valued at £lOOO. The state rooms, reading rooms, drawing rooms, and saloon are stvlishly furnished and luxurious to the last degree. The state-rooms resemble bedrooms of a mansion more than cabins on a steamer. An electric piano,' gramophone, and broadcast receiving set, are among the equipment of the ship. , The Surprise, which is attached to the Royal Yacht Squadron, is an elegantly modelled vessel, not unlike the Government steamer Tutanekai when viewed from the shores of the harbour. She is painted white with a yellow funnel. Iler decks are spacious, and the lower deck is fitted with railway car-riage-like windows for nearly the whole length, which can be lowered so as to shut out the wind and light sprays or rain. The Surprise is steamheated throughout, and there is a separate bathroom for nearly every stateroom. Seeing that the vessel was originally built for an American millionaire, and was afterwards for thirteen years the property of the late King Leopold, of Belgium, it is not difficult to account for the luxurious appointments of the ship. Mr. Williams purchased the Surprise in 1923, and had her refitted and renovated. The vessel, which is British built, is 27 years old, but bears little evidence of her age. The Surprise carries a crew of about 50 all told, notwithstanding the fact that she is an oil-fuel burner, and therefore requires fewer men below than an ordinary coal-burner. Originally built to steam 17 knots, the Surprise can still make her 14 knots under favourable conditions, although she keeps to a slower speed on her present cruise.

The Surprise carries four large oillaunclies and a “hydro-glisser.” The latter is a shallow draught craft with seats for six passengers. It is propelled by a motor which revolves an air propeller not unlike that of an aeroplane. This craft, is able to attain a speed of 35 miles per hour. The "yacht” is not without her quota of animal pets. These include a Chinese chow-chow dog, and a Pekingese lap dog, besides a diminutive but most intelligent monkey from Panama. The voyage commenced from Southampton on November 28, and calls were macle at Le Havre, Vigo (Spain), Lisbon, Tangier, Algeciras, Gibraltar, Algiers, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Port Sudan, Aden, Colombo South Cocos Island, Fremantle, and Beauty Point (near Launceston, Tasmania). The vessel left Beauty Point on Saturday morning, March 20, and met with a heavy south-westerly swell. About half-way across the Tasman Sea the Surprise ran into a south-easterly gale, with high seas, which lasted for twenty hours. A heavy ■ south-easterly swell continued until entering Cook Strait, when a strong south-easterly and heavy sea were experiended sintil arrival. It is the intention of Mr. Williams to indulge in some weeks’ fishing at Lake Taupo and also to do some deerstalking. The Surprise may remain at Wellington for some time, but will proceed from New Zealand to Sydney, and thence up to the Far East. Captain A. F. King (formerly of the Blue Funnel Line) is master of the Surprise, and his officers comprise Chief, Mr. W. J. Parker; second, Mr. E. C. Litster; third, Mr. G. F. Read; chief engineer, Mr. James Marshall; second, Mr. T. K. Surtees; third, Mr, E. E. Johnson; ship’s surgeon, Dr. T. E. Walsh. Owing to the strike ’of wireless operators in England, the Surprise had to leave Home without an operator. A radio man has been engaged to join the vessel at Wellington tb-day. Mr. Williams’s home is at Aberpergwm’ Wales. His estates in South Wales include extensive holdings in coal mines.