SCHOONER HOLMWOOD

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 200, 21 May 1936, Page 11

SCHOONER HOLMWOOD

From Trader To CoalHulk FORMER FOREST HOME The I'oiir-masled schooner Uulmwood, used about the port of Wellington as a coal-hulk, went on to the patent slip recently for overhaul. Owned by the Hohn Shipping Company, the schooner was the last: vessel of any size trading out of Wellington under sail alone. Built nt Marshfield. Oregon, in I‘JOO, she was originally mimed Forest Home. She came down io New Zealand five limes with ease oil, before her arrival on the coast in April, .1923, after au 83-day voyage from .British Columbia. She brought with her 870.000 feet of timber.

Soon after the ship's arrival at Wellington she attained considerable notoriety. First several seamen appeared in the Magistrate’s Court charged with drunkenness. Then the captain was stated to have assaulted one of the crew. Finally two seamen claimed arrears of wages, and demanded to be discharged from their contracts. It was stated that four men had deserted since reaching port, that another had fallen overboard, that the crew had been “shanghaied” on board at the outset of the voyage, that the master, who was part-owner, had Jogged every man of the crew, and had threatened them with guns. The ship was described as a “hell-ship.” In May the Forest Home sailed to Wanganui, where she was seized and sold by order of the court, for debt. She was purchased by her present owners, who refitted her and put into her the four tall masts that are the most striking feature of the ship today, standing 120 feet from truck to kelson. For about four years the schooner was in the intercolonial trade, carryjng coal from Australia and taking back timber. She was commanded in turn by Captains S. Holm, C. V. Stanich, A. G. Taylor, A. 11. Gifford and Al. T. Holm. As her running costs were unduly high, she was finally laid up and used as a coal-bulk, although not dismantled. (Picture on page 7.)