TEN THOUSAND MILES UNDER SAIL

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 300, 15 September 1936, Page 10

TEN THOUSAND MILES UNDER SAIL

“Best Months of My Life” CADET ON THE JOSEPH CONRAD “The six best months bf my life!” In these words, when he landed at Wellington from the Maunganui yesterday. Mr. Dennis N. Ussher, of Timaru. summed up his 10,000-mile voyage round the Pacific in the little fullrigged ship, Joseph Conrad. Mr.' Ussher signed on as a cadet when the Joseph Conrad was at Auckland last February. He accompanied her to Samarai in Papua, and thence on the long ocean passage to Tahiti by* way of Lord Howe Island and Cook Strait. In an Interview with “The Dominion,” Mr. Ussher recalled how one afternoon last May, th© Joseph Conrad appeared unexpectedly off Wellington. making as though to enter the port, but. at the ■ very harbour mouth squared away and stood out past Baring Head in the direction of Gape PalUser and the open sea beyond. Watchers on the shore were disappointed when the Joseph Conrad did not call at Wellington; and from Mr. Ussher’s account it appeared that the crew were no less so. ‘ Baffled by head winds ever since leaving Lord Howe Island, they had been forced far to the south of their course, and when they sighted Egmont’s gleaming cone, they all looked forward to their arrival at Wellington. They ran through the strait a ■ fair wind, and hauled up toward Pencarrow Head. Captain A. J. Villiers ordered a signal to be hoisted for a tug, as the wind blew, fiercely out of the harbour, and it was obviously impossible to enter under sail. But no tug appeared, and the captain said that if none had shown up by 5 o’clock, they would have to haul the signal down, and clear the strait before nightfall. Although they watched eagerly, no tug came; the yards were squared, and the Joseph Cqnrad carried on, eastward, for Tahiti. ' First Experiences in Sail. Before he joined the Joseph Conrad at Auckland, said Mr. Ussher, he had had no experience of seafaring or of sailing ships. But before the ship was clear of the Hauraki Gulf his education was begun. He was sent aloft for the first time, and stood his first trick at the wheel. When he was learning to furl and gasket the sails, a sudden squall laid the ship over, giving .him his first of many thrills. The four-weeks’ voyage to Samarai, though uneventful, gave him his initial taste of the sea in its many moods. Of course, he was seasick, for the motion of a small square-rigger is very different to that of a big liner. But, although she pitched and plunged wildly over the waves, and the trucks of her masts circled wildly against the sky, she was a good, sound, seaworthy little ship, and, when hove-to later on the voyage, rode wonderfully in seas estimated as 30 to 35 feet high. After waiting at Bramble Haven till a fair wind was obtained for negotiating the historic China Straits, formerly the main highway into the Pacific, the Joseph Conrad made Samarai, and landed a party of Australian gold-min-ers who had travelled from Sydney. Two days out from Samarai she called at Wari, where she piled up on the reef, and only with difficulty was refloated.

The anchorage at Wari was within the lagoon, explained Mr. Ussher. When the Joseph Conrad weighetj anchor, and steered for the passage through the reef, a strong cross-wise current set her on to the coral, and in a. moment she was hard and fast, pounding heavily as the swell lifted her a little. The tide was at the full, and there was every possibility that, unless the ship was refloated immediately, she would break her back at the ebb; or that, or if a sea rose, she would lie holed on the reef. The. first attempt to pull her off with a kedge anchor failed. So the heavy bower anchor was laid out astern, both lifeboats beiiig necessary for the operation, and the capstan was manned. Laboriously, but successfully, the Joseph Conrad was warped off, into deep water. Constant Head Winds.

Head winds characterised the voyage to Lord Howe Island. The ship skirted the Barrier Reef and passed dreary ■weeks continually tacking, witjhbut making, much headway. Once, for 640 miles sailed, she was found to have progressed only 20 miles in a forward direction. Off Brisbane she was becalmed within five miles of the land. It was ,a relief to all on board to sight Lord Howe Island, where fresh vegetables and a live pig and a sheep were taken on board. After leaving the island she was prevented by head winds from rounding the Thr4e Kings, and was driven down through Cook Strait. In the Roaring Forties the little ship met with heavy weather, and was “pooped” by a big following sea, which smashed the dinghy. Mr. Ussher stated that he was forward at the time; hurrying aft, he was met by a rush of green water up to ’his arm-pits. The ship, with sail reduced to reefed topsails, lay heeled over, her scuppers full, and the ports by which the water should tftive washed clear rusted stiff and lashed with wire. In black darkness, and in several feet of water, the hands struggled to open the ports, banging 'at them with iron belaying-pins, and wrenching away the wire. The ship, carrying a great weight of water forward, was down by the head, and seemed unable to rise to meet the waves.l Finally, however, tl>e ports came open, and the Joseph Conrad shook the water from her decks. A foot.of water washing about the between-decks made the crew miserable. Rough weather continued, and the cold was too great, for them to bother to wash, Under sailing-ship conditions baths were unknown. In the tropics, when rain fell, one was able to enjoy a natural shower-bath, but now, in the cold Forties, fresh water ran short, and the drinking supply was from a reserve tank, filled at New York a year and a half before. "Lousy,” was Mr. Ussher’s description. But they survived, and came safely to Tahiti at flic end of 80 days. The one determination Mr. Ussher brought back with him. he said, was to go to .sea agAin in sail, island schooner, or grain barque, it mattered little to him: all he desired was to have the canvas arching overhead, and the white water slipping away astern. (Picture on Page 7.)