MANY VOYAGES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 256, 26 July 1937, Page 10

MANY VOYAGES

Veteran Purser of the Arawa

LONG RECORD OF SERVICE AT SEA

A genial veteran of the seas is Mr. Charles J. Hobden, purser of the Shaw, Savill and Albion liner Arawa, which arrived at Wellington yesterday. Mr. Hobden, who was last here in the Tainui, at the beginning of February, is now making his eighty-seventh voyage, and has travelled well over 2,000,000 miles at sea. Since he joined the service of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company nearly 40 years ago, Mr. Hobden lias completed 76 round voyages from England to New Zealand —the present is his seven ty-se ven th —eight between England and Australia, one to Montreal and one to the River Plate. He has made 40 Homeward passages from New Zealand round Cape Horn, and recently made his seventy-third passage through the Panama Canal.

A remarkable feature of Mr. Hobden’s sea-service is his long association —more than 30 years—with the steamers Arawa and Tainui, of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Line. Since the beginning of 1907, Mr. Hobden has served for only eight voyages out of 69 in only three ships other than Arawa and Tainui—names that have been associated with the New Zealand trade under the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company’s house flag for 54 years. In January, 1907, Mr. Hobden joined the second Arawa, a steamer of 9372 tons register, in which he served for her first four voyages to New,Zealand. He then transferred to the second, and present, Tainui for her first five voyages. Back to the Arawa in 1910, Mr. Hobden remained in her for nine years and 20 more voyages, including the whole of thq war years. In 1919-20 he made three voyages to Australia as purser, in the Wahehe (ex Hilda Woermann). Between 1921 and 1928 he made 15 voyages to New Zealand —seven in the Tainui and eight in the Arawa. He next made four voyages to Australia in the Largs Bay. Going back to the Tainui for the third time, Mr. Hobden made another seven visits to New Zealand. In January, 1933, he made a voyage to Australia in the Esperance Bay (now the third Arawa) at trte conclusion of which he rejoined the Tainui, in which he remained till her return to London in March of this year, completing another 10 voyages.