VERSATILE MARINER

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 261, 31 July 1937, Page 10

VERSATILE MARINER

Sea Captain Who is Artist and Writer EVENTFUL CAREER Dominion Special Service. Auckland, July 30. Besides possessing a genial anil unassuming personality, Captain Frank N. Wyatt, commander of the new Federal motor-ship Essex, is an artist, a writer of sea stories and newspaper articles and an authority on ships and the sea, and there is little he does not know about the stage. During a very full life this versatile mariner has risen from an apprentice to the command of one of the most modern ships afloat, and in between, lie has found time to be on the staff of live different publications, ty contribute numerous articles to leading newspapers in Great Britain, Australia anil South Africa, to write a manuscript for a book and to paint and draw. In this direction lie possesses an undoubted flair. If must also be mentioned that he has been a theatrical entertainer. He controlled a West End theatre for a year and has been associated with several film projects. That is why his theatre critiques are eagerly sought on both sides of the world. “How did it all begin?” he repeated this morning, drawing meditatively from a cherished pipe as he sat comfortably in a lounge chair in his luxuriously appointed dayroom. “You see, I’ve got a good eye for a ship. I was in the training ship Worcester in the Thames for two years and used to see ships of every conceivable description passing up and down. I grew to know them so well that I could tell them in the dark. They all had their little peculiarities. “Then war came.” He paused and strolled over to the large port, gazing with fond admiration at the sweeping sheer of the long foredeck. “Oh, yes. During the war I served in a troopship, the Penalla. Sometimes a message would come through that said a Union ship had been torpedoed and sunk. Knowing all the intimate details of the various types and designs of ships, I would take out a pencil and sketch them. It was only the work of half an hour. They would be in the next edition of a newspaper, illustrating the story of the sinking. “It was like money for jam,” he added with a chuckle. “At the end of the war I took up writing. I used to spend two hours daily writing and sketching but I haven’t lately. I will start again pretty soon though.” And so this hearty captain, who at one time was the youngest skipper running out to Australia from England, unfolded his amazing history. Only 49 years of age now, he succeeded to his first command at the age of 35 and for eight years was captain .of the P. and O. liner Bendigo. He left the Bendigo to take the bridge of the Essex, which is making only her second voyage.