LAST OF THE SAILERS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 8

LAST OF THE SAILERS.

"When tlio world's largest, sailing ship. Prcusseiij was wrecked off Dover some dozen years ago, wiseacres shook their heads and said the day of sailing ships was over lor good, says a writer in a Home paper. They did not know of the war that was to come soon after, a war that knocked all plans on the head. Jt gave an impetus to sailing craft and then the wiseacres said they had come to stay. Now comes the sequel —the loss of the world's biggest sailing craft, France. Under full sail this ship was said to lie one of the finest sights on the seven seas. One can well believe it. I saw her in dock only, and that i.s a poor place for sailing ships. But her loss proves that the clay of the big sailing ship has really passed. The scurry and hustle of the present times is too much lor her. Those that are left are drifting into obscure employment in foreign seas or else pursuing the humble coast trade in our own waters. 'l'he big ships we shall see no more—the big ships that made England. Theirs is* a glorious history. There were the East India men. the emigrant ships that, .sailed to Australia, in the 'fifties when the fever for gold ran in men's veins; the slim, fast clippers that howled homo from China, careless of their sail, only eager to beat their rivals in the race with the season's first tea crop. They were speedy craft, too. A story is told of .lames Baines that proves her to hold the world record for- speed under sail. On June IS, 15.*3(3. she was sailing 21 knots with her main sky-sail set. On that day she covered -IMS knots. Lightning ran 121) knots in a day, while Sovereign of the Seas covered 111 knots in the same time. I''ew modern steamers. except the last Atlantic liners, could rival such speeds. They wore big vessels, not so big as Krance and IVoussen. but generally from 20(H) to <{()()() tons, built sometimes of iron .sometimes of Canadian soil-wood. Pictures of these craft show a slimness of design that is unfortunately absent in the modern ship, sail or steam. Their crews were the hardest of the hard. One skipper. Hully Korbes. was world-known. 'His command was Marco Polo. On one of his outward journeys to Australia his passengers, frightened b\ tho way he was carrying on, sent a deputation to him beseeching him to shorten sail. Forbes' answer was short "Hell or Melbourne:" This is story-book stuff now. To the younger generation these ships are but names. We must content ourselves with the tiny schooners, the fore and alters. the wandering yawls we can see oil' our own coasts. Put the big sailing ships we shall never see.