SEAMANSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 18

SEAMANSHIP

RECORD OF GREAT FEATS

BLENHEIM'S PERILOUS PLIGHT

STBANGB STORY OF BLENDEN

HALL,

The dismasting of ships in these unTomantio days is comparatively rate. For one thing, skippers do not "carry on" as they used to, and for another, masts—-or at any rate the lower masts ■—are of steel, and are strong enough to bear any strain that., it - likely to be put upon them. .But it was not so in the old.: days, when ships were frequently dismasted;' 'and ,wheivit was 1 sometimes neeessary-'fe dismast a ship in order that Bhe, migHt"-right herself. _'A vivid" account of a dismasting carlied out-.t0,, save a ship was recorded by an.-officei :of the Blenheim, a famous Irjdiaman of the 'fiftios, write 3H. S. in thjr Melbourne -"Argus." He tells how, after discharging cargo at Madras, they Bailed rjor but before they re|?:h«iji'lhaV porjt'they. ran into a hur-ncane-'that-was-'nearly fatal to' the B£nheim.V"l£3olew," he writes, "worse artiJworser'tiU;'in;: the height of the storm she suddenly went on her beam ends. The. paiaengers were all below, paralysed with fear. As for the captarn, he lost his nerve, and so we were ■without a leader. It seemed only < a question of minutes when she .must founder with., all hands. I was only a young officer,_jind scarcely realised our position; these-terrific storms beat-all sense ana feeling out of one. Well, 1 came across'ri.he boatswain, with whoni. I had been very friendly during the voyage. " „ ./., . , ,■ .; ' ' ' •;. ', " "'Lo6k.rher6'"sir,"" he roared, in my ear, "theSe;.-'ere orficrs is all dazed. But come along -o'me, and we'll save her yet/ .$£:•;*:;' , : ' : V ■ ::-,,;.;.,,. ■•;„.„.;. " 'AJJyjight,',;: I answered, recovering my senJßS^npw that I had;;'got a"leaderr "We scrambled along until we reached the carpente*'"s"-berth. It was "ienantless..' He groped ;about. and presently cried, 'Here, catch hold !' and I found an axe m my fist-'>.'Now follow.' "' "We scrambled aft through the how] and scurry of the storm. At the gangway, abreast pf the mainmast, he stopped and began to climb out of the ship s upper sids. through one of - the gunports. I knew now what-we were going to do—cutaway the masts, and without orders! We clambered out on to the cnarmels. "HACK AWAY." " 'Now, sir,'- he yelled in my ear, i 'hack away.' We hacked, but it was awful work out there, with the flying spray and rain beating upon us like whips, and the screaming- hurricane almost hurling us from our hand. clutch,;.whilst.the great* hull beneath us rolled, and wallowed in the seething waters. "In about ten minutes we had got about five of the lanyards cut. Suddenly he held my-'arm. 'Look out when she rights,' he said. And all in a moment the black snakes of the rigging seemed to be drawn up swiftly into, the dark heavens—and silently, for no sound could ba heard of ripping 'decks or breaking masts. All was drowned in the horrible roar of the storm. Instantly the ship's great spars, rigging, and all went by the I board. Slowly, she bgan to right herself, --■ ■ --■■•-.. - " 'Come on,' cried the bosun, and we crepfc inboard again. 'We must take these axes back, and no questions will be I asked.' ' "Once mow we regained the earpen- ! ters berths He dragged the door to, which shut out some of the din, and said to ma, 'Now, sir, never you say a word to anyone > about-what we've done. The old packet's a proper wreck now, "with all three sticks gone. No one gave the order, and if we was found out there would be the devil to pay, so keep .quiet.' .. .;;■'•-... .\ "We!!, it saved the ship; for had she not been relieved of her spars, she would certainly have' foundered.'' In the morning the hurricane ceased, but they were still in trouble, for there was 12ft-of water in the hold, and the ship had a very heavy list to port owing to the of 900 tons of steel rails. She must have had a wonderful hull to havj stood the impact of this mass of metal a-gainst her sides. The captain remarked that it wa3 a, good thing that the masts, had -blown out of herj and as I;,;^ ne b°sun and the young officer, they'pretended; to come on 'deck ;after' ' aleepin&'through the storm,' and, they professed-to be greatly surprised/ to learn that the. Blenheim's masts were gone! It may.be of interest to recall'th'at'this I stately, ship and her sister, the'-:-. Marl-! borough, were Considered the finest' craft in the British mercantile marine in 1851 ' the yearCo'f the great Exhibition.-- 1 On I this account they were presented' with I house flags.and sik ensigns. And "out of that ros'e;,,tlie word "line," according to Basil Eubbock. The Blenheim and other ships belonging- to the- T. and \v. Smith I Indiamen had just been, "Smith's" : but now, owing. to',the;;blue' lines in the form of a cross on their ensign, they became .known as the •''Blue Cross Line." - It may be mentioned, too, that a year or so after this, when the gold rush broke out, the Marlborough made a vov-aga-to-Australia. AH the Blue Cross iwers were built like men-of-war, but for Ell that they wera fast sailers, and the i Maryborough,, ono of the fastest of them made the voyage from the Lizard to Mel-hourne-m 78 days,; ■ --. -. -

THE FAMOUS CLIPPER SIBLAtfCE LOT.

..The Sir Lancelot, which some thought the fastest of all the China tea clippers nearly came to grief on her outward voyage in 1867, and would have done so but Captain Eohinson...She was a. new tfifc that had been yoefully mishandled on nor maiden voyage^by an incompetent Ripper Th. HffiOmn,,- who. .owned her, got rid of th ls man, and. obtained toe services of Captain Robinson, who had made a great name for himself as

fortunate T'f- VOJ'ags £he had tte'mi.tortune to be dismasted. A storm' was <£*&• Md thB J 6ale agair^t which $ne tjeat her way down iha -R\, r v Channel rifyfg %£JI Jfi! ■ Off Ushant sfia was struck with a tremendous squall^but for aome" minutes good up gallantly to the staggering buf! fets ; that ...were; dealt her. But at the very crisis of the blast her long wil lowy bowsprit-carried away. ■ A n instant later the foremast broke off short and,-.went by;the board; the main and mizzen-mast/Eooh followed — 1 During,, the.;, night, the '"crew-i'-worked JjHLcitttjflg away, tho .Nyre'ckage, and in %^M™S-^3M^:*ting;he.r with juT^masJg^^/Captaiiivßab&o^ records in th-ri<sg;thaf:ia'.;two:!aay.s.'Shey-had a jury mast and:;jibboom .rigged,.'and that he was able.to,get his i-hip away before the wind ■ ■ ;with fore'-fcOpgallant sail,' royals, an'd.-staysaila'-sci^ forward. , It, is all in the day's work; he just sets uown lha;.b'are .facts .pf,'.lhis perilous .adventure "with sailorly'brevity. They got to.Falmouth^wit^outjf.ny^ assistance. The underwriters, --recognising-^ What ,a---fine piece '. ofyaeam^nsSifi >--Ijiis.'- was*,'. awarded £250 to ba.-dividedi'betTveen the captain, the! s;officersy arid' the crew. " • It soerhed- at first, that .the Sir .Lancelot was destined to 'misfortune, for wh«n •he was being re-rigS'ljl.?.*?"3^^^

weather, which was extraordinarily bad, delayed the work considerably, and then, to' expedite' "matters, the" Owners had brought a lot of riggers from Liverpool. The Lancashire men, however, could not get on with the local men. First there were fights, then riots, and then bloodshed. However, she wa3 rerigged at last, though she was top late for the tea race that year. She soon proved what a flyer she was, for in 186?, sailing against all the cracks, she made the voyage from Shanghai home in 99 days. The next best run was that of the beautiful Titania, 'which made the run in 115 days. : In 1894, Sir Lancelot, growing old, but still fast, nearly came to grief on a voyage from Calcutta to Mauritius Captain Brebner was now her commander, and, after describing the commencement of the voyage, he goes on to say: "It became evident that I was in front of an advancing revolving storm. The barometer began to fall rapidly, mountainous seas rolling up from the north-east, wUh increasing south-east wind. I then set the various parts of my cyclone compass and saw that I was in the south-west' margin of the storm, and also in a dangerous quadrant. Having a fast ship, I decided to take my chance, and run across the front of the storm into the navigating quadrant. The two lower topsails were set, Sir Lancelot making nine knots by the patent log, and possibly eleven over the ground. Before the helm was put up two oil bags wer6 placed over the bows and, two over each quarter. She rode beautifully, though the seas were dreadful to behold. She' shipped ' much water, but no damage was done. At 8 o'clock the wind was south south-west; at 10 o'clock southWest. Then the . main topsail blew to ribbons. . . '. It was Wowing a terrific gale, and- Sir Lancelot took large bodies of water over the stern as she was then on the wrong tack for bowing the seas. T o avoid sustaining damage, I put out another and larger oil bag m a rattan ballast basket,'• attached the deep sea line to it, and ran" it out at the full length. The basket, which streamed away to windward, served the purpose, for the sea broken lightly afterwards."

But things were on the mend after this -oil had^ been poured on " troubled waters," for the wind was falling, the sea went down, and there was some blue sky and cheerful sunshine.. Then it became really fine. "And," to quote Captain Brebner again, " Sir Lancelot escaped with a good shaking up and the loss of the main topsail only." The next year she was sold to Persian owners, and she left Muscat loaded deep with a cargo of salt for Calcutta. But she never got to port. A pilot vessel saw her off the mouth of the Hooghly, and the Sir Lancelot signalled for a pilot. But the. weather was so tempestuous that the brig could not put a pilot on board her. Mr. W. F. Wawn ,who was the pilot on the brig, and who had piloted the Sir Lancelot in a letter to a friend, says he told her captain to get to the southward as soon as he could. He added that the ship looked very deep in the water, and was making very bad weather. That was the last seen of her, he says; and he thinks that the bodies of some lasenrs which were washed ashore a few days afterwards came from the ship.

COMEDY AND TRAGEDY.

There were some curious circumstances connected with the wreck of the Blenden Hall, which sailed from London for Bombay in 1820. Captain Greig was in command, and, owing to very foggy weather when he was entering the South Atlantic, he became doubtful about his reckoning. He steered, therefore, fora sight of that lonely island, Tristan da Cunha, but ha was destined never to make it, for presently his ship, suddenly caught by prodigious breakers was thrown on to the rocky shores-of Inaccessible Island. The musts were promptly cut away, but nothing could save the doomed ship, which, with her back broken, was pounding herself to pieces. Except for two sailors, who were killed by falling spars, all the ship's company was saved. By what was regarded as a miracle the [ship's bow detached itseli from the hull and drifted towards a strip of beach. All had-crowded on to ths bows, and when this portion of the hull went ashore the landing was an easy matter.

But thay had very little clothing until somo muslin and bales of scarlet cloth came ashore. Then all went about in improvised clothes of scarlet, and for hats they wore muslin vound round their heads in turban fashion. They lived hard, but food, if coarse, was abundant.'-- The-.. sailors ' gave some trouble; they were going to. allow, no master and man business.^n'the island, every man was-to be as good as "another, and a-little better- if he'happened to-be a sailor. Months, passed, and' then Joseph Knibbs, a coloured-man,- and the ship's cook made a punty' and 'with: some companions .set out ''to--get 'help' from Tristan- da Giinha. .-They-'Were ..risking their lives for."the'rest of the company^ and they were cheered as they drifted rway in their little home-made craft, fhe brave fellows were never.seen again. Then, the ship's carpenter made a larger boat, in which he and a number of volunteers made another attempt to reach Tristan. They succeeded.

Later, the survivors saw two stout whale boats approaching their desolate island. It was the ruler of Tristan, Corporal William. Glass, ' late of the Royal Artillery, who had' come to rescue them. All were landed safely. At first every thing went well enough, but when the saibrs, in return for their keep, were--told that they would be expected to earn it by working on the farm, they point-blank refused. Eventually they went off to another part of the island, and lived by what they could kill or catch. Months later the Nerinoe, an Knglish ship, put 'into Tristan to re- - plenish her water casks. She was bound for Buenos Aires, and her hold was full of_ mules. These were uncomfortable shipmates, to be sure, but'the survivors of the Blenden Hall, heartily tired of island life, were not particular. The voyage might have been dull but lor the violent quarrels of Mrs. Lock and Mrs. Painter. It was an ancient feud. They had quarrelled perpetually on the Blenden Hall, on Inaccessible Island, aad'on Tristan da Cunha. Mra. Lock (a coloured lady) often declared, "Me do anything the captain likes, but mo will bring an action for defamation against "the little Painter and his 'damn wife, please God, ever got me back to Bombay." ;..

.Sometimes Mrs. Lock (who. had inex-plicably-married a real'"-commodore)' would grow sentimental. She-feared the commodore must have died of grief long before this. Mrs. Painter would then ?,its , venomenous consolation.' Don t meet your troubles half-way, my dear. He is not dead,, but I think you may very likely find'-him mawied again; and if so, you may depend' it will not ba tcj a blacjj wife."