THE JOSEPH CONRAD

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 151, 23 December 1935, Page 13

THE JOSEPH CONRAD

VOYAGE TO SYDNEY

ATLANTIC TWICE CROSSED

HOMEWARD PEOGTMMME

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, December 14.

Ending;the first half of a great sea' adventure, the miniature, full-rigged Joseph Conrad bore down on Sydney after a voyage of 30,000 miles in fourteen months—the last British fullrigged ship afloat. - Workaday Sydney missed a fine sight as she came in with the dawn, spurning the service of a'tug, creeping under the frowning cliffs through the Heads to a harbour anchorage. But old salts and ship-lovers who saw her .watched admiringly as she furled her wings and came to rest with a rattle of anchor chains, a rustle of canvas, and a creak of ropes. , The "great adventure," as the young owner-master, Alan Villiers, Australian journalist and author, called it, had ended. The eager eyes of twelve cadets scanned the Sydney skyline and asked questions about the city, straining to put foot on land. .-.■.• . "It has ; taken us fourteen months to get from Ipswich, and I just couldn't write or explain how pleased we are to be here at last," said Villiers. "We have crossed the Atlantic twice and we rounded the Horn' in wintry weather. It took us 131 days to come from Singapore to Sydney, and 130 of those days were raining. We have had some terrific buffetings, and in bad weather you are too much a part of your ship to sleep. I have the strangest dreams and nightmares when we are in rough weather.., Lovely as this little ship is, she is a tremendous responsibility. She has to be coaxed and sometimes led/ and I should imagine that seven years would be-long enough to stay at sea. But even as a landlubber again, I cannot ■entertain the thought of parting with, the' Joseph Conrad. I'll hang on to the ship somehow." SCHOOLBOY ADVENTURERS. ■The Joseph Conrad has three ..mates and twelve professional sailors, in addition to the, twelve cadets, who are of English and American birth.. A few of the cadets are .English public school boys. Some will take, to the sea as a calling, others have-been dispatched to obtain a little hardening for life's contacts;, one or two are under sail for. adventure. Not far from Sydney, one cadet, Andrew Lindsay, an American, found his full share of adventure; He overbalanced from a lifeboat and fell overboard. : Fortunately the sea was calm, and Lindsay, a strong swimmer, kept afloat until he was rescued half an hour later. "Good for the experience," said young Lindsay. "I didn't mind getting wet, but there was always a nasty thought about sharks." "It is hard discipline, but good for them," said Villiers. as he looked up at three bare-legged, brown youths perched high over him reefing the topsail. "We have time for leisure and school. I teach them navigation, and ■ the mates teach, them seamanship."-It was strange to stand -on the deck beside Villiers and- see the nimble cadets.and sailors speed up the rigging at a word of command that might have been in Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, or English, for the Joseph Conrad is a "League of Nations" ship, with many nationalities among its crew. Among that crew were "Stormalong" and "Hardcase," two cabin boys. They have had adventure beyond their most ambitious dreams. ' Stormalong is really Stanley. Goodchild, and Hardcase is James Fuller. They are both 15 years of age. "Our parents live at Ipswich, England," said Stormalong. "Hardcase and I went to school together, and we thought what fun it would be to go to sea. . The Joseph Conrad was in port. We went down and had a look at her. Then we went on board.. We asked a big, dark man if we could have at look. He said we could, although we did not know then that he was the skipper. The mate wanted to throw us ashore. We went down to the ship every night. At last I said to Hardcase, 'What about it?' He said 'we should try to get away. We asked the skipper, expecting to get the seat of bur pants kicked, but he stroked his chin and said he.could take one of us. We told him there would be too much work for one, so both of us' came." COUPLE OF PASSENGERS. Mr. and Mrs. B. Sowerby, a young London couple, were passengers from Singapore- to Sydney in ihe Joseph Conrad. They have been seeing the world for two years, mostly by strange ships and unconventional routes. From Sydney they will go to New Zealand 'when the spirit moves them—andr how." "You are really at sea in a sailing ship," said Mrs. .Sowerby. "A liner is too luxurious, too much like an elegant hotel, and half the time you would never know you were at sea, but this is different. It is so infinitely peaceful. Of course, a small sailing ship does heave at sea, but'l have not yet been tossed out of my bunk. Even after four months at sea, I cannot say I am any keener to<set foot on land. I lived too long in London to yearn for city life." After a week in Sydney, 'the Joseph Conrad will go to Melbpurne, thence o New Zealand, and to the islands of the North Pacific, after which the homeward voyage via Cape Horn, South American ports, and New York will be commenced. The Joseph Conrad was formerly the Danish training ship Georg Stage. She had been in commission for more than 50 years, and was purchased from the Danish Government by. Mr. Villiers. The Joseph Conrad was first sighted ort the coast of New South Wales on Friday, and the first man to' see her was a deep-sea sailor. He was Captain T. Brady, pilot at.Manning Heads, 144 miles north of Sydney. "She came in about two miles off the breakwater, and went about on a starboard tack," he said. "She had single tops'ls, and I haven't seen them 15ince I was a kid. Her foretops'l was close reefed, the maintops! had one or two reefs, and the mizzen was fast. She looked lovely It was a delight to see a sight like that again. I was in sail for 13 years." The breezes down the coast were light and variable, and the Joseph Conrad, during the last few days, made slow progress. On Saturday afternoon she was sighted off Norah Head, about 36 miles north of Sydney, for twelve hours, but faded out of view to the eastward. The ship had made hardly any progress to the southward during the day. On Sunday at daybreak the ship was again in sight at Norah Head, and in about ten hours made about 16 miles southward. She was reported at South Head (Sydney) at about 11 a.m. on Sunday and was in sight until about 2 p.m., when she bore away i towards the eastward and was lost to sight. She was last seen at about 6.30 p.m., when she was about 17 miles away. Her entry into Sydney Harbour was at dawn on Monday.