A FAMOUS CAPTAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 15

A FAMOUS CAPTAIN

CUTTY SARK'S COMMANDER

Richard Woodget.—Strictly speaking, Captain Woodget never commanded in the China trade proper; But his undeniable claim to recognition lies in the fact that at the age of thirtyeight he took over command of the famous tea clipper Cutty Sark, and for ten years in the Australian wool trade, put the ship through her paces as she had never sailed before, writes the Rev. John Gray in "Sea Breezes." His genius for passage-making on this run suited the wonderful power and speed of the clipper as a glove fits the hand. The consistency of the clipper's sailing over the decade of his command must lie to the credit of "Woodget's courage, skill, and driving. He would bring the Cutty Sark home from Sydney on almost scheduled time, as if she were a steamship, independent of the vagaries of wind and current.

The clipper's most remarkable burst of speed was made under him on the Australian coast between Gabo Island and Sydney in 1889, when her sail plan had been much cut down. The ship had been passed in a light breeze by the mail steamer Britannia, the. new crack of her line. And the "Old Man" of the "Cutty" prayed for a wind that he might open the eyes of the passengers on the steamer. He had his wish granted right enough, for late in the evening a "southerly buster" came away, just the type of weather the sailing ship revelled in. During the early hours of the morning the officer of the watch on the Britannia was mystified to find a ship's light overtaking them. He called up his captain and they soon ascertained the cause. It was the "Cutty"! Woodget was in hjs element cracking on for all the ship was worth. When the mail boat arrived in the outer harbour at Sydney, some hours later, her passengers and crew had the sight of

their lives—the clipper lying to her anchor, with her crew on the yards stowing the sails. To make such a run, the sailing ship must have been doing sixteen knots at least, as the Britannia was credited with a speed of fifteen knots.

The explanation of such a feat vn»s Woodget's insistence on the soundness of his gear and rigging. And in testing these he did not rely on the judgment of others—he went aloft himself and examined the condition of his rigging and spars. Personal supervision, unrelaxing vigilance, quick wits, and cool nerve, added to sublime confidence in his craft, were the factors that produced such marvellous results. And yet Woodget was no

reckless driver, as some critics have supposed. His was the skill and assurance begotten of an exact and matured knowledge of the capability of his ship.

Woodget's hobbies were small boat sailing, amateur photography, and rearing prize collie doge. He bore little resemblance to the hard-bitten master mariner of the epic days of sail. On shore he might have been taken for a local preacher. Though it is recorded that the conventional holy man was not the impression a dishonest stevedore got at the Sydney docks whom he once found scamping his job! He had a blast of language neither mild nor measured. Woodget's last visit to his old clipper was made in August, 1924, when he took the wheel as she was being towed from Falmouth to Fowey to act as flagship at the local regatta. He died at his Norfolk farm near Burnham Overy in March, 1928, at the age of 82 years; and, we believe, the last of the famous captains who commanded the superb little clippers.

When these beautiful clippers, designed, rigged, and maintained like racing yachts, were tuned up to the ninety-nines, and in command of capable and daring masters, were put on the China run, it was not long till the American challenge to British supremacy flickered out, leaving the field exclusively to British enterprise and seamanship. Our shipping communities were long in waking up; but when they awoke they soon became alive and aggressive.