LADYBIRD SUNK BY GUNFIRE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 24

LADYBIRD SUNK BY GUNFIRE

(By "Spu

I wonder how many readers recall the sinking of the hulk Ladybird by H.M.S. Challenger in Cook Strait. This little incident goes to prove that the accuracy of the Navy's gunnery in those days was not so faulty as we would sometimes bo led to believe. The Ladybird was first a steamboat, and it was said that her model was awarded a prize at the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. She i arrived in these waters in the fifties | of last century, and made history by running down the S.S. Champion on Cape Otway one night in August, 1857. Thirty-one passengers and crew were lost from the Champion. Both vessels were regular traders to the western ports of Victoria, and the Champion was returning from Portland. The Ladybird was a regular passenger steamer sailing out of Wellington for some years, and did good work carrying troops during the Maori War. She was eventually converted into a threemasted schooner sailing between "Wellington and Newcastle. The engines which were removed from her were constructed on what was known as the gear system. The shaft did not go direct from the engines to the propeller as in modern vessels, but to a large wheel fitted with removable wooden teeth in the inside, which

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drove another smaller cog-wheel that was attached to the propeller shaft. A good supply of wooden teeth had to be carried in case of accident. After the "sticks" had been taken out of her and she was again converted to an up-to-date steam boat, she ran for some years, eventually being converted into a coal hulk by the Westport Coal Co., and used for many years in Wellington Harbour. In 1905 her plates were getting very thin at the water line, and it was decided that it was unsafe to use her any further. It was suggested that H.M.S. Challenger should tow ; her out to sea and use her for gun practice, and the offer was gladly accepted. The practice was carried out somewhere about the middle of Cook Strait. The Ladybird was cast adrift, and the Challenger steamed away from her in order to begin at the longer ranges (as in battle) and gradually wear in to shorter distances. The target had had her gear removed prior to leaving Wellington, and so was practically a shell floating very high. Two dummy men which the Jack Tars had rigged up adorned her bow and stern respecr tively, and one of them survived the "ordeal" to" the last. The Challenger began at 8000 yards, and picked up the target with her second shot, after which it was mainly a question of hanging on. Both port and starboard batteries got a chance as the Challenger kept steaming in a sort of circular course, and when one battery had been fired she was put about in order to present the other. As a general thing she kept approaching closer and closer just as if in action. The projectiles used were mostly solid shot, but a few shells were fired, and these, exploding, knocked rust and dust out of the Ladybird right and left. Almost every shot got home, and the end came when the range had decreased to 1500 yards, for here the old steamer, being pretty full of water, lifted her stern high in the air and with a vigorous dive, as if glad to get away, disappeared from sight altogether. Then the sailors sponged the guns and unrigged the hoists, replaced the tompions, and everything was over.

MOCK "BATTLE IN COOK STRAIT

Extending ms interests in lyO3, he amalgamated his firm with that of Wigham Richardson and Co., and was appointed chairman. Other important developments followed, until the interests of Sir George represented a capital of many million^.. The ships he built were distinctive and of all types. He was a pioneer in the introduction of the cellular system in the double-bottom for waterballast and in the provision of covered shipbuilding sheds with roof cranes. One of his firm's biggest achievements was the building of the Cunard liner Mauretania, in the world fame of which he shared heavily. During the war his firm built nearly 100 warships of various kinds and 230 other vessels, in addition to marine engines representing about 1,750,000 horsepower. This was apart from enormous repair effort. In 1918 he was created a K.B.E.