AN AMERICAN VISITOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 25

AN AMERICAN VISITOR

(By "Spi

On the morning of April 22, 1895, a barquentine was signalled outside-Wel-lirigton' Heads. The. wind was blowing hard, from the nor'-west and ltept picking up steadily until by midday white squalls were whirling across the harbour and into Evans Bay. At 4 p.m. the signal at Mt. Victoria was hauled down, the barquentine having run out to sea clear of Palliser Bay to make a good offing before night.

On-Friday, a southerly came booming up through, the Strait and had hardly settled down to a good blow before the signal was again hoisted at Mt. Victoria. In the middle of a blinding rain squall, the tall masts of.the sailing vessel heeling over under fore topgallant sail, set above topsails and foresails loomed through the murk beyond Point Halswell. Coming rapidly up to an anchorage the vessel soon disclosed herself as being American in build and rig, writes a reader of this column. The long sheer of her black painted hull, her lofty tapering masts and white cotton canvas were sufficient to prove this apart from the stars and stripes hoisted at her mizzen.

Later on in the day we ran out to her in Henry Chalker's Black W.atch, a long, open, centreboard boat, carrying fresh meat and vegetables, newspapers', and mail for the barquentine's company.

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Climbing .over her high ;bulwarks we found ourselves on a long sweep of deck clean as a new pin, stretching frorh' the short forecastle right aft to the break of the poop. All running rigging had been neatly coiled away on belaying pins, or stopped up to sheerpoles out of the way, and fore and aft sails were covered over under stout canvas.

Climbing on to the poop we met Captain Greerio,' a'tall" and typical American 'seaman who gave us a hearty welcome.

One hundred and five days from New York, running westward by way of Cape of Good Hope, but she was delayed at the outset by long spells ol calm weather both north and south of the equator. Once in the latitude of the Cape, she had found wind in plenty, but {>eing in good trim had not shipped any heavy water between there and New Zealand.

. How * different the atmosphere aboard;her.;to that of theßbig* lean Liverpool ships, iron "built, and )low in the' water'witbV decks >,awash;i hi the Wild' Easting weather. -Her'long deckhouse and cabin were fitted with windows and wooden: shutters to slide over them in bad weather, instead of the'itamiliar portholes. The crew wore heavy monkey-jackets and fur caps with flaps-over-the ears instead of the hard peaked caps so familiar aboard our ships. .

Everything aboard was heavily timbered and wooden pins took the place of iron bolts in most of the deck fittings. She was certainly a tribute to the fine work of the American marine architects and ship builders of the period. ■

There were a number of handsome barques and barquentines in the New York-New Zealand trade at this period. Their inward cargoes comprised all manner of agricultural implements, wooden-handled tools, wheelbarrows, clothes pegs, axes, etc. For return cargo they shipped flax, kauri gum, tallow, etc., to Boston and New York.

';■; On one occasion the barque Mary Hasbrouqk, a regular trader from America,: sailed round Point Halswell With every stitch of canvas set to main and fore royals.:

They, handled well,' these American vessels and were well found; and well kept also., *

Today we can get iquite a thrill out of watching the graceful Cook Strait Airways machines soaring over Lyall Bay, but they lack a certain air of mystery and romance that hung about the old sailing ships which came up over the horizon unheralded by wireless and whose identity could only be established by flag signals to the shore stations. ,

BARQUENTINE TRB,7>AD ARRIVES

owner who had arrived from Greenock in his own vessel, the barque Clydeside, 236 tons, on October 11, 1841. This vessel sailed later for Wanganui, and when returning to port, was driven on the rocks at the entrance during a half-gale, and badly damaged.

This ship builder and ship owner had meantime established himself at Kaiwharawhara where he had constructed a slip for the building and repair of ships. To effect repairs ,to the Clydeside, it was necessary to enlarge and strengthen the slip. This was successfully carried through, and the vessel drawn up on August, 27, 1842, was launched in good repair'again on December 6 of the same year. An engraving of the ' slip forms one of the plates in Bree's Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand, a three masted vessel being shown on the slip.

. It was not until July, 1843, that the Indemnity was put on the slip. She was launched,'.thoroughly repaired, on September 17. She caused a certain amount of local interest as her 450 tons constitute da record for a Wellington slip. After loading, she left Wellington in command of Captain R. Sedgwick, on February 7, 1844, reaching London on July 11.

How. the bell was tfetken off the ship or how it came into the possession of St. Paul's Parish, no one knows.