STORMY VOYAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 16

STORMY VOYAGE

! LYTTELTON YACHT

TO CHATHAMS AND BACK

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

CHRISTCHURCH, January 26. Believed to be the first yacht to make the voyage from the mainland to the Chatham Islands and back, the auxiliary yacht Faith arrived at Lyttelton at 3.30 p.m. today from Port Hutt, Chatham Islands. During both the outward and homeward voyage, and particularly while at th; islands, the Faith encountered some of the worst weather experienced in a storm that swept the stretch of ocean in the neighbourhood of the Chathams. Those who made the trip were Messrs. W. H. Marsh (owner), G. Mouncer (navigator), F. Friedman (engineer), E. J. Newman, and Mr« Marsh's seven-year-old son Michael. The Faith was built by Mr. W. H. Marsh, Christchurch, and is a stoutlyconstructed craft of the Norwegian pilot boat type, 36ft long. She is ketchrigged and has a powerful auxiliary engine. : Of her performance in stormy I weather, one of the crew said that the boat "behaved like a lady," and had proved herself fit for a voyage to any part of the world. Leaving Lyttelton on January 4, the ! Faith took four days to make the Chatham Islands, meeting with moderate to rough weather. While at Waitangi the yacht met with cyclonic conditions. Captain Day, harbourmaster at Waitangi, described the gale as the heaviest he had ever experienced. The sea became so bad on the night of January 11 that the Faith had to put to sea hastily, returning the following evening.' Leaving Port Hutt on Sunday, the Faith ran into a cyclone next day and was hove-to all night For the remainder of the trip to Lyttelton the weather improved, though there was still a considerable sea.