MEMORIES OF THE PAST

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 13, 15 July 1939, Page 7

MEMORIES OF THE PAST

AN OLD WATERMAN TELLS HIS STORY

There will be ' fathers and mothers living in Wellington who will remember Jack Thompson and his boats in the eighties. He was one of the port's original watermen. Probably quite a number are able to recall how when they were young they played about the boats, drawn to them as if by magic, or sailed on the harbour with Jack Thompson at the helm, and they will remember, too, his skill in handling a boat, despite the loss of a leg. Jack Thompson was a well-known personality. -He is still alive. White of beard and of hair, he is 94 years of age, but he still gets about on his crutches and there is nothing that appeals to him more than to have a chat with Mr. A. G. Bamett, general manager of the Wellington Harbour Board, who was just a lad when Jack was taking people for a sail or running papers, stores, and so on out to the ships anchored in the harbour. A "Post" reporter was with Mr. Barnett when Mr. Thompson called the other day, and Jack was induced to delve into the past and into some of the early history of the port.

Mr. Thompson was born in a place with a Gaelic* name. He said it, but it was a little too Gaelic. It meant, he said, Ash Valley or Ash Plain, and it was in Argyllshire. His association with the sea began when he was very young and it was the calling which, about 1874, brought him to New Zealand in the ship Invercargill. For a time he did some work ashore in the South Island, but eventually came to Wellington in a little schooner. That was a hectic

trip. She ran into bad; weather, ana flour sacks were used when sails were carried away or ripped to ribbons.

"YOUNG JOEY WARD."

Mr. Thompson was engaged in the New Zealand coastal trade for a time and from the storehouse of his memory of incidents of that time he drew a reference to the late Sir Joseph Ward and the late Sir Charles Skerrett, then ' mere youths. That was the time when the man afterwards to become the Prime Minister of New Zealand was a telegraph message boy. "Young Joey Ward" was' how Mr. Thompson referred to him in relating the incident. At the time he was a member of the crew of the steamer Manawatu, and "Joey" Ward was a telegraph boy for the shipping—a shipping clerk, as it were, said Mr. Thompson, telling the story. "It was one Sunday, at dinner time, in the summer and the weather was glorious. I had just called on the firemen to come and get their dinner —but they wouldn't get up; they had had too much beer on the Saturday night—when young Joey Ward and Charlie Skerrett came aboard. They asked for the captain and I told them he was down in the cabin. It was then that their eyes fell upon some roast pork and a lovely plum pudding floating in the sauce. I asked the boys if they would like some and they said they would. I remember I cut off a big piece of roast pork for Joey Ward, then some beef, and he followed that iup with plum pudding. They were that full when they left that they could hardly jump up on to the wharf. Joey Ward used to tell me about it afterwards."

That was one of a number of incidents the old sailor has tucked away in his memory. He left the Manawatu and went to Dunedin. He was injured, losing his left leg, and then began his life ashore and his real association with the early days of the port of Wellington. He believes the year was about 1883, At any rate, he took over a little place on the waterfront just about where the present tramway offices are in Post Office Square, and there he sold confectionery, fishing lines, etc., and hired out boats and also his own services as boatman. Further along, at a spot which used to be known as the "grid-iron," where the Bank of Australasia is now, at the corner of Hunter Street and Customhouse Quay just alongside Plimmer's Wharf, there was another waterman. The Star Rowing Club's sheds and the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company's offices were also in this part. After describing the situation of his first premises, Mr. Thompson referred to the famous Post Office fire and his experiences that night, and how, just after it had struck, the clock came down. Later his boatshed and store were moved to a position fronting the Queen's Wharf approach,, with the Boat Harbour close handy. This site would be approximately half-way between the present Queen's Wharf offices and the tramways office. When the Boat Harbour, which used to be in front of the Post Office, was reclaimed, the Harbour Board built a watermen's shed and steps opposite the sea end of Brandon Street, and Mr. Thompson removed there.

He remembers an incident when . the cruiser Challenger was in port. A boatload of twenty or thirty men had put out when a squall struck them, and over went the boat, a big cutter. Mr. Thompson was quickly on the scene and picked up five or six of the men, whose weight almost caused his boat to be swamped. None of the men were drowned.

Captain Mundle was harbourmaster when Mr. Thompson came to Wellington and Mr. Prince was wharfinger. He was asked by Mr. Barnett what a big tank, on the edge of the waterfront, shown in early pictures of the port, was used for. Without any hesitation he said that water was drawn from this tank to. keep fish and oysters fresh and also to keep the landing platform clean. His little shed, he said, was just at the back of the tank.

Not only were Jack Thompson and his skill in a boat known to the people generally, but also to Governors-Gen-eral of New Zealand. Sir William Jervois was one who chatted with Jack Thompson, and the Earl of Ranfurly often sailed with him. At the mention of the Earl of Ranfurly's name the old man chuckled, and proceeded to relate his great admiration for a whisky flask the Earl had. "It was gold on the bottom and bore the Royal coat of arms and the Earl's name, and the top was silver. The top formed a glass to drink from. It was a beautiful thing, but so far as spirits were concerned—l never touched anything while I was in a boat. Yes, Lord Ranfurly was fond of sailing, he was. I used to have him and his aide-de-camp out quite often."

The boats were in great demand whenever there were men-o'-war in port, and the boatmen were kept going from morning to night. When there were explosives to be transferred from ship to shore Jack Thompson's services were sought after, and he is proud of the fact that in doing this work he did not have one mishap. The powder magazine was at Point Jerningham. He did not mind handling cases of gelignite, but, in his own words, "I used to be frightened of my life of those detonators." Life had a different tempo in those days. Then, it was nothing for a sailing-ship to lie out in the harbour for three months waiting for wool. Some of the men on the ships of that time were tough customers, and Mr. Thompson said he remembered one fight on the waterfront in which bottles were used. It was a very ugly scene. There were not many steamers coming to Wellington. Some of those which were well known were the Jane Douglas, the Stormbird, the old Maori, Napier, Manawatu, Wallace, and Murray. The first big ocean-going tramp steamer he remembered was the Balmoral Castle. After that, he remembered the Arawa, Tainui, Waikato. They were all clipper-bow ships. In addition to the ships, Mr. Thompson remembers the names of a number of those whom he used to row out to them. Among others he mentioned was Mr. Bristow, now of George Thomas and Co., Ltd., and who in the days of which Mr. Thompson speaks was shipping clerk for Johnston and Co. , SO MANY HAVE PASSED ON. Everything about the waterfront had changed much compared with the scene he knew so well in his younger days, said Mr. Thompson. A delay of a day or two did not .matter very much then; it did now. As he sailed his little boats, taking people for an outing on the harbour or skippers back to their ships and at other times taking the mail out, little did he dream that the port would grow and that there would be such changes in shipping. It had! all been wonderful. Still, the early days when he was sailing about the harbour were happy days. One of the matters the old waterman was quite definite about was that Wellington Harbour can be tricky for people in a small boat with no knowledge of local conditions. What made it so difficult for sailers of small craft was the changeable nature of the winds. That was the position in the old days, and with all the improvements in many directions he indicated that it still held good today. And now this old sailor'is in tlie evening of his years, but his mind is a rich canvas and there is nothing that appeals to him more than to come into town now and again and have a chat.

Mr. Thompson mentioned -another waterman, Mr. Sam Murch. Ships in those days used to ride at anchor in j the harbour, and Mr. Thompson rowed the masters out to their ships and also took provisions, papers, and mail out to them. Men-of-war were among the vessels that came into the port. Mr. j Thompson remembers the visits of an Italian Prince and an Austrian Crown Prince. What fixes the visit of the Crown Prince in his mind is that the ship on which he arrived nearly went ashore. "It couldn't have blown any harder than it was blowing that day," said Mr. Thompson, relating the incident. "It was a fierce north-westerly However. I managed to get alongside. I advised one of the lieutenants to shift the ship and let go a second anchor, and this wss done." When Mr. Thompson moved to the shed built by the Harbour Board near the sea end of Brandon Street, Mr. Barnett was one of a number of boys who were in the habit of playing with the boats. Sam Murch was there, too, and also another waterman named Chalker. NOT ONE ACCIDENT. All this time he was sailing boats on Wellington Harbour Mr. Thompson did not have a single accident. He was responsible for saving many lives, his appearance in one of his boats being most timely on a number of occasions when people bad got into difficulties.