THE CAPTAIN’S RECORD

Evening Star, Issue 20033, 26 November 1928, Page 9

THE CAPTAIN’S RECORD

Captain Melville is a sailor who was trained a-s_a deep-water man on squarerigged ships He loosed a skysail, furled " royal, and passed the spunyarn on ships where boys were trained to bo sailors They learned the why and wherefore of things and how they were done. Ho first visited New Zealand in the barque Lomino in 1901, the vessel loading wool for London, His next trip to New Zealand was on the barque Clan M'Lcod, then in tho kauri gum trade. That voyage the barque was purchased by an Auckland linn, and remaining on her Captain Melville visited various New’ Zealand and Australian ports. Shipping on one of the Aberdeen White Star ships, he wont from Australia to London, and from there to in's home in Massachusetts. Again he went for deep-water voyages on square-riggers. At the outbreak df the Groat War he was chief officer under steam. Leaving tho firm with whom he had been two years, he took charge of a barque, and ran her successfully throughout the war period without once sighting a submarine, the voyages extending to Cap*- Town, Madagascar, and the East; Indies, Then followed a turn on the big four and five-masted schooners sailing out of Boston, a class of vessel which, like the squarerigged ships, have given way- to steamers Captain Melville had returned to steam when he heard of tho Byrd Expedition. Sacrificing good prospects, he.applied to join the expedition, but the appli-

cants wore so numerous—about 1,000 —that Wo months ©lapsed before ho received notice of his appointment. Last Juno he definitely joined the expedition, and was appointed to hie present command.