THE LITTLE VESSEL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14538, 25 November 1907, Page 7

THE LITTLE VESSEL.

A NEWFOUNDLAND SEALER. The Nimrod is not a pretty vessel. She is a small, lumpy ship, built of wood in the good old-fashioned way that ages of experience have shown to be most stubborn when ice-fields have to be encountered. Her three masts 6it well upon her, however, and with the foremast square-rigged, and a tall yellow funnel, she has a distinctly smart broadside appearance, reminiscent of the .little "gunboats of a few years ago. Her engines are, however, only auxiliary; they develop sixty horse-power, and add a few knots to her sailing speed. Described on paper, her three masts and funnel seem to promise some little rakishness, but they are merely neat. Vessels have often very pronounced indications of character imparted by their rigging, as in the case of H.M.S\ Pioneer, for instance. She is, by her appearance, a craft with a very good opinion of herself, and probably her opinion is quite justified. The contrast as the Nimrod passed her on Saturday showed how extremely modest the Nimrod is. She came in modestly, sidled up to the wharf shyly, and settled down without a complaint or a protest. There are boats of her size that would have rushed in at great speed, and given far more trouble. Wooden vessels are comparatively rare nowadays, and because of her strong construction the Nimrod is very interesting. The timbers of her sides show their age by the grooved seams, and the indications everywhere are that she is very solidly built, and that she has come well through a great deal of hard work. After her long voyage, she is naturally anything but clean outwardly. Her bottom is foul with barnacles and "grass," and her. paint is hoary. But 6He is nevertheless as trim as is possible under the circumstances. There are no modern conveniences aboard, such as steam quarter-masters or other labour-saving devices of the sort. The helm is ported and imported by means of a hand wheel and an old wooden drum windlass in the good old way. Indeed, there is much more of the " good old fashion " about the Nimrod than anything else, but it does not appear to impair her efficiency. The greatest drawback she has is the extremely limited accommodation. The officers' and scientists' quarters are in the deck-houses, and axe extremely cramped. The scientists who form the landing party of the expedition are coming by other vessels, and Captain England said it would have been impossible for them to come fvom England iu the Nimrod. The lack of space was bad enough at it was. There was scarcely room to dress, even by the most space-saving gymnastics, without using more space than tho " staterooms" provided. The petty officers are settled forward, and are the best-off in the ship, having small but sufficient quarters. The men, too, have room enough for cheerful discomfort, and they use it all, as far as can be judged, for no other purposes than to be cheerfully uncomfortable in it. Captain England stated that the vessel, which was chosen for its strength among other considerations, came straight from work among the seals, only six weeks before she sailed. " when I look back over those six weeks," ho said, "the work that was done seems almost incredible. She simply reeked of seal. The decks were all slippery with oil and fat, the holds stank of it, the deck-houses—well, you couldn't get into them. There was no spare gear of any kind. She was handed. over to R. and H. Green, of Blackpool, anyway; and they turned her out as you see her. They put on new deckhouse accommodation, and overhauled her from end to end. It was the same firm that fixed up the Morning, and the conscientious work that was done on both vessels cannot be- too highly praised. As far as the Nimrod job was concerned I think it must have put up a record." HER HISTORY AND HER, MOVEMENTS. Lieutenant Shackleton has described the Nimrod as "the smallest craft that has ever tried to reach the South Pole 6ince Weddell made his attempt in 1823," but it may be said of her that die is little, but good. It was first proposed that she should go on hsr present quest as the Endurance, but it was decided that she should retain the old name, under which she sailed tho northern waters as a Newfoundland sealer for forty years. . She has made an excellent reputation for herself. It is stated that her record is 400,000 seals. Though only 227 tons net register, she is very strongly built, and can withstand great ice pressure. On her arrival in the East India Company's docks at Blackwall in the middle of June last, she was completely overhauled and was put in a 6tate of thorough repair. New quarters were put in not only for the officers and scientific staff, but for the crew, and tho accommodation forward is, now exceptionally good for a vessel of her class'.. Two few masts have been iu-

serted, and having entered the Thames as a schooner, she left as a barquenr time yacht. With auxiliary engines of! about 60 horse-power, she can. develop,. l tinder favourable conditions, a speed of», seven knots. She is smaller than the* Morning. Her gross tonnage is 334 f tons; the Morning's is 444 tons. • It is just over forty years since she!; was put into the water; she is there-; fore a staunch and weather-hardened?' vessel with a good deal of experience! behind her. She is really of Scots ex-, traotion, having been builtat Dundee,, 1 where nearly all the boats intended foS the whaling industry have been con-', 6tructed. Being built for work as a? sealer among the ice floes, she possessed massive timber walls; her frames of heart of oak, and she is heavils planked with American elm, 6neathe3 with ironbark._ It is estimated that hetf coal consumption per day, at her speed of seven knots, wiH amount to only; about six tone. This small consump-" tion is important, as no more coal will be obtainable after she takes her departure from New Zealand. . Her* dimensions are:—Length 138 ft, beanv 26ft 9in, depth 16ft, draught flying; light lift, working trim 17ft 6in.

Her auxiliary engines are steamed ais, 801 b to the squaTe inch, by one boiler.! They are compound, having cylinders' 16 and 30 inches, in diameter, with aj stroke of 22 inches. They were put in; in 1886, replaoing a former set, and| were fixed by Messrs Westry, Copelandt and Co.,•Barrow. The mechanical out*' fit differs from those on previous Aim ■tarctic vessels in two points. The; Nimrod has only one boiler instead oft two, and she is the .first vessel of ther sort to undertake the trip with a four-; bladed propeller, the others had bladed screws. As steam is used foit the greater part, of the time, it is-no# often necessary to disconnect the screw,' and that operation has to be done by( uncoupling, there being no clutch. The Nimrod has always been a. British shipj. Being now practically manned witlr: Naval Reserve men, she flies the Re-i serve Ensign.