COASTWISE CRUISES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16272, 21 June 1913, Page 5

COASTWISE CRUISES.

No. 2. " THE MATE OF THE ARIKI CUTTER' f (By JAS. COWAN.) The Ariki was a twenty-five-ton cutter that did not differ in any material respect, except that of her crew, from any one of the score or two of similar craft which sailed in and out of the Waitemata. At the time with | which .this yarn deals there were far more cutter-rigged trading craft in I New Zealand waters, and very smart yacht-lik© fabrics somo of them were; the first school of seamanship for irihnyl a colonial sailor. The Ariki ! s crew were in no way inferior to the rest in the matter of sailorly skill, as you would have admitted had you seen them boating their little vessel up to 'the Auckland timber-mills in the teeth' and eyes of a howling “double-reefs” westerly. But a close view or a visit aboard would have shown that the Ariki "was a ship apart, for the crew, who wore also the owners, were Maoris, and two out of the three of them wore petticoats. Sometimes they, did not wear anything else, for it is seldom that the sun and the winds are unkind to the beautiful Hauraki. And if. you had seen Old Kahui at the tillor, you’d have reckoned her as quaint a sea-figure as any in Clark Russell’s or Captain Marryatt’s pages—a greyhaired “ wahine,” with blue-tattooed chin and lips, a sou’-wester covering her head in stormy weather, a bright red handkerchief in fine; her brown feet always bare; an old black pipe, bowl down, always in her mouth. Sho had been in canoes and boats and cutters and scows since her babyhood, and she was reckonod as good a coasting sailor as any in tlie Hauraki. Kahili’s home was up at Omaha, and there she sojourned at kumara planting time, and again at the harvesting of the crop; the rest of the time she helped to sail the family cutter. Her husband, Paratene, was the registered owner; lie was a stout-, short, jolly-faced fellow, with a fringe of whisker decorating his round countenance. Paratene was tlio skipper, Kaliui was mate and cook and pretty well all the rest of the crew. Poti was the third member of the Ariki’s complement; sho was a fat little Maori girl of twelve; a merry child, jwlio delighted in getting into Paratene’s oilskins and imagining she was a real, grown-up sailor; for all her comical plumpness she was a handy youngster, and she was very proud of having one of the head-sheets all to herself at the call of “Lee-oh!” Peti was Paratene’s mid Kahili’s niece. ’ That' was the Ariki’s crew, and a happy one it was. Up and down the coast the Maori cutter traded, hauling timber, kauri gum, coal, firewood, shingle, anything. Sometimes, in the grand warm summer-time, she’d be off to some of the outer islands, to tlio Poor Knights or Mokohinau, fishing for hapuku, or for shark, with a lively company of the Ngati-So-and-So, and there would be a week or two of real Old Maoriland pleasuring, and the cutter would conic bowling home packed with huge fish and odoriferous beyond description. Coasters on a dark night bad been known to detect the Ariki’s approach from the fisheries at least half a mile away; and if you happened to pass close to leeward of tlio brown picnic party you’d ever afterwards remember the special and peculiar fragrance of the twin Maori aromas, torori tobacco and sun-dried shark. '• i . ,

For years Paratene and bis sailorwahine had travelled in and around the Hauraki and its islands, growing weather-beaten and tanned and grey, but always happy: making a lot of money and spending it easily. When they wearied for a spell ashore, they went off up the coast, and anchored tbe cutter in the home bay, and Parate.no got him into the bush with his relatives and gave them a band at bullock-punching and kauri-felling, while tbe Ariki’s sliort-pettieon.tsd mate liped her kumara patch. Then uey would up anchor .and off to sea again, generally taking one of their young hapu-folk with them for eoin-

pany, and in their cruisings many littla adventures befel them. Only the final one, tho Ariki’s last voyage, need here bo told; it is placed on record as an instance of a brown woman’s exceeds ing courage and devotion, a devotion only equalled by her physical powered of endurance. a Cv

Tlio Ariki, soon, after one of her periodical liapulcu-picnics to the. Poor Knights fishing grounds, was chartered by an Auckland firm to bring up some tons of copper ore from the longdeserted copper workings near the north end of the Great Barrier Island; there was talk of reopening the mine.. So off to the rocky Barrier went Para* tene and Kaliui and little fat Peti. j The. men at the copper workings dump* ed the heavy ore into the cutter’s hold, and loaded her so deeply thatl what freeboard she had left was hardly worth speaking about. Even easy-, . going Paratene, used to reckless over-1 loading, rose in protest when the/, pakehas proposed another ton. He; waved the big sliore-boat off, slammed* on his hatch-cover, got up his main-1 _ sail, and hove in the anchor, ran up-: jib and staysail, and with Kahui ah the tiller set off for the Waitematayi On the way, he called in at a little} coast bay, where there was a emaUj Maori kainga, and pnt Peti ashore she was to stay with the people there!] until the cutter’s return from Auck-jj land. It was just as well she missed] that trip, otherwise there would have) been one fat little Maori girl the less, j Getting under way again, the Ariki! ran briskly out to sea, with a 'gentle! easterly breeze, and set her course for] Auckland harbour, fifty" miles away,! There was not much sea, and the happy-go-lucky couple troubled littlpj about their deep dead-weight lading.] All went well until they were about! two miles off . the precipitous rookyt height, called Wellington Head. Kahui was busy cooking some potatoes in] the cutter’s primitive stove,. an blew nail-can; Paratene was at the tiller;< everything was set, gafftopsail and al!3 Suddenly, without the slightest warn-] ing—possibly Paratene wasn’t keep] ing the keenest watch on the weather! ■' —a squall came swooping down on the!, cutter, a whirlwind of a squall, from;, the north. Over she went, her rail under water; further and further*] overt . Kahui and her husband were*' both alive to. their danger by this; time; in an instant the woman hadi dropped her cooking things and jump- 1 ', od to the peak-halliards. ,She flung] off the halliards, then, with sailorly) swiftness, let go the throat. But ifel was too late. The cutter was over onj her beam-ends; another moment an® down she went, like a stone, in thirty fathoms of water. Kahui’s first feeling! was one of annoyance at pie lost dinner, but she was soon immersed in something more serious, for she and Paratene. were struggling for their lives - in blue water, and their dinghy was gone. It had been towing behind the cutter, and the stout painter had refused to break when the Ariki went to the bottom. ' -: :

Now, had this happened cfose to the land and had the tide favoured, the Maori couplq’s adventure would, have been reckoned a mild enough affair. Tfc wasn’t the first time either Paratene of his wife had been capsized* But here! they were, at least two miles from the nearest coast, and that a surf-beatetf precipice, and the ti<Jo was making urf tlie Gulf. This meant that every min-/, ute they wore being swept further fro™ the land, into the middle of the Gulf-1 They would have been in an erven worse fix had it'not been for on* of the] outter’s long sweeps, which came float] ing by. Kahui, being the bettor swimmer, secured this and swam back with! it to her husband, who was splashing about in an endeavour’ to rid himself of his clothes. The two, in turn, rested) on the long oar, and talked the tion over. Paratene proposed' making for the Barrier rocks. “We would!: never reach the shore,” said his wife#! “ See how the tide is setting.” And sdt< the two of them decided to hold to the] sweep—it would support one at * timet j —and trust to some passing coaste® tol pick them up. . . y Hour .after hour went on. Nightf came down, and 1 they were alone on the wide Gulf, with all land outlines blot-' ted out. Far away, Auckland-wands,-’ they could just see tbe Tiritiri light), their one comfort in the darkness. The:, wind increased, coming strongly the nor’-west, and when the tide turned again a rough eea arose, which! threatened every minute to tear tbe( Maoris from their hold of each - and the sweep. They kept Afloat, feptr. where they were they knew not. The] tide, they thought, must now be sW6*p-| ing them seawards again; probably] right out to the ooean past the Bar-.j rier’s coast. And Paratene began to weaken. Strong as he was, he had the interior stamina of the two. Kahui,! brave woman, supported him all , she’ could; she gave up the buoyant oar to him alone, keeping herself afloat by his side. ;

Half-dead until fatigue and cold, the drifting two watched the stars wheel overhead, and knew that dawn must be near. Tho wind howled down, tearing off the top of the waves' and sending- them flying in, drowning, choking sheets of ’spray. It was blowing hard, and the Maoris’ .chances looked dark indeed. And one • big sea, roaring > down upon theta, tore the tar from Paratene’s feeblo olasp and hurled it away into the gloom. ; Paratene would have gone to the bottom very soon thereafter but for. his heroic wife. She was weary nigh unto death herself,’ but she gripped her; drowning husband and with one strong arm kept his head clear of tho water, r paddling with the other. How she' kept the two of them afloat she never] clearly know afterwards; all that was certain was that her amazing strength and courage alone kept Paratene id' the-land of the living;' The pair just 1 managed to stay afloat, that was all.’j And sorely Kahui wished for the, dawn. ! It came at last, revealing a desolate, waste;of wind-swept waters, with white caps, all around. Kahui could just see, far in the distance, to the south*’, east, the grey bluffs of the Great Bar-’ rier. But her strength was failing; her man was lying with his eyes dosed,' seemingly dead. , Suddenly,' as the despairing woman; cast a last lpok about her, she saw # sail I A fore-and-aft vessel, a coasting] scow, running down before the wind,) was approaching rapidly. Providentially, she was laying a course thatf] would take her nearly straight for the] driftaways. As she came booming] down, wing-to-wing, Kahui raised yell, a scream of the last extremity,] that brought a.head, the helmsman’s,] peering outwards over the rail. The rest did not take long. With splendid] smartness, considering that there was,; onlv the man at the wheel on deck . at the time the call for help was heard, the scow was brought up- into the wind, and a line was thrown to Kahui" as ilie vessel drifted down upon her, and she and her unconscious charge were hauled aboard.

Paratene had a tough hold upon 1 life, for lie soon recovered. As for his good old wife, she was able to fill .her pipe' again and enjoy a comfortable; smoke in a very little while. .And Paratene was not backward Tn giving her her full due of praise. “Ah,” he; used to say in after days, when he told the story of that black night in the Gulf, “she to bee’ ole woman in] to world I She stick to me like what you call to brick. No ra! _ She to pravo waliine, te wahine toal”