A "MAN-O'-WAR CRUISE" FROM AUCKLAND TO AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 277, 1 October 1864, Page 6

A "MAN-O'-WAR CRUISE" FROM AUCKLAND TO AUSTRALIA.

Outw.UU).

( 'A sp.in frnm Auckland. f/cr tho i!iv;> impi-ii'il '(ijihiM. nhuN, iur i'n;n >u l'ui' It is, perhaps, a irite remark tliat the human, equally wilii the vegetable crea'.!■ 11. becomes improved by occasional frnnsplaiita'.ion. t»f that fact. as lav as animal matter is concerned, the Cruiser," —who ventures to request you to '• lend him your ear,'' —entertains the 'most, absolute conviciion,—morally, socially, and -p xunalhj. To the truth of that axiom, he has been a subscriber, —it is needless to say for how many.years. The fact is that, with a roving bump of extensive devclopenicnt, and with an intense thir.-t to revisit " scenes of other days," no logic could convince him to the contrary that mind as well as matter is invariably improved by periodical change of place ami position. That intellect', as well as thews and .sinews, become strengthened by reciprocal interchange of ideas and sentiments with, one's friends and neighbours is "Cruiser s" creed. .He imaginesthat lie has frequently .authenticated that creed; and that he himseli has been able to demonstrate lafc least (o his own individual satisfaction) that lie who desires to maintain a progressive kuowleds-e of this advancing world must not remain for ever in one soii, lu:l: must, now. and then, "move on ' in order that ho may learn

what is doing beyond liis own clioson garden of I Eden. jNotwithstanding this, for 1 more than sixteen anxious years, the writer remained moored, head and stern, in this our promising city ol Auckland ; although, during his previous, erratic career. 110 portion of lit r Majesty's dominions cuttld at. any time claim him as tlic resident of a single lustre, liody and brain may, natheless, he "stretched too far. His. ho thought were beginning to "give in." He was firmly persuaded that, —to him, — " the sovereign'st thing" was " blue water." And as appliances, by sail or steam were equally rife, he resolved to snatch a long needed holiday. Antiquated prejudices induced him to prefer canvas to smoke-jack. The probabilities (he thought) were, that lie would r. nj'oj more of" a life on the ocean wave" under canvas than under coal. And with this impression, on the 4th of June last, he embarked til Auckland on board the good ship " ])av P;nv:>"' of -100 tons register, commanded and eiwned by Philip Jones, an esteemed friend of tweuly years standing, commodore of the , Auckland and iSyelney fleet.

j(; was but a few minutes aff cr five o'clock of a bright starlight winter's morning, when the ship was readied. JNTot it breath ol nil* disturbed tlie serenity of the almosphoro. Had Auckland possessed even the most, insignificant of steam tug's, iii live or ten minutes the ship would have been set at large. As it was, what with hauling upon one shore—fast veering away upon another, and performing an infinity of evolutions —technically recognised as club or ho.v hauling—it was a quart or to eight-.o'clock, or fully two hours and a-half. before, from lur intricate situation, she could be warped clear of tho dolphin ami sundry small craft lying ofi'the eastern point ol tin' Queen-street wharf. 'Having mastered this weary process, with the aid of the ebb, the ship began to drift down harbour. An occasional cat's-paw obviated the performance of a nautical waltz, and in an hour the Ne-rtli Head was rounded. Day broke in beauty; but it wore tediously. r l he colonial steam gun-boat " Sandfly," Captain Hannibal Marks : JLM.S.S. '• Curacoa," guns, Commodore !Sir "William "Wiseman, _Uart. ; the barque "Forres." from California; and ship " Adelaide Hell." from iSeweasile, all passed inwards as tlie" Hay Pawn" Mas struggling outwards—the steamers blowing their heavy clouds —the sailing" crai'i- whistling vainly for the breeze that would not blow - . IN'exf r/n:/-(/('ir:/ iburiel our good ship close aboard tlie' island of Kawau —since memorable

as tlie head-quarters of Maori I'.maneipation. There was barely a breath te lull the fretful canvas lo rest. jjut. as day wore, ono or two very light north-easterly puffs were felt ; and, these gnriiually freshening, at 1.-10 p.m., the Little Harrier Island was passed to the westward, colours at the same time being exchanged with an inward bound brig, whilsta second brig was seen off Cape Colville. iie-fweon :i and •! p.m. ihe wind increased and hauled towards the north, causing the ship 1o break of!so that midnight, liad passed belorci she cleared the .lle-n and Chicken group ot islands, ami found herself in Ihe open sea. ]t was teasing work, veering and hauling amongst these islands ; and one could not but admire the unwearied vigilance of her commander. IN'o wonder that he should have acquired the celebrilv he so richly deserves. How, indeed, could it be otherwise, studying, as he does, every allot nation of barometer, sky. and ocean, and trimming his canvas to every spirt or Haw ot wind, hoo. ever gossamer in lightness i .During the night. \ the wind increased to a s'lvng breeze, and as the writer's funk was on the port- ami w eathe r side, lie and his bed-clothes had some di,'!ici:l(y in maintaining an oi/ni/e curdiulc until a lee-board was shipped and their unity secured. ill these days of universal voyaging, liobinson Crusoe would himself be puz>led (o invest an inter-coioniai trip with interest. The trip, we treat of, was accomplished under the customary variations of light airs and fresh breezes, ai tended with heavy downpours of rr.in, tlie concomitants of the wintry season of tlie year —AA inter.—siudi at least as is called winter, in our sitmuior latitudes ; but very different indeed front the stormy blasts of hyperborean I'e'gieinS. : .!n the ninth day out. .Juno 1;j(h, the wind that, during tho previous night, -had blown hard, increased to a fierce gale, rain, falling in loiTe-nts—ship rolling heavily. At •> a.m.. Ihe canvas was reduced to lower lore ami n ain topsails (the ship being fitted with double lopsaii yards), reeled lore course and lore topmast staysail—miming twelve knots. I'roni f) a.m. until b) it- blew a perfect hurricane — a hurricane which, as wo subsequently were made' aware, strewed the Australian coasts with wrecks. At ll.lllie tempest appeared to concentrate its fury, inasmuch as it expended all its viol.-ne'e- iii one terrific blast, m-aantaneously subsiding ; nfo the most- perfect calm ; the rain ceasing, the horizon clearing, the sun breaking; out hland and brilliant, the wind (a light air) shifting te» the nor!h-wi?steni board, so that tho frantic barque thai- had been striving and straining like a racer in full career, fell at once into a jog-trot, rolling and birching, wind spent, s.ea heaving and"sending. the canvas with expanded wings, (lapping, thrashing, and tearing itself in pitiable irritation —-with yards now laid square, now braced bv —to woo each coy flaw, until, towards midnight, a fine steady east-south-east b.v'cze' woke- up to drive us rejoicing on our ce>et;-se'.

During the next four days our progress was g-iou. and although the wind whs at times pufiy v. i:li living showers. still (In: weather was bright ml genial, ami wo had run nearly SO'l miles, bringing us wiihin ]"20 miles of I'ort Jackson J 1 cads ;;l noon of 11 to ililh. J'etween 1 and 2 of tht 1 morning of tiio 17th, the light was annoimced to lie iu sight. so 1 turned out to greet, it as .1 would a dear old friend wliieli 1. had frequent !y before boon rejoiced to behold. it was now some nine or ten miles distant on the port and ]ee bow. Tile wind, a I'resh breeze, still continued favourable ; but. the rain poured down—as it can do in Now South A\ ales—a delude. "W'o entered llio harbour—the South Head, iliutllo Head, and floating lights showing a elear and briliiani course. Those: lights have been supplemented I>y an additional light on i 'inehgut Island. under whose guiding rays wo picked- up a berth oil' the mouth of Sydney Cove, alter a very fair and pleasant passage of some four hours less than tlitirlcon days. KYDXKY IX ISG-I. " Tin l ' I'hryniV lay in tho beautiful num-o war i - I'anu I'tiVf. /r •' * A liaml-ciij.-citwe ca:Ti:i:-o whined mhj ):i\i'nUy aero;— Hyde rnvk, !ln*ou>:h "Wo-Oloomoniln. aml alonj; ihe jii'Huri-.'-iTic road towards .Souih Jlead. ZVuiuhijr could tran>e.iaid liu* bmuly of I ho nuhduivles.s bnchU and bays, their brvrid Mm- waters ilashin;.: ami uirkryinpc in iho solden li-rhl. Tai! natural infertility of mul was shamed hv jirude-jal lUAiiriaii-'i; m' \ Th.: ir.i>U \v:mi wilderness</, lluwcrjr.;,' inn-.uii'N'ucv, the u ea.uahed warratah with his r-ta'.t.ly lead of biV.Kaal Ycra;ihon 1 »viiiiir it proudly over a i'ountU>s ho. tof ;}:im:>i' but scarce io:> lovciy ' liaiivcs/ The weallh ami of rival >\'ii f.itm v. crc ha y in oi>uvcvsiou. ilis untirui.u Lv.d' -'Hen u rocks' and forcvd llic arid sand to fdoic.a. \'iiia.-« and were vit-iajc on every hand, and paik i and gardens inl ) life. lieautU'ul Sydney J-air an •' lowly as you now arc. what *nrpa?Mii;j: cliartus wil no', yoav environs iu hat'.'a century luvsont. when natmv's liuinbL'rles.s bcauly spol.; sliuil bo eiab liisliod by the baud of wealth and ia.--te."—Km.m.v

■Sydney marvellously " embellished" since (lie time at which the above quotation was penned. Gold! That magic working assent has poured in upon her—pushing her a century forward in the course of a single decade. Few have had a more lengthened or iutimate acquaintance with ■Sydney than i. in company with Mr. .loseph Docker, one oi the Australian Com-mis-ioners now engaged in the .selection ot' a .suitable capital for JNew Zealand " somewhere in Cook's fcSlrail," I lir.it lauded at the (Queen's "Wharf, from the barque ' Calista.' Captain •io'in liawkhis, 011 Monday the l.ltii day of April, 182 S. My next visit, which was followed by a residence of nearly four years, was made ill She beginning ol' ...;gust. ItiJ i. My present arrival dales from Ihc I7th of June

IS6-1-, and as my last departure was in April, ! 18 JS, an interval of sixteen years occurs between i each trip, thereby enabling me to note with more striking eflect the grand strides that have been made by the first maritime city of the Southern Pacific. Of those changes and improvements I shall have occasion to treat in tlieir natural order, reverting at present to 1113- rough notes, and to the good ship ' Day Dawn. On turning out on the morning of the 17th June, we found H.jVT.S. ' Salamander, Hon. John Carnegie, commander, (a some time shipmate, by the way,) and a French man-of-war ychooner at anchor in Farm Cove; whilst Sydney Cove was crowded with a large and fine class of shipping. Our own good ship sought out a berth "at the Grafton Wharf in Darling Harbour. She experienced no difficulty or delay in reaching that berth, Sydney teems with an active licet of accommodating steamers, and so. for a moderate "consideration," she was taken in tow by the ' Breadalbane,' by whom she was walked up to her wliart in no time. In Auckland, hours would elapse before a Rhip could accomplish the like, although a very diminutive steamer would suffice, earning a fair remuneration, and rendering the utmost service to the less locomotive sailing ship. There is 110 part of Sydney more altered and improved than the landimr-placcs and wharves in continuation of the Circular Quay. From Campbell's to Fort Macquaric there is no obstruction in the chain oi berths for shipping. In ISi'.S the wavelets of the Cove brokcupon the beach at the confluence with the tank stream. 'Then, Campbell s and the Queen s, with room tor but two or three vessels, were the only wharves; and even in ISIS the accommodation at the Circular Quay was circumscribed, and the chain from Campbell's obstructed 3j the interposition of a dog-hole misnamed the dockyarcl, and l>y a sort oi* quagmire "wliieli interposed its fetid abominations between Queen s "Wharf and the Circular Quay. Now, however, the dockyard has disappeared. The tank, that once beautiful stream, by whose pellucid waters Governor Phillips first pitchccl his camp, is iw lunger visible. Latierly, like the l icet oi London, it had derogated into a ditch. Like its j Metropolitan it is now covered over, and Pittstreet, with its road and tramway, occupies much of its former unsightly course. The swamp is piled and metalled; and Pitt, Phillip, and other streets debouch upon Circular Quay, one of the finest, nie-st accessible, substantial, and elegant of :mv haven to be found in any quarter of the globe. The weather had been frightiul; tlie country was in a state of Hood ; inundation had followed inundation with a destruction never previously experienced. Tlie coast was strewn with wrecks ■ —one vessel, the ' Pacific,' a line barque, which sailed from Auckland only a lew clays previously to our own, having gone to pieces at Shoalhaven. On landing at Campbell's Wharf. tramping through mire and sludge, we passed into the city by Macquaric place. IN car this, in the earlier days, tlie old Government House, the Government Offices, and some ot the dwellings of the high oflitials were situated. All tins ; is changed. Old Government House has . been cast down nearly a quarter of a eenturv. Its noble hiwns and pastures have been hewn into warehouses, streets, and olliees of commerce. One enclosure, ill wli'ch, .in the classic days of renvief, supremacy, the fair and lordly of (lie land were wont to ii'o'd weekly carnival, to 1 e regak d with the stirring tones of martial men dr—(in 182S they were those of the 3L)th and ovihj—this once chosen spot, whose pleasant memories I can never quite forget, is now a small triangular depot oi' metal, where the hammers of the roadmakers furnish tlie only music that awakes ihc neighbouring echoes. The obelisk, erected by the good Macquaric, whence all the distances from (Sydney arc measured, yet retains its place. The fountain, once a myth but now a reality, snouts forth refreshing jots of crystal fin id. But of the "Lawn" and its surroundings, without the aid of imperishable reminiscences, or by inhalation of -John Chinaman's ethereal inspirer, there is nothing to tell—how they of the " Primus in- Tndis" —of the " Diehards." with their noble chiefs —the Lindsay and the Shadforili — gave life, and animation to an animated picture. The opiate is strong upon me, and, in spirit, it carries me back full seven lustres. X hear the swelling notes of the " Diehards." The promenade is thronged with beauty. Conspicuous amidst the throng shines the queen-like Betsy Baieombe. She who, at the St. Helena Briars, when in the buoyance of girlhood, snatched the sword of the mighty Napoleon, mid.pinning him in a corner of the drawing-room, boasted of hoWing the greatest hei'O of modem times at her mercy, protesting that she wouldneverrcler.se liim until lie bowed submissive to her will. The day-dream has vanished.—-Napoleon slumbers in the *' lnvalides"—and Betsy Baieombe. with her legion of adoring worshippers, where is she?

From the seventh heaven to s-oppy Bircets the descent is r.ot the most cnchaiitinji, but it is imperative if 1 desire to nequiiint old Australasians who, like myself, have been of migratory habits, of (lie chances and changes that have, and are taking place in once familiar spots. The enlargement aud the improvement of Sydney, in every direction, is very great. Is of in the city only, but in all its outlets and suburbs. In the city the numerous banking corporations and other public associations, have creeled a succession of magnificent, pairices. eaeli vicing in envious competition with its neighbour, i'itt, Castiereagh, JEiizabctli. and even George-street, which .1 can recollect as chiefly of mean wooden structure, such as oui Auckland of to-day, have in a great measure been replaced by the more enduring: materials of brick and stone, .lidifices that would adorn almost any ciiy, are now numerous in Sydney. Like soldiers in line, the streets have " drersed up"—gaps have disappeared; and even in the altitude of the buildings there is a growing amount oi" harmony. So far well. .But Sydnev, like Auckland, has little to t hank the surveyors for who originally laiel it out. The streets of Sydne; y are even narrower than ihose of Aueldaud. They are also more tortuous, and their drainage, in the first instance, has been as little considered, though now that matter is engaging due care and consideration. "Water, too, not very long since a matter of -anxious moment, has been abundantly provided to eveiy householder. The supply is derived from a reservoir at Botany Swamp from whence it is distributed throughout the city. The charge, as I was informed, is at the rate of Ss. per annum according to the number of apartments in ahousc —as thus—a four-roomcdhouse is charged iiOs., an eight-roomecl iOs. a year, and so on. It wasvorywetduringmy slay ill Australia ; at that time the supply of water tor every purpose was more than plentiful, but from every inquiry that .1. made .i. was given to understand that even in the dryest sensons there is 110 deficiency. In such a city as Sydney the water supply is a mat tic of the hist eonseejuenee; and to those who can reeollcet the fabulous prices which, not very many years since, in times of drought, a bucket ot the pure element commanded, an unfailing stream must be regarded as one of the greatest; blessings,—a blessing of which it is heartily to be hoped Auckland may not much longer be deprived. ify lirst Sunday, I attended service at Sr.

Phillip's. It is a new building,— L am not learned enough to say of what architectural order, —but, at all events, a good-looking church outside, with a square lower, in which are hung a. sonorous, but somewhat clajnorc-.is, peal of bells, which, on tlie anniversary oi' the natal day of the gentleman who presented them, are most eloquent in expression of their gratitude. The new is a substitution for the old St. Phillip's elmreh. the first religious edifice erected in ew Soulh Wales, and of which for a prolonged term the good and venerable Archdeacon Cowper was the incumbent. Under hi; i\!ii>istry

I was for several years a parishioner, and I naturally felt some anxiety to see tlie new church which had replaced tlie quaint old structure of the times of " the first fleet." Its interior, with unpaintcd, impanelled, dull, stony avails struck me as cold and comfortless in tlie extreme; and its narrow windows, however much in consonance with much of tlie Church of England architecture of Austral-colonial approval, were altogether opposed to my teste, which, has no sympathy for " dim religious light."