YACHT'S LENGTHY CRUISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17979, 3 January 1922, Page 6

YACHT'S LENGTHY CRUISE.

ARRIVAL IN* AUCKLAND, j OVER 20,000 MILES SAILED, j An interesting arrhal in port on So- : day was the yawl-rigged yacht Amanllis, j which arrived from Sydney aft or a passage of 15 days. The vessel is on an extended cruise, and has already covered o\ or 20,000 miles. Lieut. G. H. P. Muhlhauser, R.N.R., the owner and captain | of the vessel, is the only white man on i board. He has with him two natives who joined the yacht at the West Indies, a* the crew. The Amaryllis is a vessel of 28 tons gross, and is's2ft. long on the water-line. Her beam is 13ft- and her draught 9ft 9iil As she lies anchored off Pam ell flying the Naval Reserve and the Royal Yacht Squadron's flags, the onlooker would hardly credit her with having sufficient sea-going qualities to carry her from England by a devious route to Australia and New Zealand. Hie yacht left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1920. * The town was on fete that day, celebrating the 300 th anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower for America, but no notice was taken of the small vessel which was commencing a long journey to the Antipodes. The voyage was made in stages, and the distances between ports varied from 50 to 3000 miles. From Plymouth she sailed to Vigo, Spain, then to Madeira, Las talmas, Santa Cruz, and then to Barbadoee. Of the four white men who had left England in the yacht, two obtainod position! in Barbadoes, and left the vessel there. A cruise of 1600 miles round the West Indian group was made, and when the vessel reached Jamaica a third man went ashore and abandoned the trip. This left Lieut. Muhlhauser alone on the yacht, and as he decided to continue the cruise he shipped tw 0 native young men for crew. From Jamaica the yacht weut to Colon, and then through the Panama Canal to the Galapagc>6 Group. The next run to the Marquesas was 3057 miles direct, and occupied 26 days, the loudest run between ports the yacht has made so far. She neit visited Tahiti, in the Society Group, Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands, and then Tonga and Suva, Fiji. At Suva an American, whose sea experience had been confined to passenger liners, joined the yacht for a cruise to Svdney. On arriving at Sydney, via Noumea, he Btated that no amount of money could induce him to make another ' sea trip in such a small vessel. i The yacht's cruise so far has been made without misadventure, and under fairly fine wenther conditions. No very severe storms we met with. A moderate gale off the coast of Portugal was experienced for 24 hours. The worst weather wsb between Noumea and Sydney, when strong winds and a high sea made things uncomfortable on board and necessitated the vessel being hove-to for 60 hours whjn approaching the Australian coast. She cleared Sydney on December 17, and experienced light variable winds on all but four days, when the weather wai somewhat stormy. In spite of her small appearance the vacht is very commodious below, and is fitted out with every comfort. Lieut. Muhlhauser was engaged during the war Imine-sweepers and submarine-catchers. He is making the cruise solely for the sea trip, and expects to stay in New Zealand until about April.