ADVENTURES IK VYACHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18708, 14 May 1924, Page 10

ADVENTURES IK VYACHT.

ROUND THE WORLD CRUIBE.

INTERRUPTIONS IN VOYAGE.

An interesting story of -a world cruise of the yacht Saoirse, A which.: put into Napier last Saturday evening, . was told by the owner and ; commander, . Captain O'Brien, in an interview published, in the Hawke's Bay Herald.. Captain O'Brien said that he left Dublin on June 20 last; year in his. yacht in : order to keep an appointment with Mr. H. Porter, of Oxford, to. meet the latter in . Hawke's Bay for the purpose of participating in a mountaineering trip to the Southern Alps. Aflfer calls at Madeira and fernambuco, Brazil, he reached Capetown. From there he intended to go to Lyttelton, but ■ owing to repairs 'being necessary and stores being unsatisfactory ho put back to Durban, from which port ha afterwards sei) r sail' for . Lyttelton. Owing to contrary winds he went through Bass Strait and put into Melbourne for potatoes and ; bacon. .? He subsequently reached . Picton.. f v ;

*, j Desertion of the Craw. - In Melbourne," said Captain O'Brien, " the crew ran from me, but after two months I gob a : thoroughly • satisfactory Crew, and.; wiled for New Zealand, rlt was; now hopeless to : think of doing any mountaineering work.;! ■ I had been robbed to F: such ;an •> extent •in Australia that ; I decided to s reprovision in New. Zealand rather, than in ; the Commonwealth. : The trip ,fromv Melbourne to,. Pictoa, occupied 16 days, dirty weather ' and many days of strong - headwinds being * encountered. At Picton. I ..provisioned - for the voyage back to Dublin, and -intended calling 7 en route . at Rio. de Janeiro.- — "I left. Picton on May 1, and was making good progress I toward Cape. Horn until May 4, when my mate, Charles West, unfortunately damaged one of his knee caps .very seriously. -'At - the,- time strong ( south-east ": gales ; were blowing, so tho ship was hove ito for ' two days. On the" sixth, day. I decided to put back, making for : Napier. On the " way back head winds varying from nearly calm to | half a gale were encountered, and l and my crew consider . ourselve/s lucky to [have made an,,anchorage in-i Napier aS all. This' voyage from Dublin to, New Zealand t has been marked \by ' the .most extraordinarily favourable conditions of .wind, weather, and-' sea. - The' little boat of 38ft. water-line and 25 tons displace- ; ment has made an average day's run at sea of 108 miles, reckoning from noon position to noon | position.'' *'; " Proposed Visit to Auckland.

Captain O'Brien continued" If finan. rial liabilities .do; not compel { an," immediate 'sale of the ship I propose to go as soon as possible to AucklancTto investigate the possibility of a new crew lor a voyage starting, jn September, thus avoiding a 1 winter-"passage round Cape .Horn, ,or in the alternative to seek for a market for What must be admitted to-be a very serviceable cruising ; yacht. /, - ; ; "Naturally if financial stringency did not inhibit it, I would like t'o stay in New Zealand, the most attractive "country I have been in during my wanderings, until the mountaineering "season of , next »year begins. Bt|t this is hardly" to" be hoped for, and, reasonably speaking, there seem to be. only, three . 'choices. to pile up the ship and be sent home as a distressed British .seaman; secondly, to sell the ship and ,'go. home on the pro i ceeds; or, thirdly, to hope for a miraculous state of mind of my bank" manager at.home." / " V- v •