BATTERED BY STORMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19860, 2 February 1928, Page 11

BATTERED BY STORMS.

SAILING SHIP STRICKEN. E. R. STERLING TOWED TO DOCK. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Jan. 81. A thrilling epic of the sea was revealed on the arrival at Victoria Docks > ijt the Thames, under tow, of the famous sailing ship, E. R. Sterling, over nine months after her departure from Adelaide with 50,000 bags of wheat. Such an adventurous voyage has not befallen the vessel all the years she has sailed the southern seas. When rounding Cape Horn the vessel met nothing worse than icebergs, but-300 miles north-east of the Falkland Islands a terrific tropical hurricane was encountered, which ripped out the mizzen and driver sails, killing the chief mate. Steps takon to make repairs and carry on were successful, in spite of the raging seas. A month later, when progressing olowly, tho already crippled vessel encountered another hurricane and three of her masts were ripped out, her lifeboats were stove iD, her bulwarks damaged and the wireless aerial blown away. Captain Sterling says it was the most thrilling experience of his life. An iron six-masted barquentine, the E. R. Sterling, is one of the finest sailing vessels that has visited Auckland in recent years. She sailed from Adelaide upon the eventful voyage recounted on April 6, 1927. Qriginally. a four-masted barque, she was launched at Belfast, in 1883, 'when she was named the Lord Wolseley. Since then the name has been frequently changed. In 1910 she became the E. R. Sterling, the property of an American firm, the Sterling Shipping Company. Under the command of Captain R. M. Sterling the vessel engaged in trade between San Francisco, Australia and South American ports, and first visited Auckland in August, 1919, when she attracted a great deal of attention. Luxuriously fitted, she was almost like a yacht. She carried a fast pleasure launch and a motor-car for the captain's use while in port.