ROMANCE OF SAIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21999, 4 January 1935, Page 6

ROMANCE OF SAIL

IWHE4T SHIP COMES BACK

ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE

). B/NGEROUS LIST IN STORM

[fb,om oub oto correspondent]

SYDNEY. Dec. 21

The famous "wheat ships"—the big old-fashioned but beautiful sailing; ships, which still earn a small profit by carrying grain to Europe—are coming back for their annual race round the Horn. This race attracts worldwide attention, now, and the adventues of the big "sailers" and their crews are always chronicled. But it is not only on tbeir homeward journeys, when their holds are bulging with golden grain, thnt adventures befall the ships. As witness to this, there is the- case of the Herzogin Cecile, probably the most famous of these survivors of a past age. Ihc Herzogin Cecile has just reached Adelaide to prepare for' the "wheat Derby" and Mr. W. L. Stephenson, a young Belfast man, who came out as a passenger, told of many adventures during an 88-days' passage.

Adverse Winds

"After sailing from Belfast there was not one dull moment on the voyage," said Mr. Stephenson. ' Previous experience, with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve had given me some knowledge of the sea, and so I helped the crew to work the ship. We .experienced very little calm, but adverse winds delayed us considerably. In the Atlantic we were tacking almost to the south coast of Brazil in order to get southward. This delayed us for many days, and then again, in the Australian Bight, when a day off Spencer Gulf, we were held back for four days by adverse winds. The most exciting time was when a strong westerly hit •us soon after we had passed Cape Horn. Huge seas broke over the ship, which was in light trim, with a ballast of paving stones, and at times we were scudding along ,&t 17 knots with only a few sails set.

"During one night a rumbling noise told us that the ballast was shifting and we took on a list of more than 30deg. The list was so great in the height of the storm that an indicator in the chart room was swinging off its hinges. When the storm had abated a little all hands went below into the holds to shift the ballast back into its original position to trim the ship. They worked clay and night until this was fixed properly." Case of Appendicitis

None of the crew suffered any mishap on the voyage, but the mate, E. Karlsson, was often confined to his bed. Before leaving Belfast he was examined by the X-rays on account of suspected appendicitis, and received the photographs from the hospital before sailing. He did not look at them until the ship was a month out. He then discovered they were accompanied by a report stating that he was suffering from chronic appendicitis and that an operation should be performed as soon as possible. As nothing could be done at that time he continued to Port Lincoln, where he went into hospital while the ship was loading her cargo. The master of the Herzogin Cecile, Captain Sven Ericksson, is accompanied by his Alsatian dog, Pike. This dog was sold by the Swedish police because it was too fierce to train. It had bitten the majority of the crew in the course'of the voyage. Its marked dislike for women provided amusement on the voyage. When records of women singers were played on the gramophone, the dog—it is gravely stated —set about searching the ship for female stowaways.