ONCE SHIP'S BOY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23010, 11 April 1938, Page 15

ONCE SHIP'S BOY

CAPTAIN BUSK-WOOD COMMODORE OF THE FLEET SERVICE IN SAIL AND STEAM Once the ship's hoy of an old wooden schooner niul coachman of the captain's buggy when the ship was in port, Captain W. G. Busk-Wood, 11.D., R.N.R., commodore of the fleet of Canadian Pacific Steamships, and commander of the Kin press of Britain, has an experience of 40 years at sea thaireads like an adventure tale. Like many other sailormen, lie adopted his career against the wishes of his family at the age of I t but, strangely enough, it was his father who sent him to sea in the hope of discouraging his wanderlust.

The paternal instinct that one voyage would be sufficient to remove Captain Busk-Wood's preference for a maritime career was ill-founded for, after returning from a wearying trip under sail to Brazil, he promptly packed his gear and signed aboard a coastal schooner bound for Plymouth. There he hired himself within 2-1 hours, signing 011 board a 47-year-old wooden timber drover sailing for Nova Scotia. It was there that he proudly drove his captain, clad in frock coat and top hat, through the streets of the town of Parrsboro in the captain's buggy. Voyages in Wooden Ships Before lie left sail for steam, not many years before lie joined the Canadian Pacific Service in 1910, Captain Busk-Wood made scores of voyages and traversed thousands of miles in wooden ships—-to the Capo in the barque Edderside, to Australia in the Clan MacPherson, to California in the full-rigged ship Ditton, to Europe again in the Crocodile and to the Spencer Gulf in the barque Orion. Then he decided to try one voyage in steam but, apparently, it lacked glamour, and he returned to sail, eventually rising to the rank o,f mate on the barque Luz and ' the fourmasted square-rigged ship Waterloo, of Liverpool. Service With Admiralty It was on the latter ship that he made a 226-dav voyage from Rotterdam to San Francisco with a cargo of cement and the extremely long passage convinced him that sail had had its day. He joined the Canadian Pacific service as fourth officer of the Lake .Manitoba in 1010, but from 1914 to 1920 he was in the Admiralty Service. Returning to his merchant navy service, he gained rapid'promotion, becoming the chief officer of the Empress ol Britain 011 her maiden voyage in 19:51 and being appointed staff captain in 1933. Captain Busk-Wood's first command was the Beaverhill, in 1934, and since then he has served with the Montcalm, Montrose and Em press of Australia. He was appointed commander ol the Empress of Britain in October, 1937. Having already made three round-the-world cruises in this giant vessel, it is fitting that he should be the first master to take a ship flying the Canadian Pacific house flag and the commodore's broad pennant to the ports ol Australia and New Zealand.