THE SIGNAL STATION

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1747, 30 August 1905, Page 28

THE SIGNAL STATION

AT ‘THE WELLINGTON HEADS.

(By the ‘'Mail’s” Special Reporter.)

The Beacon Hill Signal Station near Seatoun is one of the most interesting features of the port of Wellington. A lonely sentry box, perched on the toppling crags 440 feet above the sea, where ceaseless watch is kept night and day far out across the throbbing straits. The view from the look out as witnessed by a ‘'New Zealand Mail” reporter on a clear frosty moonlight night was enchanting. The azure blue of the moon-swept sea and the clondless brilliancy of the starstrewn heavend presented quite an Elysian vista. The slow arching waves as they broke on the fairy forelands hundreds of feet below gave up a low rhythmic murmur to the accompaniment of the dull roar of the league-long rollers thundering on the ocean beach around the coast. About two miles to the southeast the Penoarrow light (322 feet above the sea level) showed a powerful glare which is visible 25 miles away.

THE SPLUTTERING SPARK just discernible on the horizon to the south-west was the Cape Campbell light —the finger post of vessel© passing along the east side of the South Island, and the mark of the southern gateway of ■Cook Strait. There on Beacon Hillday after day, night after night in storm and in calm—^Captain George Robb and his two assistants Mr J. Lanham and Captain Blackmore keep their lonely vigil. The Beacon Hill (440 feet) i© surrounded by hills ranging from 170 feet to 315 feet high, except on the east-ward side where it drops almost perpendicularly to the water’s edge at Chaffer’s Passage, which is separated from the main entrance to the harbour by Barrett’s Reef. The first signal station was erected over forty years ago on Mount Albert (altitude 590 feet) which is situated to the northward of Lyall Bay. Oyer thirty-eight years ago the signal station was moved to its present site where a beacon then stood —'hence the name of the hill. Amongst those who at various periods were formerly in charge of the look-out were Messrs Sawyer, D. Smith, Luman, R. Simith, Pilots Shilling, Henderson, and Captain. Romeril. SEVENTEEN YEAR© AGO Captain Robb was appointed to the station and has remained there ever since. The station, which is under the control of the Wellington Harbour Board has been altered considerably from time to time owing to the exigencies of the growth of the port and the consequent increase of the staff.

About five years ago an excellent teletscope was manufactured to order for the Harbour Board by Watson and Sons of Bondon, for which a new look-out building was specially erected. The telescope, which is probably the finest of its type in the colony, is fitted with a four inch object glass, and is about six feet in length. The instrument is mounted on a brass pedestal revolving on ball bearings, and the whole is fixed to a sliding wooden tray fitted with castors, which can be moved from end to end of a mahogany table seven feet in length. A small telescope with a large field, is attached to the larger instrument. to act as a "finder.”

THE BIG TELESCOPE by an ingenious fixture automatically in* dicatee to within a quarter of a mile the distance of the object under examina* tion, which is a fine calculation considering that the complete hull of a vessel ifl visible from the look-out at a distance of twenty-four miles. The instrument also indicates the exact bearings of the object surveyed. The signal room al abont sixteen feet by nine feet, and i® windowed with plate glass on all sides facing the water. The telescope has a wide sweep of the sea although the view to the westward is confined by SdiLclair Head, distanced five miles, and _to the eastward by Baring Head, distanced about five miles. Yet between these two headlands there is vast ©cope for the glass. The top of the masts of vessels approaching from the south are visible at a distance of about thirty-three miles. The Sydney steamers and vessels coming from the ‘West Coast are sighted past Sinclair Head or from eight to nine miles from the heads. ON A CLEAR, DAY the homesteads on the Blenheim flat® can be seen quite distinctly. The Cape Campbell lighthouse (thirty-one miles) .is also clearly seen. ’ A tiny scarcely distinguishable speck just noticeable in the morning sunlight far out across the strait when focussed under the telescope wa© transformed into a little steamer, easily recognisable as the Opawa with even the helmsman plainly visible at his post. The power of the telescope was exemplified a few week© ago when the flag signal© of the barque Quathlamba were picked up at a range of twelve miles.

The system of signalling the approach of vessels adopted by the Wellington Harbour Board give© general satisfaction. When Captain Robb or his assistant® sight a vessel a red painted board about three feet nine inches in length is hoisted at either the north or t.outh yard arm according to the direction from which the vessel is coming. The boards are of various shapes denoting whether the vessel is a steamer or a sailer, and the rig of the latter. When the flags of the vessel are distinguishable the signal station hoists the house flag denoting the firm to which the vessel, belongs or the agents. All the above named

SIGNAU3 are repeated by the signal station on. Mount Victoria (altitude 643 feet) and ar® thus exhibited to the city of Wellington. The Mount Victoria' signalman decipher® by telescope the signal© shown at Beacon Hill distanced about two and threequarter miles as the crow flies. There is private telephonic communication between the Beacon Hill station and the Harbour Board offices and wharves. At both day and night time the mail room officers at the Post Office and the wharf office are advised by telephone of the arrival of a vessel off the heads. At all times masters of vessel© desirous of leaving port when a “southerly’' is raging are advised of the state of the sea at the entrance. At times the sea break® so heavily at the entrance that the captains of even the largest vessels prefer to remain at the wharf. Under the above conditions the signal station is an extra convenience to the port. A log book which was initiated nearly seventeen year's ago is entered every two hours by the man on duty with a record of the direction and force of the wind, the state of the weather and the sea, thermometric and barometric readings. In addition to this a register is kept of the arrival and departure of all vessels passing abreast of the signal station which is nearly five mile© from the city wharves. THE LITTLE SETTLEMENT on Bacon Hill comprises only the three homestead© of the signalmen, which are nearly half an hour’s walk from the Seatoun wharf. Up till last December Ist, the work was accomplished by two signalmen working in four hour watches, but the addition of another assistant instituted watches of four hours on duty and eight hours off. CAPTAIN ROBB, native of Banffshire, who is in charge of the station is a relic of the good old sailing-ship days. Seven years of hie early sea-faring career were spent in whaling expeditions to the Arctic regions. As would be expected from one who pursued such a vocation many were the thrilling experiences which befel him. One of the most critical incidents was when the whale boat of which he waa one of the crew was dashed to atoms by an infuriated bull whale -which when eventually killed yielded fifteen tons of oil. Captain Robb arrived in New Zealand in December 1878, in command of Messrs W. and G. Turnbull and Co/s steel barque Alexa, from London. He remained in charge of the vessel for seven years making several trips to China for tea, rice, etc., for the owner®. The vessel was afterwards sold to an Auckland buyer. Captain Robb next took charge of Messrs Turnbull’s barquentine May, and traded for some time in the intercolonial service. After a seafaring life extending over thirty-one year® during which he had visited nearly every pare of the world Captain Robb retired from the sea to take up hie pre»ent position. Not only those who have experienced the sensation of pleasure when the signal of a long-looked-fcm vessel with friends from distant lands is hoisted, but the general mercantile community know how to appreciate the good work of the signal station which is frequently carried on under most trying climatic conditions.