Tales of the Sea

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 12

Tales of the Sea

Distingished Passengers: Amusing Stories

By a White Star Commodore

HE career at sea of Sir jßertram Hayes, the (jaa|Ejal3& famous commodore of BfSTOCIaSj the White Star Line, began with apprenticeship on a sailing ship and ended witli

tlie command of the great liner, the Majestic, a period of 44 years, says a writer in “John o’ London’s Weekly.' 1 His reminiscences as told in “Hull Down” have all those qualities of commonsense, candour and humour, and that magnetic attribute we inevitably call “breeziness” which the British sailor never seems to lack. It is a great book for boys, young nnd old. LINER STOPPED BY A DOG His pages sparkle with anecdote. Here is the curious story of how the Laurentic was stopped by a dog. Sir Bertram thinks the incident unique in the annals of the merchant service “One night we were passing Point Amour, at the western end of the Straits of Belle Isle, at reduced speed owing to fog, and could hear the fog signal blowing regularly, when we heard what we all thought was the sound of a sailing vessel’s horn on our port side. We hoard the fog signal again, then the supposed horn which sounded closer to and nearer ahead, so I went full-speed astern to get the way off the ship. Point Amour sounded, and then the same noise again, and I said; “Half-speed ahead—it is that damned dog.’” It was the peculiar whining of a dog belonging to a passenger, under the forecastle head, a dog that made strange noises. WIRELESS A condition attached to wireless messages Sent from the ship by passengers is that they are subject to censorship, a very necessary precaution judging by the following:—“One fine nmrriing when we were about five or six hundred miles from New York we had a slight accident to one of the engines which caused a considerable amount of steam to escape. This found its way up the engine-room skylight. “Shortly after it happened the wireless operator brought a message to me reading: ‘Boilers hurst, nine men killed, don’t kiiow when we will arrive.’ signed by a passenger. Should he send it ? “I sent for the passenger in question and told him his message could not be sent. He was one of the aggressive kind, and asked: ‘Why not ?’ ‘For three reasons,’ I said. He asked what they were, so I said: ‘The first is that the boilers have not burst, the second is that nobody has been killed, and the third that 'we do know when we will arrive.’ After some argument he finally agreed that his message was a little exaggerated, and altered it to read: ‘Delayed, due dock such a time.’ Y THE PRINCE OF WALES An amusing story about the Prince of Wales when he visited Montreal.was told the author by the manager of the White Star Company there:—■ “He told me . there, were two ladies of the same llamo present .ait -the ball, one very important and one very pretty, ; H.R.H- had been detailed tc,

dance with the former but through some mistake, presumably, ho was l'ouud with the pretty one, and on this being pointed out to him, lie remarked that lie was quite satisfied with things as they were,” HACKING THE KAISER’S PORTRAIT The author thinks that it was early in 1913, February, that the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, of the HamburgAmerican Line, now the Empress of Scotland, iu tho Canadian Pacific Line, sailed on the same day as his ship from N*w York, also bound for the Mediterranean, with Captain Ruser in command “We kept almost alongside each other for several days till we parted company, she to go to the Azores for her first call and we to go to Madeira. When we wcv& two or three days out from New York mv passengers expressed a wish to send a friendly message to her by wireless, and sent one up ter my approval something to the following effect; ‘lt is pleasant to see two fine ships steaming together in friendly rivalry. Long may the two countries continue to do so.’ This was sent. In due course we received a reply couched in similar terms, signed ‘Ruser.' “After war had been declared the pilot .who took tho Vaterland into New Vcrk, with Captain Ruser in command, told ino that when he and his officers heard the news they were very much distressed, and as a mark of their disapproval had slashed to ineces tho large oil painting of the Kaiser that was hanging in her smoke-room. Which seems to prOvo that one German ship’s company at any rate was not in favour of the war.” THE NIGGER AT SEA Sij* Bertram, by the way, got his D.S.O. for ramming a U boat with the Olympic. He has some amusing stories about coloured soldiers in the American contingents:— “One day when we were pitching into a head sea, one of them was very sea-sick, and lie was heard saying: ‘Good Lord, if you can’t help this pcor nigger yo\i might bring this sea to attention.' ” CONCERNING A TRANSPORT OFFICER As for transport officers and their ways in the Great War Sir Bertram scores heavily at the expense cf one man in connection with the shipping of some niotor-cars. “The steamer in question had her foreholds full of cargo, and there .was no room for the cart* when they arrived alongside, lhe transport officer in charge blustered that they must be put on board. He looked down one of the after-holds. ‘“Take that thing out and there will be plenty of room/ he ordered. “ ‘You can’t take that out, 6ir. that’s the tunnel,’ the chief officer of the ship said “‘I don’t care a dam what it is—■ take it out!’ was the reply. “On further explanation being given, even he realised that the ship could not go to sea without tho ihait to which her propeller was fixed,'which passed through ' the tunnel he 'had ordered to be removed.”