ARRIVAL OF THE TWEED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3917, 5 September 1874, Page 2

ARRIVAL OF THE TWEED.

The fine ship, which arrirod at tho Hoads on Thursday, wos towed in ou last evening's tide, aud as daylight was fast closing in Pilnt Kelly, who was in charge, brought her up for the night at the Quarantine Ground, helow the (shipping. The Health and Immigration Officers boarded her in the sfc anier Golden Age—tlie sanitory report being- in every way satisfactory. It was fully confirmed by subsoquent investigation, and lhe ship, moreover, was found to bo in admirable condition fore and aft — the immigrants" compartments heing clean, roomy, and well-vontilatod, whilst the immigrants themselves bore the impress of good health, and by their appoaranoe otber ways discovered unmistakeable indications of the judicious care and kind treatment they'hod received during the passage; and they expressed in the most hearty and unanimous manner their entire satisfaction with the rule of those to whose charge they had been consigned. Not the shadow of a complaint was made by any one on board, an.d when the officials left the ship ringing cheers were given for the captain and doctor and officers. The Tweed is certainly very superior to the ordinary run of passenger vessels. Hor great size gives abundance of room between decks, and ample promenading space on tke main deck and poop. The whole oi the 'tween decks was devoted to tlie accommodation of tho married people and single men, whilst" the single women were accommodated in the cuddy, and had very good quarters' indeed. As it was dark when we boarded the ship, we had not the opportunity of inspecting her general appointments. But everything relating to the passengere was quite en regie. ■ There wero firht-class offices, a good galley, and a vory superior fresh wator condenser—one of Kirkcaldy's patents—capable of producing 900 gallons of water per diem, which produced GOO gallons on an average during the jKiss-ge. The Tweed brings 639 souls, a considerable proportion of them being nominated immigrants. They are classified as under : —91 married couples, 166 sttigle men. 94 single women, 75 males and 84 females under 12 years of age, and 19 male and 19 female infant. Arranged according to their nationalities there are:—Eugli»h,2ooinulesandl7s females: Scotch, 4 males and 23 females; Irish, 96 inaU-s and 89 females; Foreigners, 3 males and 2 females; Total, 850 males, 289 females. The good feeling of the iinmigiants towards the captain and officers was reciprocated by the latter. Both Captain Stuart and Dr. Cunningham gave them an cxcellout character, and the Doctor remarked that during his 10 years' experience as a medicid man iv charge of immigrants, he had never travelled with a more manageable lot. Mrs Baker, the matron, spoke very favourably of these she had in Bpecial cliarge—they were, with one or two slight exceptions, good, well-behaved girls. Tliey certainly looked weU, and seemed very happy, aud when we left the ship were lustily trolling forth a'chorus j to a. gong one of their number sang the buiden of it having reference to somebody's blue eyes. It was j scarcely to be expected that so many human beings I cooped up together should escape a visitation from I King Death. That potentate levied tribute by the way, ] and carried off 13, the causes of death being diarrhoea, \ mesenteric diseases, convulsions, and consumption. Not one case of serious disoase had occurred amongst I any of the immigrants above the age of two years. One of the seamen died of congestion of the lungs, and one of the passengers named Jeremiah Buniand, aged 45 years,' fell overboard. This happened on the 23rd July, tbe ship at the time going nine knots The unfortunate man had been repeatedly warned not to venture into the main rigging, but persisted in doing so, affirming that he was an old soldier, used to travelling, and knew what he was about. He, however, ventured once too often, lost bis hold, dud fell. A lifebuoy was thrown over to him, aiidithc ship was immediately rounded to and a boat lowerod and despatched in sotrch, but to no effect—he was never seen again. The Tweed is a handsome stately ship, built at Bombay of teak. She was bijilt for a steamer, to run in the East India Company's service, and during the first two years of her ea.eer afloat she was known as the Punjaub. Then she was sold, and converted into a sailing vessel, and is now owned by Messrs John Willis and Sons, of London. Her dimensions are — Length, over all, 287 feet; beam, 40 feet; depth of hold, 24 feet. She arrives here in just about ballast trim, having only some 750 tons of cargo chiefly dead-weight, iron—on board. She was chartered by the Agent-General, and comes here consigned to the Stew Zealand Shipping Co. She left Gravesend on June l»>th, passed the Downs next day, and cleared the Channel on tbe 18th, a last departure being taken from ihe Eddystone. Variable winds and moderate weather attended her to Madeira, which was sighted and passed on the 23rd, and next day the Trade caught the ship, lt did not prove much to be thankful for, and subsided on July lst, in lat. 15 H. Seven days of bad doldrums followed, and on July Sth the south-east Trade was met with, in lat. IN. The Equator was crossed on the following day, in long. 29 W., and the Trade held good to 19 south, where it left the ship on the 13th July. From that date to the 29th she was muzzled by light southerly and easterly weather, and got'no farther ahead than the meridian of G-eenwich, which was crossed in lat. 39 south. Better winds cau«ht her there, and on the third day after she crossed the meridian of the Cape. . During the ensuing 15 days she made poor progress, exceedingly variable winds prevailing, sometimes fresh from the westward and then hauling ahead, falling away to a clock calm. On the 15th August, being then iv lat. 42 and long. 69 east, the proper westerlies found her, and she commenced to knock her Fasting off; and during the next eleven days logged at the rate of from 280 miles to 328 miles in the 24 hours. On the 22nd she passed the meridian oi the l euwin during a heavy southerly gale, and thence to Stewards Island, which was sighted on the 2nd inst., variable windsand weather prevailed. She hid a fair run along the coast, and reached the Heads on the 3rd, and as it was then blowing hard from S.W. she stood off shore and ran in again that evening, and was boarded by the Pilot, and last night was towed to port. On the 13th July, the day she lost the S.K. trades, the ship Zoroaster from Loudon, bound to I Brisbane wich immigrants, was spoken. She was 40 days out.