DEATH OF CAPTAIN BOYD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11396, 13 April 1899, Page 6

DEATH OF CAPTAIN BOYD.

News has been received by cable from London, of tho death of Captain Boyd, local manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company, which sad event took place ou .Sunday last. Thu intelligence whs received in town with manifest regret, and fiags on most, ol tho business places were displayed al halfmast. For sonic two years past Captain Boyd has had but indifferent health, and an-his ailment—an iiitoriuil complaint—assumed, towards tho latter end of last year, an acute form, he was advised lo c6iu.ult a Home specialist. With that end in view he left for the old country with Mrs Boyd in December h;_^l by tho I.uiihine, but apparently medical skill could uol afford tlie relief hoped for, for. us staled,, tho pationt sue.limbed to the malady.. Captain William Uoylc Boyd was a native of County C.viiii, Ireland. He was born iv 1813 and spent most of Ins youth in the -'Channel Islands. A life oii ; the ocean pre_euting attractions for him, ho went to sea; ■and his tirdt visit to New Zoaland was as muster of the New Zealand Shipping Company's ship, Piako. The thrilling experience which ho underwent on a voyage to the colony in command of that vessel is graphically related holow, and it will, bo perused by our readers with very great interest. When the New Zealand Shipping .Company introduced steamships into their service, Captain Boj-d accepted tlio position, offered to him by Mr J. L. Coster, of local manager, at Dunedin. Ho assumed his new [duties in 1882, and continued to discharge them till within a. few months of his dcalh.The deceased gentleman, although not figuring prominently iv 'public life, manifested a keen interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the colony. His penchant iv the matter of sports may be said to have been aquatics. On occasions when local regattas were being held he was generally iv attendance, while iv bygone times he devoted a good deal of his leisure to yachting. Ho enjoyed a large amount of popularity in commercial circles, and the energy and skill with whicli ho. directed the affairs of .the New Zealand Shipping Company contributed dv no small degree to the success and extension of its operations. By his personal friends and by the officials of tlio company at the head office in Loudon and the Christchurch and Dunedin offices he Was held in the very highest esteem. Captain Boyd leaves a family of eight. The eldest son is in the'service of the Bank of New Zealand in London.

Tho following account of the fire on.the Piako was givon in the Strand Magazine by Captain George W. Banks, captain of the Waikato, who was third officer iv 1878. Tho Piako was a sailing vessel of 1075 tons, engaged in the immigration trade. ■ She was.nnder the' command of Captain Boyd, the first and second officers being respectively, Mr Holbeach and Mr Hazelwood: —-.

"We left London oh the 10th of October," said Captain Banks, "and took our emigrants on board at Plymouth. There were 317 of them in all, besides a crew of .0: All wont well until we had reached about .ddeg south oi the equator, our west longitude being 30deg. The weather was very calm,-and, .as you may imagine so near the' equator, exceedingly hot. It was a Sunday—l remember it as though it were but yesterday. Wo had a clergyman amongst the. passengers, and .he had been reading, service under an awning aft, when one of the crew going for'a'd noticed smoko rising from the fore-hatch. You ma}' imagine the consternation there soon was on board among the passengers. We tried at first to keep the fact of -the fire from them, but this could not be done long: for when wo raised the hatch to try and get at the fire, the flames leapt' out-of the hold to a height oi 15ft or 20ft. We poured in,water to try to subdue the flames,, but in vain, and we were compelled to batten down the hatch again. That was all that we could do to keej) the fire under subjection. .'

"It is impossible for me to give you.a consecutivo narrative of what occurred. ' We never knew what caused Hie fire. We had a general cargo, and Irom the way it was packed we could not get hear the fire. All wo could do was to pour in water fore and aft lo keep it from spreading as much as possible. By that -means we checked the progress of the fire to' some extent, but it gradually spread, nevertheless. • '■■

" When Captain Boyd perceived' .that we could not subdue the fire, he had all the boats lowered, and as many of the passengers put into them as they would hold; the'-women and children being sent down first. It was:at this point that some of the passengers behaved the worst, and it required' all the'captain's coolness and, determination to prevent' a panic. Amongst the emigrants . were 160 single.men, and a lot of them,.when they saw .tho boats being lowered, tried, to' rush them. Things looked nasty for a minute or two ; but the crew were all staunch and cool to a man, and with tho assistance of the married .men, and the better-behaved-' of th .-.unmarried, they soon put the unruly ones to the rightabout. But while the 'rush lasted it was pitiful to see the terror bf. the'women—espe'cially the mothers, who would'hold-out their babies to the captain and the officers, imploring them to save the little ones.

" The boats were towed alongside the ship, which we sailed as quickly as we could in the direction of the.nearest port. An. officer was appointed for. each boat, and lhey >y.ere given their courses and distance for Pernambuco, in case the Piako were destroyed and •' the boats had to part company. We, at the same time, placed look-outs at,the. mastheads.to, see if they could discover auoth.r ship to help us. About 1 o'clock on Monday, the day after the fire broke out, a vessel was' reported on the starboard bow, which turned out to be the barque Loch ■ Doon. We immediately , boyo up for her. She was on the lee bow, as wo were in the south-east trades.*

"All this time the smoke and stench from the burning stores below, together with the paint and oil, were so bad that the crew had to put their heads over the ship's rails to get a breath of fresh air. The smoke' came up in volumes through the crevices of the planking —thick, black smoke, that caused the men to vomit a black, slime-like stuff. At the same time the heat was so great that, when the vessel made a lurch in sailing, the water seethed from her side. Of course, all the while we had been letting water into the hold, and -opening valves—to try to get at ith'e fire—all over the place.

"About three hours after sighting the Loch Doon, she came close enough tp render assistance. We told them we were on fire, which they had been pretty sure of before, oh account of th smoke they saw rising from, the Piako. We got all. tho emigrants on; board the barque, with the exception of a few single men, who volunteered lo stand by and help the crew. The Loch Doon was loaded with grain, and had several feet of spare i'oom between the upper'deck'beams and'the cargo, so the; emigrants camped out "on the top of the grain. After the transfer of the passengers was finished, "the Loe'li Doon and the burning ship both madb sail, for 'Pernambuco, where they arrived the next day,, the Piako four hours before the barque. All this time we had had nothing to. eat hut raw salt- pork and biscuits,' and the. .water, was .black with the smoke.

"But with our arrival at-Pernambuco, our adventures were by no means' over. Smallpox turned out to be raging, so violently there that we could have no communication with the town. People were dying. at the rate of 100 a-day. AVhen, Captain Boyd discovered this;/he hired an-..island about seven miles up the river, called Cocoa-nut Island, on account of being thickly covered in the centre with cocoa-nut trees. The ship's doctor and I were, sent [in charge of,: the'.emi : grants, who were carried up to.the.island in barges. When we landed, the'thermometer was standing at'92deg. in tlje shade,.and there were four miles to walk over burning sand to reach the camping-ground". . The horror of those four miles was something indescribable. Many of the people—especially, the poor women —fell down fainting upon thesand. '•' When we got to tho camping-ground we had to build huts of bamboO'canes and leaves. There was an'old barn there;'and that was all, and in it we had to lock up tho unmarried women of nights. There were 80 of them, and the 160 unmarried men made love to them all the day, wandering among the beautiful cocoa-nut "groves. Here we camped out for nine weeks, food being .sent .up to.ns in boats from Pernambuco ; and if the life was not altogether idyllic, it was pleasant, enough at times.

" While we were stationed on the island. Captain Boyd and the-othcr- officers: found it necessary to scuttle the ship in order to put the fire out. She went.down.under water all but the poop deck. When the fire was quite subdued, she was, after several vain attempts, finally successfully floated. We then got .out all the" bumf cargo, which was sold by auction. Nearly all the emigrants' luggage was burnt, and many of the poor people landed with scarcely anything on. There was little damage done to.the Piako, .however, beyond the destruction of the .cargo., the galley, and the donkey engine, so that by the time we had got fresh stores from England,' she 'was 'readyto proceed on her voyage, and we finally reached New Zealand two months behind time. In spite of all the hardships and adventures the emigrants went through, not a lifo was lost, except that of a baby, which, however, died from the effects of violet powder, nol from the effects of the voyage."

At the annual meeting of the company in Chrislcluirch, the chairman (Mr J. L. Coster) stated in the course of his speech:—•" It must bo satisfactory to the shareholders to know that, their large trade had boen conducted during the year without casualty to any of their ships, except the Piako. In that case no blame was attached to the captain, officers, and crew of the ship. On the contrary, the captain, officers, and men were highly complimented by the Naval Court at Pernambuco. The directors and shareholders had, he thought, reason to be proud that they had in their employ, men who, in the time of need, would do their duty in any emergency that might arise. Tho directors in the case of the

Piako thought that in recognition of Iho ability, courage, aiid discipline displayed by tho captain, ollicers. and crow in a time of great difficulty and danger, a gratuity should be given to them from the funds of the company and this had accordingly been done. (Hoar, hear.) Tho Hon. E. Richardson, C.M.G., said that ho quitp agreed with the chairman in the eulogy passed by him on tho captain, oflicom, and orow.of the Piako for the courage with whicli th.j; discharged their duly under the most trying circumstances.. Captain lioyd had been placed in a most awkward position, and the manner iii which ho carried out hit. duty'deserved the highest praise. The general ', manager (Mr Harold Helwyn Smith) in acknowledging a vote of thanks to Iho officers of the company, stated that ho li.id become acquainted, perhaps more than the shareholders, with the trying circumstances under which Captain Boyd wus placed and the admirable manner in which ho had dono his duly.—(Hear, hear.) Iv an incredibly short time—only sonic four minutes—nftor tho alarm of fire v/as given ho had (he. hosa laid on to tho fire, the ennigu of distress hoisted, a man al tho yard arm lo look out for passing vessels, and the ship's courso altered to the nearest port —l.'ernamluico— and everything done that could be. Then again there was the disembarkation of passengers. This was achieved most successfully under great difficulties,' notwithstanding the number of women and children. Ho thought tho company had indeed reason to be proud that they possessed men in their employ who could display such qualities in the hour of trial, and which had been so highly praised by the Naval Court held at Pernambuco.