THE JESSIE NICOL'S EXPERIENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13651, 21 July 1906, Page 5

THE JESSIE NICOL'S EXPERIENCE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin,—ln your issuo of Juno 20 there appears tho report of a conversation between a representative of your journal and Mr Joseph Hatch, the owner of the schooner " Jessie Nicol, concerning the abortive attempt made by that vessel to reach the Macquarics, where eight men were awaiting its arrival. As I wa,s in command of the schooner, and as Mr Hatch has thought fit, in order to justify himself over the matter of the men being on the island without food, to make, grave reflections cm me, I deem it my duly to reply to tho report in order that I might clear myself of tho unjust and unwarranted aspersions which Mr Hatch has cast upon me. The Jessie Nicol, he states, left for the Maoquarifs early in February, and because during the ensuing four months tho vessel was unable to make the islands, he considered it left an impression of singular seamanship. "There is a great deal more he-hind the scenes than heavy gales in preventing the vessel reachins; the islands" were Mr. Hatch's published words, and the publio wero informed that he said a greatdeal moro than you thought it wi. ; e to publish. I can quite imagine that, for no man within my knowledge is' freer with his tongue than the fame Mr Hatch. This gentleman is very good at trying to take away my reputation as a capable seaman, but after what, he has said to mo about others, and the offers he has made to me personally with respect to a certain trade to be done in tho South Pacific, and which I indignantly refused, his words concerning my seamanship can he estimated at their trao value. His conversation with your reporter he Used as a barefaced attempt to make mo the scapegoat for his not, having food on the island for the men, and it is quite in keeping with his usual tactics. Probably, these reflections on others will l)e nlaeed on record, when Mr Hatch will find himself in a hot corner. Now, as to his assertions: I emphatically deny that it was possiblo to take the Jcssio Nicol to the Macquarics during the time stated, as every reader of your journal will remember tho kind of weather that was experienced; and whilst it is true that a north-east wind was blowing on tho mainland, at Stewart Island it was W.N.W., but, Mr H-tch wishes it to be inferred that the vessel did not proceed becauso of other causes. He will probably find this excuse will not avail him. In proof of my contention, I shall quote from a letter that appeared in the Otago Daily Times on July 14, signed W. Belcher. What did.ho say? I quote the ipsissma verba:—"At this season of tho year it is next to impossib'e for a sailing vessel—be she ever so staunoh—to reach tho bleak and desolate spot in the Antarctic regions." Mr Belcher know of what he was writing, becauso he had been marooned on the inhospitable Macquaries himself, and surely his, opinion, abso'utely unbiased—and Mr Hatch's is not.—should carry most weight. His unsolicited testimony is directly contradictory to the self-interested and unproved statement of Mr Hatch.

And now I need only refer to the contradiction made by Mr Hatch in fcho interview under notice. In one part ho stated th.it the .Tasslo Nicol should, under ordinary circumstances, have reached the islands durintr the four months. I hwo just shown that tho wero extraordinary. Probably never during' ilia last 20 years was such weather experienced. And then, later on, Mr Hatch stated that "it is almost impossible, under the circumstances, to work the trade from Xew Zealand." Here, "under the circumstances." must mean the weather conditions, and he simply proves what I have said: else why his decision to work the trade from Hobart, whence came his seamen. Yet, Mr Hatch tried to make your reporter believe it was my seamanship that prevented the vessel from reaching the Macouaries. I have said sufficient to olear myself, and Mr Hatch is descrying of the severest reprobation for trying to injure me for beinir unable U> combat circumstances over which I have had no control, and which, if he were honest, he would at once admit. As his interview appoared in the Otago Daily Times, I bepr to request that, in justice to myself, this letter might aopear in th columns of that journal too.—l am, etc.,' R J. Ewbn. Late master Je«ie Nicol,