SHAMROCK’S ORDEAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19013, 8 November 1923, Page 4

SHAMROCK’S ORDEAL.

51 DAYS IN ATLANTIC STORM. FOUR OF CREW WASHED OVERBOARD AND BACK: Sir Thomas Lipton’s 25-metre racing yacht Shamrock arrived ,at Southampton on September 20 from Long Island, New York, after an eventful voyage of 31 days across the Atlantic (says the Daily Mail!. A graphic description of the vessels experience was given by Mr A. 11. Smart, a member of the crew, who said: We started with a band playing and cheering American -rowds. This was about the only bright spot in the whole trip, for the same evening a very different tend began to play when a gale came along. Various gear was carried away, and while we were reefing the mainsail the mizzen went by the board. Wc had to cut it adrift to avoid knocking a hole in the hull. From then on wo lived in a sort of nightmare—strong winds and heavy seas, which ripped gear out of her, or flat calms. On September 17, at the height of a heavy gale, the sea running was truly awful. I’ve never imagined anything like it. Shamrock was simply lost in the trough of the waves, and yet I’ve heard people say that Atlantic rollers are never more than 30ft high. I wish they’d been there. With the fear of death on us five of us wore hauling at the trysail sheet when a solid green one broke aboard. I got my knee smashed. The others were washed over the side, b»‘t hung on and were washed back. Half drowned —I had fainted and been hauled out of the way—they set about clearing the wreckage. You can judge something of the weignt of water when I tell you that that same wave smashed the lifeboat and the main boom gallows—this latter a solid piece of ash 6ft long by about a foot square. One more wave like that and Shamrock herself would have been matchwood. After that, by the use of od bags, wo eared things up a bit, and since then, although we’ve had heavy seas and strong winds, we’ve had a fairly uneventful run home. The injuries to the men proved to be less serious than was at first fcaied. “The first Rugby football match to be played in New Zealand’, said Mr r. Sampson at the Wanganui Football Associations smoke concert, “was on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to New Zealand in I 860.” Mr Sampson went on to say that the New Zealand team consisted of University students, many of whom afterwards became prominent in public life. He mentioned Douglas M’Lean, W. P. James, Allan M‘Donald, Feter Webb, and Captain Isherwood. The opposing team was formed from officers of H.M.S. Blanche, and the game was played on fhe old barrack reserve at Thorndon. The first “'Soccer" game of note to be played in New Zealand was also contested at Wellington, on Newtown park, in 1680, between teams representing Christchurch and the Empire City. Among the tests set for grocers at their annual exhibition in England are blending 12 varieties of tea, creating an artistic display vf 561 b of margarine, dressing and dismantling grocery windows, cutting up a aide of bacon, and figuring out an invoice showing a, certain rats of profit.