WINDJAMMER CRUISE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23118, 18 February 1937, Page 12

WINDJAMMER CRUISE

THREE WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES 28,000 MILES IN 98 DAYS (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Feb. 11. Two Australian women and a French* woman were three of the four passengers carried by the Danish windjammer Viking, one of the famous “grain fleet," on a voyage from Copen* hagen to Port Lincoln, South Australia. Tiie trip took 98 days, and tha route, which covered 28.060 miles, wag round the north coast of Scotland, past the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, tha coast of Ireland, and then to Madeira, through the Azores, down south as far as Buenos Aires, and then across tha South Atlantic to South Africa and the Indian Ocean to Australia. The Australians were Mrs Hugh Campbell and her daughter Babs. After a three years’ stay in London they decided to make their voyage home on a sailing ship, when they saw an intriguing advertisement, "Sailing to the Sun on the Viking ” in the Daily Mirror, and they immediately signed on aa members of the crew and caught the ship at Copenhagen. After many experiences of travelling nn liners, they were eager for one on a sailing ship. A strange accident that smacked of the legend of the ghostly Flying Dutch* man was one of the exciting incidents that occurred on the Viking. One night when the ship was five days out from Copenhagen, a terrific crash was felt and the ship shuddered from bow to stern. In the darkness the faint green light could be seen of the ship which had apparently run into the Viking. The captained hailed it, but there was no response, and the light slowly disappeared. No damage was done to the Viking, but the captain could not discover what ship it was, and even now does not know. “ We went through the dread ‘ Roaring Forties’ without any mishap, although there was always the danger of running into the huge icebergs, which,’’ said Mrs Campbell, “ looked like great ' silver castles with the sun shining on them. During the trip through the Forties, the captain was continually on deck, and for three weeks he did not take off his clothes, even when he could snatch a few moments of rest. “In the doldrums, where we were becalmed for several days at a time, the flying-fish provided the most excitement, and there were so many that we had to close our portholes, because often they would fly in through them. Christmas was spent at sea, and on Christmas Eve we all sat down to a dinner of roast fowl, but did not get a chance to enjoy it, for a cyclone blew up, the ship heeled over, and our dinner landed in our laps. This was the most serious storm we experienced.” According to Mrs Campbell, the food was excellent, although it was mostly tinned, and, as a big crate of fowls was on board, they had the luxury of bacon and eggs twice a week. Once a week there was a community washing day, and everyone washed their clothes in tubs on the deck, and the ship used to look very odd with all the clothes hanging out to dry on the hatch. The sight of feminine underwear blowing in tlie wind gave great amusement to a crew of a cargo boat which passed close by the ship after one of these washing days. Pretty Mile. Lucille Machin. mathematics teacher at a large French girls’ school, was the third woman passenger. ■ She is also the school’s expert on geog- . raphy. having visited Turkey. China, Japan. Spain. Greece, and America during the long school holidays. Last year she decided to see Australia, obtained a year’s leave, booked a passage in the Viking, and set off under sail on the longest voyage of her life. “ I looked like the men—long seaboots. trousers, oilskins, a hat you call a sou’-wester," she said. “ Near Capa Horn, where the sea was rough, I waß on deck. Otherwise I cooked a little, washed clothes, mended socks for the captain and the officers, and cleaned brass." The other passenger was a captain in the Canadian Army, a mere male, and no one has apparently thought it worth while to record his impression? of the voyage.