VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 5

VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE

BARQUENTINE’S AMATEUR CREW (Ekom Ou“ Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, June 10. Out of a recent grey dawn came a vision of the past—the barquentine Cap Pilar, 46 days out of Capetown. Under full sail she crept up to Sydney Heads to complete a stage of a voyage of romance and adventure around the world, manned by a picturesque crew which includes a clerk, a student, a solicitor, and others new to the sea. Owned and commanded by Captain Adrian Seligman, the Cap Pilar has an amateur crew, representing a variety of shore occupations. Only the captain and the mate have had previous sea experience.

A week ago Mrs Seligman arrived in Sydney to await the arrival of the Cap Pilar. She set out from London last September in the barquentine and calls were made at Madeira, Teneriffe, Rio de Janeiro, the island of Tristan da Cunha, artd Capetown. She then came to Sydney in,a motor ship. "We left Capetown 46 days ago,” said Caplain Seligman. “We made good time, everything taken into consideration. The Cap Pilar's best speed is 11 but the highest we attained on the last section of the voyage was 104 knots.

The barquentine met heavy gales as soon as she cleared the South African coast, and was driven far to the south. Then she ran’ into a succession of south-westerly gales, which blew her towards Australia. The barquentine went far below Tasmania,, and when she tried to beat up towards the mainland, adverse winds battered her, but she made a land-fall near Hobart. For 24 hours the barquentine was manoeuvred in vain to make a call at Hobart, but Captain Seligman gave up the attempt and tnade direct for Sydney. Captain Seligman was roaming round Brittany when he came upon the Cap Pilar. The vessel is of 200 tons, and is registered with the Royal Corinthian Club as a yacht. For 25 years she had been used as a fishing vessel, making a voyage each year to the banks off Newfoundland. Her officers and crew now number 19, (he strangest crew that one could imagine. “They are fin© lads,” said Captain Seligman. “They may not know everything there is to be known about sailoring, but they ar© willing, and the fact remains that they have brought the ship where she ia without mishap.” Every man paid into a corrfmon fund to help to finance the voyage. Many of them bearded, clad in thick sweaters and with sea boots, they appeared rough until they spoke in courteous and cultured tones. The navigator and steward is a master of arts of Cambridge University. / Another ia a retired Englishman who joined tha vessel at Capetown. Another was a P. and O. clerk until he read one evening that the Cap Pilar was the first British sailing vessel to take mails to Tristan da Cunha for 35 years, and, tired of pen-pushing, he had signed up on the Cap Pilar next morning. The cook was a ventilation engineer in England. The boatswain, who now sports a red beard, was a ; solicitor when he heard ef and took the chanc® of making a passage in the vessel. The Cap Pilar will stay in Sydney for several weeks, and after docking will sail for the South Seas and England, via Cape Horn.