ROUGH TRIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26769, 12 May 1948, Page 4

ROUGH TRIP

SOUNDS VISITED SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION PARTY GOOD SEAMANSHIP SHOWN A story of seamanship lies behind the report published in the Daily Times on Monday of the reconnaissance of tiordland by a scientific party .headed by. Colonel John K. Howard, of Boston, a representative of Harvard University. Members of the party of six also included representatives of the New Zealand Forestry Service, the wild life division of the Department of Internal Affairs, and the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association. The trip was made in the Dunedin seagoing motor launch Alert, which its owner and skipper, Mr A. J. Black, brought back to Dunedin this week. The party embarked in the launch at Bluff, and the first call was at the Puysegur Point lighthouse, to which stores were taken. Whenever in this vicinity, Mr Black always takes stores to the lighthouse, which is in an isolated position. A representative of the Daily Times who went aboard the Alert at Dunedin yesterday found him reluctant to talk of the voyage and disinclined, to tell of the important part he had played in it. The weather was rough and wet for both the trip to the Sounds and the return journey, but the success of the voyage was attributed by Mr Black to the excellent seagoing qualities of the launch and not his own seamanship. . _ , The party was taken into Dusky Sound, through the Acheron Passage, and the Alert dropped anchor at Beach Harbour,' in Breaksea Sound. The journey was continued to Doubtful Sound, through the passage to Thompson Sound and on to Caswell Sound. Here the party left the launch to go through the country, led by Mr L. Murrell, of Manapouri. Mr Black took the launch on to George Sound, where he met the party three days later. Lake Marchant, at the head of Caswell Sound, will probably be the site of "the base camp if an expedition representing various Government departments. scientists and agents of Harvard University visits fiordland for intensive study early next year. On the return trip, the launch visited Deep Cove to put ashore Mr Murrell, who returned to his home at Manapouri. The party then continued their

journey back to Bluff. Mr Black later set out with the Alert for Dunedin, where he arrived early this week. The Alert experienced rough seas and driving rain for almost the entire period from leaving Bluff until the return. An exception was the three days of perfect weather in Caswell Sound. , , The expedition was particularly successful. The party encountered a number of wapiti during the visit to fiordland, and one herd was photographed by motion camera at a distance of only 50 feet. One of the studies of any future expedition to this area will be the changes in the characteristics of the wapiti as a result of their different habitat. The launch maintained her course and schedule throughout the entire trip in spite of the elements, and negotiated the difficult sounds and passages with seeming ease. She is a sturdy craft, a former harbour defence vessel, but it was excellent seamanship that ensured the complete success of both the outward and home journeys.