ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16623, 16 April 1928, Page 9

ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE

LONG SAIL IN 35PT. YAWL MISSED THEIR WAY Two adventurous Aucklanders, Messrs L.. Gide and 11. Taugc, sailed from Auckland in the lona, a 35ft. yawl, on September 3, their destination being Sew Guinea. On September 13. the yawl called at Maunganui, el) route to Norfolk Island, and thence a course was set for New Caledonia. A defective chronometer, however, upset, calculations, and the adventurers wore forced to make for the Australian coast. Their experiences in the Pacific and in Australian ports, and their ultimate ar> rival at Thursday Island, are related by Mr. Gide in a 'letter to Mr. H, -7 Roberts, of Wbatuwhiwbi, from which point the final departure from New Zealand was made.

TOSSED ABOUT LIKE A CORK "After departing from Whatuwhi--1 whi," writes Mr. Gide, "we stood for ■ North Cape, and for a lull week Mere ' tossed about like a cork on tremendous seas, all the sail we were carrying being the mizzen and two head sails. . Our next move was to set a course for New Caledonia, 800 miles away. We , both felt very fatigued, owing to no .sleep, and scarcely any food, so we look- . ed forward eagerly to the, day when wc would see the palm trees and sandy shores. Six days we stood north, until Hoy asserted that wo were only 16 miles away from land. When day broke, wc staggered on to the deck, and could hardly believe our eyes when tio land broke the perpetual horizon. Hoy took another sight, but discovered that bis chronometer was out of order. You can understand our bitter disappointment. When, after another day's sailing, we could not make land, we decided to steer due west, thanking God that Australia was too big to miss. Alter a few days more we sighted land at midnk'ht, Sunday, October 9, having logged 2000 miles between the coasts. We sailed north until daybreak, when we found a snug anchorage in the mouth of a small river 115 miles from Mackay. SUFFERED FROM THIBST "Instead of turning in to sleep off our fatigue, we went for a stroll along the ocean beach, covering fully 10 miles before wo arrived back at tho ship. I I was amazed at the multitudes of gor- ! geously colored birds we saw in the virgin bush, while many fish and turtles splashed around the boat. We found two turtles washed up on the beach. We suffered greatly from thirst during the voyage through some lime in the water becoming stirred up as soon as wo encountered the first ocean swell. The stench was horrible, and although we boiled it when possible, we found it practically undrinkable. The clays were real teopical scorchers, while at night wc froze at tho wheel. The watches of three hours off and ou were suitable, but the forced standing to read the compass caused us much weariness. CUSTOMS PAYS A VISIT "We had a fine trip up the coast to Cairns, 400 miles distant, calling in at JMackay, Boweu, and Townsville. We could not procure work anywhere, so we attempted to retail some oysters collected from an island outside Cairns. They were bad before we arrived back in port, and to add to our worry a Customs launch came alongside as soon as we anchored, the official curtly informing Koy that after spending three months on the coast he would have to pay 25 per cent, duty on the boat or they would seize her and sell her to defray the aforementioned duty. As the cyclono season is between January and March, we applied for an extension of time in the port, which the authorities refused. Being hounded out of the harbor at such a dangerous period was only 100 obvious, so we had some plain talk with the officials, and left Cairns in an easier frome of mind on Januarv 9. We expected to cover the 500 miles to Thursday Island in about a week of daylight sailing, but the fates were against us, with the result that we took over a month to reach our delation. Nearly every day found us'drifting beneath a clear blue sky, around, and sometimes over, large patches of coral, on which multi-colored fish besportcd. Turtles, dugong, and strange birds kept us from becoming depressed at tho painfully slow progress. Wo managed to procure half a day's work on the wharf on arrival at Thursday Island, netting enough for a fortnight's food. Then we received a contract for cutting firewood, but the boat fell ou to her side when the tido was out and smashed a gaping hole in nor side, so here we arc—a broken boat and no money. However, why worry?"!