SPELL OF SAIL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19123, 18 September 1936, Page 5

SPELL OF SAIL

THE JOSEPH CONRAD <X\DET VOYAGER RETURNS ‘‘REST MONTHS OF LIFE” 0 “The six best, months of my life-’’ In these words when he landed at Wellington from the AlHimgamm this week, Mr, Dennis N. Ussher. of Timarn, summed' up his 10,000-mile voyage round the Pacific in the little full-rigged ship josenh Conrad. Mr. Lasher signed on as a cadet, when- the Joseph Conrad was ajL Auckland last February. He accompanied her to Sramarai in Papua, and thence on the long ocean passage to Tahiti by way of Lord llowe Island and Cook Strait. Mr. Ussher recalled how one. atternooit last' May. the Joseph Conrad appeared ’unexpectedly otf Wellington, making as though to enter the port, but at the very harbour month _tq.uar.ed away and stood out past Baring Head in the. direction ol Cape l’alliser and tlie open sea beyond. BAFFLED BY HEAD WINDS

Baffled bv head winds ever since leaving Lord Howe Island, they had been forced far to the south of their course, and when they sighted Egmont they all looked forward to their arrival at Wellington. They van through the strait, with a fair wind, and hauled up toward Penearrow Head. Captain A. J. Villiers ordered a signal to be hoisted for a tug. as the wind blew, 'fiercely out of the harbour, and it was obviously impossible to enter under sail. But, no fug appeared, and the. captain said that if none had shown up by 5 o’clock, tlipv would have to haul the signal down and dear the strait before night lull. Although they watched eagerly, no tug name ; the yards were squared, and the Joseph Conrad carried oil. eastward, lor Tahiti. i Before lie joined 1 the Joseph’ Conrad said Mr. Ussher. he had had no experience of seafaring or of sailing ships. Before, the ship was clear of the Haurnki. Gulf his education was begun, lie was sent’ aloft for the first time and stood his first trick at the wheel; When he was learning to furl and) gasket the sails, a sudden squall laid the, ship over, giving him his -first of many thrills. GOLDMINERS LANDED The four-weeks’ voyage to Stmarai. although uneventful, gave him his initial taste, of the sea in its many moods. After waiting at Bramble Haven until a fair wind was obtained for negotiating the historic China Straits, formerly the main highway into the Pacific, the Joseph Conrad made Safnarai, and landed a party of Australian goldminers who had travelled from Sydney, two days out from Samnrni she called at Wari, where she piled up on the reef, and only, with difficulty was re-floated. •’ Hoad‘winds characterised the voyage to Lord Howe Island. The ship skirted the Barrier Reef and passed dreary weeks continually tacking, without making much headway. Once for 640 miles sailed, she was found to have progressed only 20 miles in a forward’ direction. Off’ Brisbane she was becalmed within live miles of the land. - It was a relief |o all on hoard to sight Lord Howe Island, where fresh vegetables and a live pig and a sheep were taken on board. After leaving the island she was prevented; by head winds from rounding the. Three Kings, and was driven down through Cook Strait. THE 1 ROARING FORTIES 111 the Roaring Forties, the little ship met with heavy weather, and. a big following sea smashed the dinghy. Air. Ussher stated that lie was forward at the time; hurrying aft, lie was met by a rush of green water up to his armpits. The ship, with sail reduced to reefed topsails, lay heeled over, her scuppers full, and the ports by which the wafer. should have washed, clear rusted stiff and lashed' with wire. In black darkness, and in several feet of jwatcr. the hands struggled to open the ports; hanging at them' with iron' be-luying-pins, and wrenching away the wire, The ship, carrying a great weight df water forward, ’was down by the head-, and seemed unable to rise to meet tho waves. Finally, however, the ports earns. open, and the Joseph Conrad shook the walcv from her decks. They came safely to Tahiti at the end of 80 days. The one determination Mr. Ussher brought hack with him, he said, was to go to sea again in sail.