TRAINING SHIP

Southland Times, Issue 25305, 7 June 1935, Page 9

TRAINING SHIP

NEW ZEALAND LADS UNDER SAIL MANY APPLICATIONS (From Our Correspondent.) The question whether an apprenticeship in sail is necessary for turning out capable seamen in these days of steam and motor-driven ships has been widely discussed of late. While in some quarters such training is alleged to be unnecessary, in others the opinion has been emphatically expressed that there is a greater efficiency displayed by men who have gone through such a course and that training in sail is vitally necessary where a high standard of seamanship is required. Many people in high places in the Old Country’s maritime world hold the latter idea. By these people, who seem well qualified to pass judgment on the two methods of acquiring experience at sea, it has been also stated that much recent damage to ships (or even totai loss) might have been avoided had those responsible received 'their early sea training in sail, where the matter of "handling” a ship in all classes of sea is thoroughly taught. Some time ago the idea was mooted of acquiring a sailing ship for New Zealand, so that local lads wishing to embark on a sea career could be thoroughly grounded in the various branches of seamanship by serving their apprenticeships in her. Since news of the proposed vessel got abroad a flood of correspondence has steadily poured in on Captain R. J. Hamilton, of Bluff, who is closely connected with the scheme. The letters are not only from youths fired with natural ambition through hearing the magic words “sailing ships,” but from parents desirous of obtaining information regarding,the possibility of having their sons embarked on a sea career.

The plans for the proposed sailing ship were recently received from the Glasgow firm of Messrs Barclay, Curie and Company. These (subject to minor revision) show that provision has been made for a steel, three-masted barque, the dimensions of which will be as follows: Length, 8.P., 217 feet; breadth, 38 feet, with a moulded depth of 19 feet 6 inches, constructed to Lloyds’ class of British materials. The vessel will be capable of carrying 1600 tons on a draft of 17 feet 10 inches, and will have a good freeboard, so that a dry sea boat is assured. In her design special regard has been given to handiness and to the necessity for sailing well. Accommodation for captain and officers and 80 cadets is ( arranged under the poop deck, which extends to the fore side of the main hatch, while in the forward deck-house is accommodation for petty officers, cooks and seamen, as well as the galley and condenser room. Under the forecastle head are paint and lamp rooms, carpenter’s shop and a four-berth hospital. Electric light and wireless power are obtained by the installation of a Diesel driven generator. The staff of the ship will be composed of the captain, three officers, navigation instructor and doctor, with boatswain and mate, sail-maker and carpenter. In addition to cooks, etc., it is proposed to carry eight seamen; but as the boys get experience this number will be reduced. “Particular attention will be paid to navigational requirements,” Captain Hamilton said in discussing the project, “and the equipment will include every known device in this line used at sea. In training, however, it is not intended to subordinate the practical side to the theoretical, the main endeavour being to turn out lads who are capable seamen. Nor is it the intention to reintroduce the hard times and bad food of other days. Work will be made interesting and instructive and the lads will gain by actual experience. For instance, on a voyage from Great Britain to New Zealand many changes of weather, good and bad, may be encountered and these will have to be overcome by seamanship. “The necessity of reintroducing sail training is recognized by the highest nautical authorities in Great Britain and the scheme has the approbation of all experienced seamen who count in their profession. To British boys the call of the sea is insistent and while they cannot all be officers in a profession which tends to be overcrowded at present, owing to the unusual conditions prevailing, there is at sea, as elsewhere, room at the top for the best — which is as it should be. “The late Captain M. B. Sayer (Cap-tain-Superintendent of H.M.S. Worcester, the Thames Nautical College) when speaking at a prize-giving function on board that ship (almost the last at which he presided) said he could not help 'thinking that many shipping lines had a system of training that left much to be desired, especially in tramp steamers, where the apprentice was looked upon as a form of cheap labour. The speaker deeply deplored the dying out of sail training for boys. People asked: ‘Why have sail training to-day? We should make the lads more scientific.’ His (Captain Sayer’s) answer was: 'Give him sail training, if only for a voyage to Australia and back. Then, later, you can put him in a steamer.’ The speaker further stated that youngsters came to him after a voyage or two in steamers saying they had left the sea—tired of washing paint and polishing brass. ‘We are a maritime nation,’ he has been reporter’ as saying. ‘The efficiency and safety of the Empire depend on our sea transport. Every other Eureopean nation recognizes that fact in regard to its own case and all have their sail training schemes. Yet we do nothing. I think if any person would come forward with a suitable plan he would be helping the Empire in a way that words of mine fail to express.’ “The opinion of such an authority is worthy of the deepest consideration,” Captain Hamilton said in conclusion. “He was a man of lifelong experience and in addition to his knowledge of shipping requirements, it can truthfully be said, he had the welfare of the Empire at heart.”