Lone World Voyages

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 565, 18 January 1929, Page 11

Lone World Voyages

URGE OF THE OPEN SEA

Tiny Ships and Bold Spirits

EVERY now and then some doleful pen wx-ites of modern man that he is decadent, that the fiery spirit which urged his forefather on bold adventure has to-day paled to a timid flicker, that the world has seen the last of the Frobishers, the Drakes and the Cooks.

Evei*y now and then some unknown sailorman, someone ignorant of navigation, braves storm —and calm —in the tiniest of ships to give the lie direct to him who would observe man from an airtight study.

TMPBLLED by the salt in his blood, the Englishman has ever- maintained a front place among those who are bold. To go down to the sea is his greatest) urge, and out at this end of the earth the sons of Englishmen are also adventuring, at sea. All New Zealand has noted with pleasure the plucky voyage to and from Norfolk Island of three young Auckland yachtsmen. It is a beginning, and it has shown that daring is part of New Zealand’s heritage. Their story calls to mind other wanderings —voyages that have amazed the whole world. OLD “JOS” SLOCUM At the close of last century all the world was astonished to learn of the feat of that quaint old American seadog, Captain Joshua Slocum, who voyaged round the earth in a bit of a boat of 12 tons —a yawl partly of his own making. She was called the Spray. The captain was one of those men who believed the old sea tag, “The smaller tjie ship, the easier the life.” That was why this sailor, who had been skipper of the clipper Northern Light, chose to roam the seven seas alone. it is not recorded that he ever touched New Zealand.

In the yachting world another name is frequently bracketed with that of Slocum. Captain John C. Voss will always be famous fori his exploits in an absurd craft called the Tilikum, in which he circumnavigated the world The boat was so ill adapted to the purpose that she was classed as one of the species of freaks in which scatterbrained cranks, lacking even the most rudimentary knowledge of the ■ sea, sometimes attempt to cross oceans. But there never was a braver or a better seaman than Voss—-or one more forunate. Tilikum was no- more, no less, than a canoe dug out of a cedar log. Cedar being the worst wood in the world foi* a boat, Voss executed much ingenious carpentry to strengthen his craft. Tilikum left Vancouver in 1901 with Voss in charge, and a newspaper man, who suggested the voyage “to emulate Slocum and go one better.” At Suva the journalist quitted, and Voss engaged two .or three others in rotation before the voyage of 40,000 miles was finished at Margate. In the course of his wanderings he visited New Zea land, and exhibited his boat in the chief ports, thereby collecting the wherewithal to continue his amazing career. LIEUTENANT MULHAUSER Perhaps the most notable voyage in recent years was that of Lieutenant George Mulhauser, an Englishman, who visited New Zealand in 1920-21 aboard the yawl-yacht Amaryllis. The salt air was in Mulhauser’s personality. It used to he his custom to spend short holidays out of sight of land for the sheer joy of having to navigate and practice skilled seamanship. How Mulhauser fared and how he took his ship 31,000 miles round the globe must stand as one of the most remarkable feats of endurance and of enterprising courage in the history of yachting —for Amaryllis was little other than a large yacht. “In assessing Mulhauser’s rank,” writes one who knew him intimately, “it is not too much to place him alongside Voss, Slocum, and even Drake.” Amaryllis left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1920, having on board besides Lieutenant Mulhauser, three others. Four months were spent in New Zealand, and, leaving Auckland in May, 1921, the yacht, which had experienced several changes of crew except for her skipper, finally arrived in Dartmouth in July, 1923. Lieutenant Mulhauser died not long afterwards.. BORED BY THE TRADES Latest in the public memory of this country is the great voyage of Conor O’Bl’ien in the 20-ton ketch Saoirse. The peculiar interest attaching to this cruise lies in O’Brien’s love of the stormy latitudes. He used to say that the constancy of the trades bored him. Saoirse sailed from Dublin in June, 1923, and arrived in the Dominion, via South Africa, about a year later, and left Auckland in October, 1924, to reach Dublin in June, 1925. For this splendid voyage oE 31,000 miles in 280 sailing days O’Brien was awarded the Challenge Cup of the Royal Cruising Club for three years in succession. In the earlier stages of the voyage this splendid mariner had two companions, hut he, like others, found difliculty in keeping them. Finally he shipped a Polynesian and two other seamen. A LONE FRENCHMAN The daring are found not only in the English-speaking world. Just over five years ago there set out from Nice alone in his yacht Fireerest, M. Alain Gerbault, the noted amateur French

tennis player. Almost from the start the young man encountered heartbreaking hardships. He met with such terrible weather that he was kept constantly at work repairing his sails. He became ill, and was unconscious for 48 hours. Ultimately, after 142 days at sea he reached New York. Late in 1924 he set sail to continue his lonely voyage round the world and cruised in the Pacific for two years, so completely was he conquered by the beauty of the islands. Rolph Stock, the well-known novelist, has written his name in the records of the venturesome. Stock, his sister, and a man friend, all quite ignorant of navigation, except for a three weeks’ course of intensive training, bought a dream ship of 23 tons, called her Oegre, and trapsed across the world. In the Tongan Islands they lost their dreamship. “What would you take for her,” asked a stranger. Stock jokingly named a fantastic figure. “Done!” exclaimed the visitor, and the dream ship changed hands. Before the war Stock sailed a craft caled Wanderlust and was wrecked on Lord Howe Island.