WITCH OF THE SEAS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 27 September 1924, Page 17

WITCH OF THE SEAS.

THE FASTEST SHIP ON THE OCEAN. SHOWING CLEAN HEELS TO THE STEAMERS.

Two famous ships survive from the days of sail the Victory and that j famous wool clipper, the Cutty Sark. And soon that old wool clipper is going j to her old anchorage, Sydney Harbour. \ C aptain Woodget. one of her best- J known commanders, is with her. and will receive a wonderful welcome, : especially from the League of Ancient j Mariners, many of whom know that old ship well (states the Sydney “Sun”), j The very name of this clipper, for j evervbody knows Burns s “ Tam o j Shanter ” and the witch’s short shirt, j marked her out from the grandiose j names of the Yankee tea and wool clippers; and on her main truck she carried a gilded shirt, and Nannie, the j witch, with flying locks and scanty 1 chemise, formed a beautiful figurehead. Of the great fleets of swift clippers it i.s claimed that the Cutty Sark was the fastest ship that ever left the ways. An old seaman testifies that “no vessel, cither steamer or sail ever passed us all the time T was on her. . . . During the voyage she never lost j steerage way, as the flap of her sails j put her through the water ... It was , thrilling on the old Cutty at the wheel ! with the wind on the quarter and the j tore and mizzen upper topsails off and the mainsail stowed the ship. as | steady as a rock, c utting her 15 to 16 knots out with a furious sea running. . . There was not a ship that could c ome within 4 rooec ’ of her in a heavy quartering wind and sea. Sh" sailed like the witch that she really was then.” Captain Moodie, her first master, said that he had never sailed a finer .‘•hip. “At 12 knots an hour she did not disturb the. water at all.” Mr W. (1. Deuchar. the well-known Sydney agent, says that the Cutty Sark was absolutely the fastest ship he had ever had to do with. On several occasions, according to Captain Mood;', she did 263 knots in 21 hours. On other occasions she did knots, and cut out 1050 miles in three days 111 the last days of sail, the Cutty Sark constantly passed mail steamers, not only in the ’seventies, but in the ’nineties. In ISS9 the Cutty Sark overlook and passed the P. and O. Britannia on the way from Green Cape to Sydney Harbour. The officer on the watch was so ►truck l»v this ignominious boating of a steamer that was the cock-of-thc-walk from Sydney to London, and was making 15 knots, that he made an entry in the log: “Sailing snip overhauled and passed us.” There, are many records of the Cutty Sark passing sailing ships as if they were at anchor. In his ten years of command. Captain Woodget never hove her to. A spoke or two steered her; a boy could keep her straight on her course even when running in a big following sea. Even in the roaring ’forties ('aptain Woodget was accustomed to go about in carpet slippers and rarely got wet feet. In the days of the tea clippers, c\traordinarv interest was felt in the annual ship race from China with the first teas of the season. It was the Derbj- of the ocean; and the first ship ‘ Home held the blue ribbon of the sea. The Cutty Sark’s only real rival was the Thermopylae. That ship lies now fathoms deep off the coast of Portugal. while the Cutty Sark is again m commission. The Cutty Sark was more heavily sparred than any other ship in the tea trade. The tea clippers were like yachts the way in. which they kept their decks and bright work; rails well carved, deckhouses were panelled. The tea clipper owners spent lavishly in decorating them with a wealth of carving and gold leaf. The captain of the Cutty Sark had a heavy teak four-post bed; and her cabins were panelled with much fancy carving. At the launching of the Cutty Sark her doom was foretold; for the year JS7O opened up a new era in the China tea trade. The Suez ( 'anal was opened by means of which steamers shortened

the time from ( hina by a month, owing to the length of the ("ape route for the clippers. The spotless cleanliness of these windjammers. their sparkling brasswork, their vacht-like decks were a striking contrast to the modern steamers. Holystones were almost holy. With the closing of the tea trade for clippers, the Cutty Sark had to go further afield; and it was thought that her racing days were over; but she was destined to make even a greater name for herslf in the Australian wool trade. There she found her old rival, the Thermopylae. But a tragedy happened. The Cutty Sark had her hair shingled. Captain Wallace, to his infinite disgust, received orders that the Cutty Sark should have her upper masts and yards shortened, and her skysail removed. In strong winds these alterations had no effect upon her speed; but she lost her “ghosting” powers; and in light winds she found other ships able to keep her company, though she forged ahead of them when the breeze freshened. But in the roaring ’forties Captain Woodget used to drive her under a main royal when other ships were snugged down to lower topsails. The cutting down of her spars were thus not such a great handicap as far as the wool trade was concerned. When Captain Woodget .•< mmand, his owner said t<> him: " All you have to do is to drive her! - ’ And he soon showed that he could. At Circular Quay he glanced at his great rival, the Thermopylae, lying neaibv. with the golden cock at the main truck, and remarked, “J'll pull that dammed bauble off her!” It was to be another of their ocean races: they both left almost together. Despite terrible weather the Cutty Sark left all her rivals days astern, the Thermopvlae was a week over the horizon, and the fi’utty Sark had proved her right to be considered the fastest ship in the wool trade, which in the ’eighties meant the fastest ship in the world. Her time from Sydnev to the Downs was 73 days. Woodget's first three passages with wool from Australia constitute a record for the homeward run which has never been beaten or even approached by any other vessel. The voyages were respectively GB, 70 and 6'J When the Cutty Sark was 25 years old she had lost none of her speed. On her last passage from Australia, though her pumps had not been touched throughout the voyage, her cargo came out without a stain upon the bales of wool. And then came her last voyage under the British Flag. The owner had been losing money. But in spite of her ragged copper and worn-out rigging, she made a trip of 79 days to Brisbane, and a good passage back. In 1895 she was sold to the Portuguese for £2100; and her identity was hidden under the name Ferreira. The Portuguese, however, remembered her fame, and they always spoke of the Ferreira as the El Pcquina Camisola, which is obviously Portuguese lor Cutty Sark. In 1896 the only clippers still afloat were the Cutty Sark, the Thermopylae, the Titama, Lothair, and Blackadder. The Cutty Sark became a tramp. In the war she escaped the submarines, but she was dismasted and nearly lest off the Cape. Then came in 1922 the glad news that Captain Dowman, a lover of ships, had bought back the old ship and restored her to her old flag, though it cost him for his patriotism £3750. Since then she has lain at her moorings in Carrick Road, and recently she was reconditioned. And soon we shall be able to look with pride upon lhat famous ship in the harbour which she knows so well, from which so often she sailed, packed with Australian wool, on those ocean races which she so monotonously won. There is something in Old England’s wooden walls that will never die; and with the Victory and the Cutty Sark the best of our British traditions survive.