WHITE WINGS OF FIFTY (EARS AGO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18575, 25 September 1928, Page 9

WHITE WINGS OF FIFTY (EARS AGO.

THE SHIP WAIMATE AND HER VOYAGES.

It is just fifty years ago to-day since the ship Waimate (Captain Peek) berthed at Lyttelton on her fourth vovage to that port from the Homeland, after a passage of 100 days. One of the passengers on that occasion was Mr A. W. Beaven, of Christchurch. In his excellent book, “ White Wings,” the late Sir Henry Brett has the following account of this interesting ship:—

A vessel that was very well-known in the New Zealand trade—more so in the south than in Auckland, to wmch port she made three tups—was £ue i\ew Zealand Shipping Company s snip Waimate, 1128 tons, wffieff neid tne record, ior tne fastest time, London to Lyttelton, during the thirty years from 18<0 to 1900.

She was built by Messrs J. Blumer and Company, Sunderland. Captain ir-eek, wno made several successful voyages to New Zealand, was in command wnen the Waimate made the record trip. She left London on October 24,. 1880, passed Kddystone Lighthouse on October 30, and reached Lyttelton on the evening of January 6, 1881. Commenting on the arrival of the Waimate, the “Lyttelton Times” said it was worthy of note that the steamer Northumberland left London while the Waimate was loading, yet in spite of this the steamer only beat the sailing ship to Lyttelton by seven days. Fast Trip Described. Describing this fast trip of his. Captain Peek reported having left Graves* end on the afternoon of October 24, 1880, and the ship was then delayed by a heavy gale from the eastward. Off Falmouth the ship struck a terrific gale from the south, the glass being as iow as 28.30. At one time the vessel ivas in a critical situation, but eventually she got clear of the Channel and took her final departure from the Eddystone on October 30. Good north-east trades were met with, and the Line was crossed on November 16 —only 16 days 8 hours from the Eddystone Lighthouse. The meridian of the Cape was passed on December 7 in 44 degrees south; the easting was run down in 48 degrees south. Cape Leeuwin was passed on Christmas Eve, Tasmania six days later, and the on ares on January 4 at 4 a.m.—66 days irom the Eddystone.

Among the passengers on that trip were the Rev James Buffer, Mrs Buffer and Miss Buffer; Dr Farrell, 1 of Nelson, who acted as ship’s surgeon during the passage; Mr and Mrs Cholmondeley, and other colonists returning from a trip to the Old Country.

A Narrow Escape. The Waimate, when Homeward bound after making the record run to Lvttelton from London in 1881, in command of Captain Peek, narrowly escaped disaster. One of the crew, who was on board at the time, has supplied -he following details of the incident:— The Waimate, after leaving Lyttelton on the run to Cape Horn, possibly owing to the lack of suitable opportunities for obtaining observations, suddenly found herself landlocked off the Patagonian coast. The position was critical, inasmuch as the Waimate, li>*» all vessels making the three months’ trip home, had unshackled the cables from her anchors and run them down into the chain locker in the fore part of. the ship. The anchors had been oisted inboard bv the aid of special -ackle rigged for that purpose, and were ashed very securely on the fo’c’sle head, xs it was not anticipated that they would be required for many weeks It was in this condition that the Waimate found herself on a dark and dirty night off a rocky, rugged coast, full of indentations, with very deep water right up to the cliffs—very much the same as the West Coast Sounds in New Zealand. There w*as no anchorage. It •vould have been folly to anchor there The chances were desperate. The ship, running right before the wind, was rushing on to the shore, and nothing could be done except round to immediately under a heavy press of canvas and get the anchors out. Chains were hurried up from below and bent on to the anjhors; which were got outboard again, and both anchors were let go in deep water. The occasion called for nerve and promptitude, and it must have been a most exciting time, as every moment the ship was drawing nearer and nearer her peril. Fortunately, the anchors held, and the ship was saved. And what a save it was, with the rocks right close up, and the ship standing gallantly beside them. Luckily the ship held on until a shift in the wind came; the chains were then slipped, and when the time came to start not a moment was lost. But two anhors and 120 fathoms of chain were eft behind—all that had been between the ship and destruction. The Nelson Type. The saving of this ship, and the fine seamanship displayed is deservedly attributed to a large extent to a very fine old boatswain—Ned Parker—a typical sailor of the Nelson type. Quite a number of passengers were on board. The next best run made by the Waimate was in 1887, when, in command of Captain Canese, she came out to Port Chalmers in 74 days land to land, or 78 days anchor to anchor. She crossed the Equator 19 days out. According to the “Otago Daily Times” this was the best passage of that season. The same commander in 1889 did the same trip in 78 days land to land, or 84 days port to port. Her last run to Port Chalmers, in the year 1895, completed her •nineteenth passage to New Zealand, and during the whole of that time she never met with any serious accident. From New Zealand the Waimate's best run Home was 71 days to the Scillies. Another smart piece of sailing that stood to the credit of the Waimate was her run to the Horn from Lyttelton in 18 days in April, 1880. In running her easting down when bound for Lyttelton in 1881 with Captain Mosey in command, she logged 354 miles in 24 hours in latitude 47 degrees south, and her best week’s run on that trip was 1807 miles, the distance run from November 27 to December 3. The Waimate was sold to the Russians in 1896, and renamed the Valkyrian. She was lost between Newcastle, New South Wales, and Chile, in 1899. She was bound for Iquique, and was never heard of after leaving Newcastle.