An Eventful Voyage.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2712, 23 January 1892, Page 4

An Eventful Voyage.

THE LOCK OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.

A Meihjayoe exchpage states:— ‘So many . dventures have been crowded in o the voyage of the ship Boval George from New York to Melbourne tbo, she is now quite a noted t ssel. The ship got away from New York on lie.* l ong voyrge on September 13, and f :, otn the start was unlucky. The winds were light and v. cable, fo the progress made was tlow. On the seeond week at sea the ship was in Sodeg. north, and 49deg. 50mio. west, when she met with a te ific gale f-om S.W. The ship made had we .ther, aid the seas swept the deck fore and a't. One of the sailors was s. .nd.og by the poop whea a great Wave broke on board and swept the m„n against the side of the cabin b-enkiug his th gb. The unfortunate tran was u: me . to his hunk and the limb set by the stewart. The neat incident was more serious, as it affected the safety of the ship. The sea was very high, and the vessel with little sail to steady her was knocked about like a cork. The cargo broke adrift and worked over to the port side, causing the ship to have a dangerous list. The gale eventually moderated, and the men settled down to pass the time as well as possible during the monotonous period the vessel was passing through the trade regions. The breezes were very light, and everyone was more or less discontented. The captain was the worst, and behaved in an extraordinary manner, causing the chef oflicer, Mr -Dev.us, great anxiety. He complained or insomnia, and for days walked about in a state of misery. The work of I navigating the ship fell upon the mate, who had also to preteo d to carry out the extraordinary o -de given by the captain. T he strain on the man s nerves at last proved too much, and on the £9th October the cup.a>n i ushed on deck a n iv : n& luna-ic. The ship was then r j the tropics, nor„h of the equator, sshriftinpabout in a calm. The chief officer and the steward did them Tje3t to pacify tie capta'n, but it w.„ no U 8 and at last he to be secured For several days be was violent, and then became passive but had <> be continual y watched. The chief officer and steward were the ODes who ]d do anything with the man, and thev had a terrible time. The steward was never away from the patient all the Toyage but accompanied him over the slnp , fortunately the men who composed the ship S crew were good ser men and did not give the officer a trouble. The winds were very liand the infirmity of the captain b most depressing effect upon the 1 The sight of the poor Cn v T”' about looking for a place w h ' alkl "" could sleep was heart a here J, ie would lie down on th- 7 re , a ln =' f^ e go somewhere els £ < * e ‘rf an< ] then ness was ever - ®’, but , e wakefulget no ' ,lt l * llcl > aT >d he could of 104, ’ After a weary voyage Philh' days the ship reached Port jj r ' .p Heads, but her Troubles were vC then over, for a squall struck her as she passed through the west channel, and threw her on the mud, where she remained for 24 hours. The chief officer is only a young fellow, and the manner in which he successfully combated the difficulties that surrounded him redounds greatly to his credit.”