HABITS IN SHIPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12564, 16 July 1910, Page 3

HABITS IN SHIPS

I was outside the Heads in a dinghy yesterday, and as the tiny boat rocked oorafortably to the swell, I watched the ships as they came and went. Most of them, of course, were small, for despite the grandeur of our port, and the magnitude of our trade, and all the rest of it, we don't get many big ships in a day. The small fellows all looked perky. They took channels that no big ship would venture, and seemed to be proud of the performance. There is strange diversity of character in ships, so that an old sailor will distinguish one from another miles away, although to the eye of a landsman the ships may be twins. Of these small-chaps that passed us yesterday, some looked pert, some prim, some slovenly, and some unspeakably dissipated. Most of the small steamers along this coast always look dirty. The big boats are different. There was one fine English steam-ship passsd us, making port. Her funnel, tilted slightly forward, gave her a fine air of distinction. She was wonderfully spic and span, like an old gentleman of the ancient style, who comes down spotless-to his breakfast. She looked very sure of herself, and somehow very safe. If you travel much, you will find that no two ships feel alike to the passenger. I once know two sister ships of the B. I. Company. They were built by the same people and resembled each other to a hair. They had the same engines, and precisely tho same lines. But one was an admirable sea boat, and the other behaved like a pig. One had an.honourable and popular career, and the other was hated by every man that touched her. In anything approaching bad weather she leapt and snorted like a fiend, while her sister would ride out a heavy galo and keep her decks dry. Here in Australian waters, much the same sort of thing happens. Some boats everybody likes, and some everybody distrusts. No two behave alike at sea. The Warrimoo, for instance, rolls and tumbles in rough water, but is still a very comfortable sea boat; the Maori kicks and shivers; the Ulimaroa behaves with dignity, only venting an- occasional snort of disgust when the sea is particularly rough or takes a moan advantage. The Maheno, which was to be the pick ol" tho "Union bunch, a floating hotel and all the rest of it, has never come into general public favour. She has a greasy .slido that has caused sober and righteous men to throw up their cherished convictions and use language so bad as to frighten tho stewards; and, _although she has the repute of speed, she makes frequent slow voyages. That is tho thing the public never forgive a steamer. Let her be slow, and let it be admitted, and tho public will think little the worse of her; but give her a reputation for spaed, and let her fail to live up to it, and she will straightway fall into every man's contempt. There was (and, 1 suppose, is) a fine seaworthy boat in Australia called tho Peregrine. I made several trips in her. I never saw anothoi* ship show anger so uiimistakeably as the sturdy Peregrine did whCn sue was buffeted. She would take one smack quietly, but at the next she v ould shake with fury and shake off the sea AViith as fine an affectation of scorn as I ever witnessed. For you must remember that every ship is instinctively afraid of the sea. She knows that it is always looking for a chance to devour her. She always lias a dread that the soft uroovo she moves in may of a sudden bristle with teeth. Old sailors will tell you that when a good ship strikes the rocks she will sob like a creature in pain; but that is probably a superstition. However that may bo, ships have character. Somehow or other, a .sort of sot:] get> into theso blind and essentially inanimate things. There arc ships lucky and unlucky. You will recall m once names that have h-ot'ii unhickv in our British Navy. Ship after ship benring tho fateful name has beon lost, till at length the name has boon abandoned. There are gentle and violent ships,, sad ships and jaunty ships, graciul .ships and clumsy, active ships and ■sluggish ships, and the builders can never really tell what the character of a ship is going to be Avhen "sue leaves the docks. Just so it is. they tell me, with motorcars, and railway engines, and yachts, and. sewing-machines, and all other things. However full your knowledge, however great your Skill, however precise and perfect the mechanism of the tiling you make, you never quite know what "is going to happen next. The

devil knows, but he's never about when he:s wanted.