AQUATICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 852, 5 July 1906, Page 10

AQUATICS.

(By

“The Reefer.”)

A WORLD-FAMOUS RACE. There is a tendency nowadays to go in for long-distance yacht racing, an instance of which was seen in the trans-Atlantic race last year for the German Emperor’s Cup. Perhaps the most remarkable race over a long distance was not, however, between yachts, but between the old-time tea clippers, and of these the famous one of 1866 attracted the most attention. The course was from Foo-chow-foo to London, and the inducement was a premium of £5OO and ten shillings a ton extra to the first ship arriving in dock with the new tea. There were five competitors, these being perhaps the most famous clippers of their day. They were the Fiery Cross, 888 tons; Ariel, 853 tons; Taitsing, 815 tons; Taiping, 767 tons; and Serica, 708 tons. All the vessels were specially prepared for the long race, everything possible being done to ensure success. A good account of the struggle is given by Basil Lubbock in “ The Yachtsman.” The Fiery Cross (he writes), leaving Foo-chow-foo on the 29th May, 1866, was the first away, followed by the Ariel at 10.30 a.m. on the 30th, Serica and Taeping at 10.50 a.m. the same day, and Taitsing at midnight on the 31st. All held’ a fair N.E. wind to 19.20 N., where they experienced a few hours' calm and southerly weather, then the N.E. wind set in strong again, and carried them to the arcells reef on June 3rd. On the 7th June in lat. 9.37 N. the Fiery Cross passed a large ship on the opposite tack, believed to be the Ariel. To the southward of the Parcells strong S.W. winds were met with, and the ships passed the lighthouse at Anjer, Straits of Sunda, as follows: —Fiery Cross, at noon, June 18th; Ariel, morning, June 20th; Taeping, afternoon, June 20th; Serica, 6 p.m. June 22nd; Taitsing, 10 p.m., June 22nd. From Anjer they carried good trade winds to the meridian of Madagascar, each making her best dav’s run, Fiery Cross (leading) doing 328 knots on June 24th, Taeping '319 knots, and Ariel 317 knots on June 25th, Serica 291 knots on June 29th, and Taitsing 318 knots on July 2nd. Mauritius was passed as follows: — Fiery Cross, June 29th; Ariel, July Ist; Taeping, July Ist; Serica! July 4th; Taitsing, July 9th. Between Mauritius and the Cape Fiery Cross still held the lead, but Ariel shook off Taeping, and assumed second place, Serica and Taitsing both slowly losing ground. The Cape was passed in the following order:—Fiery Cross, July 15th; Ariel, half a day later; Taeping, July 16th, half a day behind Ariel; Serica on July 19th, and’ Taitsing on July 24th.

Between the Cape and St. Helena, however, the order changed. Ariel unconsciously followed on the heels of the invisible Fiery Cross ,and both met with light winds, whilst Taeping, some 300 miles nearer the African coast, was rapidly working up into first place.

On July 25th Taeping had secured the lead, Fiery Cross was second, and Serica slightly ahead of Ariel. At St. Helena the order was thus: —Taeping, July 27th; Fiery Cross, July 28th;’ Ariel, July 29th; Serica, July 29th; Taitsing, August sth. Ascension was passed pretty much in the same order, but Ariel crept ahead of Serica, and was again level with Fiery Cross. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles astern of the leading vessel, the hitherto neglected Taitsing was commencing that wonderful performance which proved one of the most remarkable features of this celebrated race. The line was crossed by Taeping, Fiery Cross, and Ariel on August 4th, Serica August 6th, and Taitsing, which had made up a day on the others, on the 12th. Between the line and Cape Verde Islands further changes took place. On August 9th, in lat. 12.29 N., Fiery Cross signalled the Taeping, and continued in company till the 17th, with wind variable and light. In lat. 27.53 N., long 36.54 W., a fresh breeze sprang up, and took Taeping out of sight of Fiery Cross in four or five hours. The Fiery Cross was becalmed and made not one knot per hour in 24 hours, which circumstance, it is alleged, lost her the race. On August 10th the Ariel, which had passed both the before-mentioned ships, was leading by two days. Meanwhile, the Serica was gaining on the three traders, and Taitsing, doing grand work, was rapidly overhauling the whole fleet. Between Cape Verde and the Azores within 13 days she made up six days on Ariel and three days on her other rivals. By the time the Azores were reached the ranks had closed up wonderfully, only 48 hours separating the first and last of the clippers, the order being:—l, Ariel, August 29th; 2, Fiery Cross, August 29th: 3, Serica, August 29th; 4, Taeping, August 29th; 5, Taitsing, September Ist. Taitsing had reduced the difference between herself and the first vessel from 11 to two days, and these two days were equivalent to the time she had remained in port after the other vessels had sailed. Between the Azores and the Channel Serica and Taeping gradually crept to the front, and passed Fiery Cross. Taeping next outsailed Serica, and on reaching the entrance to the Channel she sighted far ahead a cloud of canvas, It was the Ariel, which she had last seen setting sail from Foo-chow-foo 87 days before. Canvas was crowded on, and slowly Taeping drew up on her rival, until off Plymouth, where the pair were racing beam and beam, stunsails, skysails, watersails, starscrapers —every rag that would hold wind was set on both hips, a strong westerly wind blowing the while. During the whole day the ships held their positions, neither one nor the other gaining or losing as they dashed up the Channel in splendid style, at times almost on their beam ends, and every sea sweeping their decks. On approaching the pilot station off Dungeness the next morning, they fired blue lights to signalise their position. At daybreak the pilots boarded them at the same moment, and the race continued.

At eight that morning, amidst intense excitement, Ariel sailed into the Downs, Taeping only 10 minutes astern, and scarcely had they entered the river behind their tugs when the Serica arrived in the Downs. Owing to the superiority of her tug, the Taeping was docked first, and so claimed the premium. The Taeping entered London Docks at 9.45 p.m.; Ariel entered East India Docks at 10.15 p.m.; and Serica the West India Docks at 11.30 p.m. Fiery cross arrived in the Downs on the 7th, and was compelled to bring up to an anchor on account of the heavy gale blowing. She managed, however, to get into London Docks on the morning of the Bth, Taitsing arriving on the evening of the 9th. The passages were: —Ariel, Taeping, and Serica, 99 days; Fiery Cross and Taitsing, 101 days. A marvellously close thing after a voyage of over 16,000 miles.

The Diamond Sculls are to be rowed for at Henley to-day. Among the competitors will be Harrison Bourke, the Tasmanian sculler, whose success would be hailed with pleasure by oarsmen over here. He is being trained by ex-New Zealander Tom Sullivan.

A new Yarrow-Napier 60ft torpedo boat has just completed a sea-going trial from the yards to Dover and back, a distance of 202 miles. The net time taken was 7hr llmin, which

means 28.12 miles per hour right through, despite the fact of meeting a fairly good sea. The petrol consumption during the run was 220 gallons.