Echoes of the Past.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 7, 3 October 1907, Page 5

Echoes of the Past.

A PIONEER. OF THE HARBOUR. EARLY PILOT DAYS. A few years has wrought a great chango in tho appearance of the entrance to "Wellington harbour as some of the pioneers who are still living first - know it. Tho once wild flat of Seatoun is now a popular seaside resort,-and cottages and substantial residences line tho whole of tho westorn side of tho entrance. In conversation "with 'a veteran shipmaster who was for .years closely ideiitifi-;;l with tho pilot service at the Heads a Dominion reporter was given some interesting; information about the distant days at the entrance, commencing from 1869.

At that-timo the pilot service was under the 'control of the Provincial Government, and tho boatmen wero paid the munificent salary of ss. Gd. per day, but, in addition to this, wero given a house -to live in and firing. The Government coffers were not then over full,' and at times t'ho men had to .wait as long as six months for their pay, small, as it was. What money the boatmen of the pilot staff required in tho meantimo they .would get from tho grocer they -dealt "with, a man who gradually assumed the position or a bank for the staff. When the grocery and loan bill came to be settled, however, there was usually little of the cheque remaining. '

Piloting at this time was compulsory, and it was the practice for tho pilot to bbar'd each' ship outside the Heads, being taken out to his work in a lifeboat! The day of tho tug-boat to assist the pilot'to bring a ship in had not yet • dawned, ; and'' the pilot had . to " work " . his charges up tho entrance in ' all -weathers under tile most trying circumstances. Largo,and small vessels were worked into port, the voterafi skipper under notice frequently sailing a - 13U0-ton vessel in against strong winds, a feat which is not readily credited by some of the captains of to-day: Occasionally the pilot would' bo unable to take the risk of sailing a- vessel in during a heavy gale, and would stand out to sea, taking his : pilot-boat and crow with him. Oil one occasion the veteran under notice was blown out to sea, and put in ten days before he again saw the Wellington Heads. This unpleasant experience would have been prevented had the presont tug system been'in vogue, 'and the vessel , would have made, port tho day she arrived off the.Heads.:' : , -

: Ono day,' when the pilot- boarded a Liverpool 'barque, ho was blown as far South as the Kaikoura Peninsula. Twice' the Vessel was brought back within five miles of Wellington Heads, but was blown off again. As thero was only water enough on board for three more days, the captain of-the vessel decided to make for Lyttelton. Sail was. crowded on tho ship, and she sped away South, but when about thirty miles past Capo Campbell a howling southerly was encountered, and the ship had to go about and-run before tho gale. : bhe ended up within a few miles of Wellington Heads, and ovontual'ly the steamer Mana' got a tow-rope on to the soroly-tricd sailor, and took her as far as Point Gordon, where the troubles of tho pilot commenced afresh. The anchor of ,tho barque he was on. had to bo droop! 1;!, to enable him to go to the assistance of the ship Invercargill, which .had missed stays whilst trying to work up the entrance, and had had to anchor close to tho rocks. The pilot boarded the Invercargill, and got a tow-lihe, to tho Mana, which towed the ship into, mid-channel for a modest "£15.1 In the meantime the agents of | tno' 1 ship had sent tho steamer Brunnor' dowii to the roscue at a cost of £45. Thus tlie littlo mishap cost tho ship £60, and tho pilot somo little anxiety and extra .work. • ' ,

The tug of-tho 'seventies was far from Tieing the powerful machino wo see to-day in the Terawhiti, Duchess, and Duco. Tho pilot was once bringing in a barque, which engaged tho services of the Moa, then a ballast boat and tug combined. The 'tug puffed away , vigourously with her hoavy load, but beforo the tow was completed she had consumed all' hor coal. Steam had to bo kept up at 'any cost, and the crew was set to work, collecting all the planks and/ timber - board so .' as to enable the steamer to carry out her contract.

It was lioeasy,matter to sccuro a. tow in those .dark .ages of steam, and captains of steamers had .au exaggerated idea of the value of a tow. To use the words of the seasoned marker who tolls ,tho story:—"Onqewhen I was piloting 1 boarded a ship, with about 150 passengers on board, which boat- had been compelled to anchor off Pencarrow for about five;, days Tho steamer Rotorua, then an'intercolonial trader, was. asked to take us in tow to tho inner harbour. Tho feo demanded : by the : skipper of tho steamer was £150, but eventually ho came down to £80. This was too .high a tariff for the skipper of- tho barque, who refused the offer in strong terms.- Tho same evening tho barquo secured "a tow into port by the steamer Kiwi at a cost of £25."

. One example will suffice to show the strenuous.life which tho pilot of a fow yoars ago had to load. The pilot had just' brought one ship into- the harbour from outside when a boat pulled alongside to inform him that there was another vessel off the Heads signalling for a pilot. ■ Ho had to row ashore immediately and walk from town to tlio. pilot station, arriving at the Heads at midnight. After having something to eat and drink, lie rowed out to the waiting vessel, which in duo course was worked up tho entrance and anchored in tlie harbour by 9 a.m. Then followed another walk -from the wharf-to the pilot station at tho' Heads, and tho day's work. This was not a,weekly, ocgurrence, hut came often enough to prevent tho pilot from' brooding on the softness of his billet; The lifo of the hoatwn who rowed i pilots, to the ships' outsido was not a bed of. roses. Often thoy would have to spend hours at' a timo in their little cockle-shell, and when tho work was more than usually heavy the men were literally worked to a standstill, and would drop off to sleep at their oars. In March, 1883, when tho British King, the first of the direct steamers between London and 17 Zealand, was nearing the Heads, she broke down when rounding Terawhiti. The- pilot -was. signalled for, and tho moil had to row for a solid twelve miles to the disabled steamor. Frequently the boatmen would havo to pull away out into the Straits at night in tho hope ,of placing tho pilot on a ship, and it was no unusual thing for the pull to be fruitless, as the ship would not see tho little pilot boat and -would stand out to sea. Whilst out on one of those expeditions on one occasion the pilot beat was caught.in a storm, and tho boatmen were kept at the oars from 9 p.m.' to 4 a.m.'before they mado the shore.

The wages and salaries of the Wellington State Coal Depot amounted to ■C 2901, equal to nearly three-fifths of the total expenditure. During last year G989 members /joined the friendly society lodges as compared with G7st in tho previous year. The number of members who died," left with clearances, or who were struck off the roll totalled 3910 as against 3881 in '1905.