LAST vOYAGE OF THE SUNBEAM

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2764, 6 May 1916, Page 7

LAST vOYAGE OF THE SUNBEAM

fAMOUS YACHT OFFFIIED AS : ; > -■>'■ HOSPITAL SHIP. . . The fanAus yacht Sunbeam (says the London "Observer")' has 1 made her last voyage , with her owner, Lorcl Brasey. At Bombay,, 'where/ she arrived , the other'day," His Lordship is .about to present her. to; the-Government 'of,-India-as a hospital shipj■ -tlie. .Viceroy -having tilready intimated that he gratefully accepts, the offer. ..During tho war the Sunbeam- lias been used chiefly fof convalescent ofli" cers. Lord- and-; Lady Brassoy 1 took, lier, out last Junei-with hospital stores to Malta. . Thenge they went; to .■ :Mur. dros Bay and Itabros, ■ whero ,at; that time. Sir luu . Hamilton liad his' head-' Quarters. . ■ From Imbros - they took back a party of .iwounded officers to Malta. ; Lord Brassey afterwards went 'to .Alexandria with:;the yacht,and left her. there for, four,.or'five months, under,, the, charge of Colonel Nccdham^as--a. stationary hospital" ship .for -'convales-. ccnt officers. '-.v-'-.' ,;.

: Aitnougii, ■ owing- to constant ; overhauling and renewal t . there is,, perhaps;pot "much of the original material left tn her, the yacht is the original Sunbeam, built for Lord Brassey at liirkeniiead.in the year., 1874' from. the/design of Mr.- St. Clare Byrne, a naval architect,. who also/ designed the celebrated -Confederate ; cruis.er Alabama./ v £>he is • it: three-masted-topsail schooner' of 550 tons displacement, with auxiliary steam power calculated to-givo a speed of, 9 or 10, knots. -On .the.foremast she, is square-rigged, with a spread of sail that'.makes her lively -ill tho sea. . • ■ Her .first voyage was,to; Norway,' and in tho. same year—lß74—-she also , went to Constantinople! ... Since that, time slip haa made innumerable voyages, covering a distance roughly/computed at 400,000 miles... ' , -, -

Voyage -Round tuo yycrld. The voyage which- created the greatest public interest was that round the world in 1876-7. /' Lord and Lady Brassey and their young, family were on. beard. It was a novelty in those days for a family to circumnavigate the world in their own yacht, and tho late) Lady Brassey left in. "A Voyage in the Bunbeam" some interesting -impressions of what the world was like forty years ago. .' . In one chapter she describes a dinner tliey had iu a Japanese .tca-liouse. The establishment,-was kept by a very pleasant woman, who received them at the. door and herself removed their exceedingly dirty boots before allowing them to step on to her clean ..mats. Foiir nice-luokirig Japanese ' girlsbrought Ihent thick cotton quilts to sit on and .brasiiers" full .of burning ' charcoal to warm themselves by.. . ' Dinner was brought' in on a little lacquer table, about 'six inches high, on which were arranged for each person a pair of chop-sticks, a basin of soup, a howl for rice, a saki cup, and! a. basin of hot. water. Everything ji'as well cooked and servod, though the ingredients of some of the dishes were rather-strange to their ideas, particularly, we' may suppose, the seaweed that was served'with;shrimps and the dish of raw fish."' :

: The whole voyage must' have been thoroughly delightful. The book, is full *|f intimate little descriptions and. is dedicated "to the friends in many clime's and countries of the white and coloured j'aces, ■ and of "every grade in society who have made our year of. travel a year of happiness." .-. / The following is, a table of the longest voyages of the Sunbeam:— '• Round the world 1876-77 West Indies and TJnited States ISB3 and • , . ■ again in 1892 Calcutta and Bombay 1893-4 Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand 1895r7 Australia to England 1900"Canada 1903 jVest Indies and United- States 1905 Iceland and Canada 1910 nombay 1913-14 Mediterranean"(as hospital 6hip) 1 915 India, from Alexandria :.... 1916 ' iln addition to' tliese voyages .the Sunbeam has been to the Mediterranean and back seven times. ...-■■