"WINDJAMMERS"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2988, 27 January 1917, Page 14

"WINDJAMMERS"

THEIR ENHANCED VALUE

SOME PROFITABLE SALES

The shipping industry, like other important branches of the world's commerce, has been greatly affected by the war, and one of tho most noteworthy instances of the war's influence in this direction was the remarkable revival of sail tonnage. Up to the outbreak of war, in view of the rapid progress being mado in steamship construction and tho many improvements in marine engineering, the value- of tho "windjammer" as an oversea cargo carrier had considerably deareciatgd. But, with the subsequent extreme shortage of steam tonnage, and the consequent substantial rise in freights, practically every seaworthy "sailor" was pressed into the merchant service. In 1913, if a Williamstown mariner had ventured to predict that within two years fourteen deep-sea sailing vessels would be assembled together at Melbourne, nobody would have seriously anticipated that his prophecy would bo fulfilled. Such was actually tho case, however, during a week in 1915, and ono day in May, .1916, thrpe oversea "windjammers" entered Port Phillip Heads within six hours. Ono of these vessels, the old barnuo Antiope, provided a convincing' instance of the enhanced value of sail tonnage. Built at Glasgow over 50 years ago, she waa at one time a prominent wool trader between England and Australia, nut in later years she passed- into the hands of American owners. Finally she was sold to a Now Zealand buyer for use as a. coal hulk.' But such was the urgent demand for oversea tonnage, owing to war conditions, that an Otago company purchased the hull at a satisfactory figure, and in her fiftieth year the Antiope was refitted as an ocean-going barque. Her first voyage in her new of "life" was made to Melbourne in 30 days from Kaipara, New Zealand. Produce Carriers. During the first half of 1916 sailing craft played a. prominent part in the exportation of tne first portion of Victoria's record harvest. Amongst a number of Norwegian canvas-driven visitors to Melbourne came several "old friends" in the shape of former British vessels which in years past had been familiar traders between England and Australasia. On ono occasion, when a Williamstown pilot went aboard a Norwegian barque from Sundsvall for the purpose of navigating her to a .river berth, he recognised her as a craft on which he Lad served as a junior officer in the seventies. While the crew was being examined by tho port doctor a pilot launch camo alongside. The barque had the long, graceful lines of the British-built "windjammer," and along hfr rust-coated sides the outlines of spacious portholes, long since blocked in, were plainly visible. Presently the pilot remarked, "Why, this is an old ship of mine. I served on this craft as third officer when she was a smart British clipper. Many a time I have made out the provision list for a large company- of passengers." Once again, after an interval of many years, the pilot mounted the poor* to take charge of the vessel, but on this occasion there fluttered from the mizzen mast in a fresh "sou'-wester," not - the. proud "red duster," but the white cross of Nnrw.iv.

Amongst other Norwegian "sailers" which visited Melbourne under the Norwegian flag was the barque Risor, originally the British vessel East African. Built at Glasgow in 1895, s-he'was sold in 1911 to Norwegians for about £3600, and renamed Risor. While on a voyage from Laurvig to Melbourne at the close of 1915 she was purchased by Sven 0. Stray, Norway, with delivery at Melbourne. The price paid was stated to have been £14,500—£10,900 in excess of her 1911 value. She duly reached Melbourne in January, 1916, and left as tho Skomedal,'wheat laden, in March. Another vessel ■which changed ownership immediately before being chartered by the Government wheat agents was the barque Lingard, built at Norway in 1893.' But for unforeseen circunistances, however, sho would have arrived at Melbourne and discharged her timber cargo months before the Government wheat-pooling s6herae camo into operation. She sailed out of Sundsvall on November 9, 1914, yet did not reach her destination until September 11, 19151 Her unusually slow passago was mainly due to an accident, which necessitated her putting into Stavanger, where she was detained nearly seven months. After discharging her Melbourne cargo sho lay'in Sobson's Bay for two; months; during which Messrs. T. Wardle and Company, Adelaide, purchased the vossel with a view to employing her in the wheat export trade. According to a London journal, the price paid was £6000. She is now flying the "red duster," and is known as the Wathara. There was the case of the fourmasted barque Inverness-shire, which also loaded wheat at Williamstown. On May 31, 1915, while en route from Freniantle to America, she lost three of her masts in a violent storm. Sighted while drifting off South Bruni, T., she was\towed into Hobart on June 20. While lying at Hobart she was purchased by Messrs. A. T. Schreuder and H. Wilms, through Messrs.. C. AVilms and Son, Melbourne. In September the vessel was Sowed to Melbourne by the tug boat Alacrity, and subsequently thoroughly repaired in dry dock. The Norwegian "sailer," Leif Gunderson, which reached Melbourne from Laurvig in January, 1916, ■ was formerly the British craft Bannockburn, engaged in the Calcutta trade. In 1906 she was sold by Messrs. R. Shankland and Company, Greenock, for not more than £6000. Built at Glasgow in 1886. 6he was sold in her thirtieth year • for £53,250, approximately £47,500 more than she fetched when only twenty yea.rs old. " A French Barque. Amongst several French visitors to Port Phillip last year came the barque Touraine, in connection with which tho following incident occun-ed. Laden with.a cargo of paper and cement, sho reached Melbourne in April shortly after the arrival of English newspapers containing tho Touraino's name in lists of missing vessels. On boarding the barque it was ascertained that while proceeding in tho Bay of Biscay she had lost a lifeboat and a quantity of wreckage overboard during a storm. Captain J. Rosier, of the Touraine, was, of course, unaware, until he reached Melbourne, that owing to fact that his missing lifeboat had been picked up by a passing steamer, and taken to England anxiety had been aroused respecting the fate of the barque, with the. result that her in-' surance had advanced 25 guineas.

The first sailing vessel to leave Williamstown with a cargo of wlieat in connection with tlurGovcrnment wheat scheme was the British barnuo Galcorm Castle, which sailed for Cape Town early in 1916. One of the most remarkable sailers visiting Melbourne last year was the- auxiliary barque Neath. Built of steel, she is of 5548 tons gross, and is equipped with five tall masts, two decks, and a bridge instead of a poop. The engines which driye her auxiliary screw are situated aft, and a short funnel appears between tho third and fourth mast. Another unique vessel was tho six-masted barquontino City of Sydney, which was' oncq a Pacific mail steamer. Like the Antiope, she was reduced to a coal hulk, but after lying for some {imp on the mud flats of an American river, she was sold to a San Francisco liiiver. who fitted ujr the vessel as a sailing

craft. Her plates, which once felt the throh of engines and the vibration of a propeller, were painted a dull black, and as she lay in the stream on her visit to Melbourne, with her perpendicular "steamer" bow and sis medium-height masts, she presented a somewhat curious appearance.