SOME SAILING SHIPS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 April 1925, Page 4

SOME SAILING SHIPS.

The anonymous author of “ Survivors of a f«lortoils Kill ” has delved assiduously into ilia aiimils oi sail, and in ".More Survivors of a Glorious lira ’ lie continues his narrative. In the* j'.rovious volume lie dealt with some very famous craft, such as the Cutty Sark, the .Vuiikbarns, ami the Alouut Stewart, which are still afloat. '1 lie record of many of those .which he celebrates here is scarcely loss noteworthy. Some of them have Australian associations. Tor example, there is the ISuekinoham, launched in 1 S(?S and “christened” by Queen Victoria, which after many vicissitudes was bought hy an American firm and named the Muscooln. On Christmas Day. 10hi. she collided with a Norwegian steamer off V ilson’s Promontory and thereafter lay for two years in Double Huy. Then site was converted into a coal hulk, an ignominious fate which lias overtaken many of those fine old vessels.

So staunchly built were they that it is impossible to wear them out. Ihe Shaw. Seville and Albion Co.’s Canterbury, now under the Norwegian flag, is after 50 years ns sound and as speedy as ever she was. The Montrose and the Nelson, built (>1 to ol years ago. si ill plough life seas for the benefit of Finish and Chilean owners respectively. It is sad to think that many of these ships have 1 " coine down ” so grievously in the nautical world. Onc-e_ trim and spotless, the pride of their fleet, they have now passed into hands ol Greeks. Portuguese. Levantines, Peruvians. who know nothing and care less of their fine traditions. Sailing ships are disappearing from the seas. hut there is at least one trade in which they hold their own. and that is the Traiispacitiie run. They carry lumber from the West Coast of America to Australia, fill up at Newcastle with coal for South American ports, and thence return to their starting point laden with nitrates.