ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4603, 19 September 1923, Page 1

ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA.

IN 20-TON YACHT. News has been received in Sydney of an adventurous voyage from England to Australia, via Panama, in a 26-ton yacht. The voyage is a second attempt on the part of Captain H. J. Symonds to reach Australia in this way. The first attempt was in September last, but the effort nearly ended in disaster, for the craft in which he sailed swamped during squalls encountered in the English Channel, and Captain Symonds and hiswife, with alad, narrowly escaped being washed overboard. Before sailing on the second voyage, Captain Symonds expressed his hopes for success this time. The experience of the previous voyage had been turned to account, and storm boards were fitted in the companion way. The 26-ton yawl Seaweed left Southampton on June 5, setting her course across the Atlantic. The route mapped out before sailing involved calls at Madeira Islands, the Bardardos islands, and Fiji, whence the party proceeds to Brisbane and Melbourne. It is expected that the voyage will be completed by Christmas. Captain Symonds has had long experience at sea, and during the war was in command of the Nassosiot, one of the Standard Oil Comany’s boats, on which he fought a German U-boat for nine and a, half hours, and emerged from the encounter with his flag still flying. He was on seven ships which were torpedoed or mined, and after the war was in command of the British Peer, flagship of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s fleet. He resigned this command to undertake the adventurous voyage to Australia.