RACE AND COLLISION.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 337, 7 March 1884, Page 2

RACE AND COLLISION.

Nothing is njore ji tural than for two steamers to race, eapceialiy when the distance is very limited and they are bound to keep rather close together. The most phlegmatic person on board feels the stern joy, and would like to ' push against something to help his vessel. But it is scarcely possible to reprobate top strongly the yielding to the temptation to r#ce on the part of the captains, however natural it may be. In the case of the Wairarapa and the Adelaide coming down Hobson's j Bay, there was the narrowest possible escape from a terrible calamity that would have appalled the civilised world. A captain who is entrusted with scores of lives would show as high an order of manhood by refusing to race as by keeping a cool head in the greatest danger. The facts of/the case appear to be as follows. There is a long standing rivalry between the Union Company's vessels and those of the Adelaide company. Every officer, clerk, steward, sailor, engineer, fireman, and apprentice feels emulation. Colonies, towns, companies, and vessels are all involved and pitted against each other. On the unfortunate occasion there had been more chaff than usual, and though the Wairarapa has no particular claim to power or speed, her captain seems to have thought he would not be crowed over. Two members of the Victorian Ministry were to be his passengers, and he resolved to do some- ; thing for the honor of New Zealand. After getting out of the Tarra there was a run of 22 miles down the bay, over which a trial could be had. He waited— for gome purpose — till his

rival came up, and off they went, i Both fire 1 up. The Adelaide sent \ flames high out of her funnel, and was ! reported to change Bremen every ten minutes, while the steam roared from her safety valves. The Wairarapa was more moderate in her efforts. She was suspected of using special coal, but any way she only smoked and did nob flame. She did not drive any steim ! out at the safety valves, or change i stokers'. But she did not use the elec- ! trie light, which takes thirty or forty i horse-power to produce it. This power she no doubt applied to the propeller. Her ordinary full speed is 73 revolu- i tions per minute, and the highest she' has ever done is 78 revolutions. On this occasion she made 76 revolutions. There can therefore be no question about the race, though it appears the New Zealand boat was not pressed to her utmost. Thus, then, two huge

vessels tilled with people rushed down a narrow channel in the dark. The people were excited and shouting, .and no doubt their enthusiasm moved Some who should have known better. The speed was 14 knots, then 15 knots, then 16 knots, and on they rushed, covering 22 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes. The Adelaide, that was astern, came up abreast and began to lead, while her people shouted " Throw us your tow line," and " Seni your Rotomahana " (the clipper of the Union fleet). The Wairarapa complains that the Adelaide tried to jockey her out of her course, while the Adelaide lays a simiiar charge against the Wairarapa. They came to a turn where the channel was narrow, but the race did not cease. After running some minutes in this narrow channel the Wairarapa says the Adelaide headed off in such as way as to throw her stern against the quater of the Union boat. The Adelaide of course gives exactly the opposite story. In any case the vessels did bump their quarters so severely as to throw people down, and do a few ! hundred pounds worth of damage to the New Zealand representative. "We repeat, they wei'e within a yard or two I ot a disaster, beside which the Tararua would have been forgotten. Surely sport that has such risks is not sport for sane or trustworthy men. We presume that it was for the double purpose of justifying his speed down the bay and of showing the Victorian magnates a thing or two that Captain Chat-field, continuing his passage, ran his splendid vessel from Hobart to the Bluff in two days and twenty hours thus making the shortest passage yet recorded. We have no doubt that both captains will be wiser and better men for their adventure.