The Perthshire.

Manawatu Herald, 4 July 1899, Page 2

The Perthshire.

Captain Wallace, of the Perthshire, related a curious fact on his arrival at Sydney. He first of all encountered a tiny schooner, next a barque, and then, further np the nautical scale, a full-rigged ship. To complete the gradation, he felt certain — and all sea-faring men are somewhat superstitious — that the next boat he came across would be a steamer, and sure enough it was. Asked as to the ' original cause of the accident, the captain said it was one of those things that would occur, so to speak, in the best regulated households. The screw had been in the Perthshire five years. All steamer screws had first to be approved of by the Beard tjf Trade, and were subsequently examined' once a year. The examination showed that it had a flaw in it. Altogether the ship drifted some 1444 miles, being at the average of I*3B miles per hour. They on one occasion went 73 miles in 24 hours, in a north-easterly direction, in a heavy south-west gale. The weather was most tempestuous after May 21st, when the vessel, in her most extraordinary course, described her second circle, which on the fourth day brought them back to about the same point where they were on the 21st. Said the captain, in alluding to the most opportune finish of the repairing operations. " When that happened we were mighty close to Norfolk Island." It should be added that this was Captain Wallace's first trip in command of the Perthshire.