AN OCEAN RACE.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 65, 28 March 1902, Page 4

AN OCEAN RACE.

On 27th September last seven sailing vessels set out from San Francisco for Queenstown. Sis were British, and one Yankee. They were to make a race of it.

The vessels were the Foylenaie, Celtic, Monarch, Moalton, Dovenby, and Glenesslin, all of Liverpool; the King Edward, of Glasgow, and the American ship H. W. Baploek, of San Francisco.

The race was a matter of great interest, since heavy wagers depended on the result; and the personal pride of the captains in their ships hed led to their backing themselves for a considerable sum.

Crowding on all sail, the vessels began their journey of 1700 miles in - a fair wind. The Glenesslin at once came to the front, and, running before the breeze, lost sight of her rivals in the first night. But the race is not always to the swift ; and on 6th November her captain sighted the Foyledale ahead of him --much, to his surprise. Soon he found he was coming up hand over hand, and the crews of the two clippers cheered one another as once more the Glenesslin shot ahead and took the lead. Then came the rounding, of the Horn, where the Glenesslin ran into a terrific gale. In the violence of the tempest her deck was swept by the waves, and her sails torn to shreds and ribbons. Eleven sails went, and still fresh were set.

After weathering the gales of the Horn fresh difficulties soon awaited her. The cargo of wheat in her hold shifted, and she lay for hours on her beam ends at the mercy of the sea and wind.

How these things happen sailors themselves are often at a loss to explain ; but the fact is that she suddenly righted herself—Captain Pritchard says by Providence. Keen to fight even a losing battle, her master clapped on all sail and made for the Irish coast.

He reached Queenstown after a passage of 121 days, where it was found that after all the ■ Glenesslin had outsailed her rivals.