THE FLYING SQUADRON AT WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Issue 26, 31 January 1870, Page 2

THE FLYING SQUADRON AT WELLINGTON.

[by oub special beportee.] By nine o'clock on Wednesday morning all Wellington was astir, and the numerous pleasure seekers who intended being at the monster picnic which was to take place at the Hutt were on the look out for some means of conveyance to the scene of the day's amusement. Vans, coaches, buggies, carriages, drays, and every species of vehicle crowded with their living freights were soon on the move along the sole outlet from Wellington, the Hutt road, while two steamers, the St. Kilda and the Wanganui, conveyed such of the townspeople as preferred travelling by water to Petoni, a landing place about two miles from, the spot selected for the picnic, and by noon there were nearly 500 people on the ground. A cricket match had been arranged to take place between the Wellington clubs and eleven from, the fleet, and the game* which was the most attractive part of the day's proceedings, soon commenced, and lasted nearly all day, the fleet proving victorious with sis wickets to go down. At 2 o'clock a party of nearly 300 sat down to lunch in a large booth erected for the occasion, when some disappointment was caused by the Admiral not making his appearance until the cloth was removed. There was the usual amount of speechifying, after which the visitors made a move to witness the sports that were going on outside. Not having been present myself lam unable to speak from experience of the manner in which the affair passed off, and it is difficult to form an opinion from the accounts given by the local papers, one of which stated that it was a complete success, and the other that it proved a miserable failure. Meanwhile a rifle match b< tween ten ot the Wellington volunteers and a like number of officers and men from the fleet was tiiking place at the Adelaide Butts near town, the shooting, however, owing 1 to the strong nor' wester which was blowing across the line of fire, was "wretchedly bad, and after an uninterest* ing contest the volunteers proved the victors by 06 points. To those who did not care to attend either the picnic or the shooting, an opportunity of visiting the fleet, which was thrown open to visitors during the day, was afforded by the steamer Murray, which left the wharf every hour, calling at each of the ships and putting lier passengers on board, returning for them on the next trip. Between five and six 1 undred availed themselves of this means of visiting the squadron, and all ■were delighted with the courtesy and civility displayed by the officers and men, and the readiness with which they pointed out to them the internal arrangements of the ships, the manner of working the guns, and all such subjects as usually excite the curiosity of landsmen when on board a man-of-war. As it was impossible to pay more than a flying visit to all the ships, I confined my attention to the two largest, the Liverpool and the Phoebe, and I was surprised to find the Armstrong gun so little used, as I had always been under the impression, evidently an erroneous one, that that description of artillery was in general use in our navy; I found, however, that in each of the ships I visited there were only two of them, and these of the smallest description of field-piece, to be used only for service on land. The majority of the guns were the old 32 >pounders, and four 64-----pounders; the largest ones, of which there were four on board of each of the two ships, being the muzzle-loading, rifle-bored Woolwich guns, carrying conical shot cf 150lbs. The range of these pieces is five miles, but no great amount of accuracy can be depended upon beyond two miles. On enquiry, I found that they were gradually being substituted throughout the navy for the Armstrong, as these latter being breechloaders, are very liable to get out of order, and to be rendered useless by the slightest derangement. Having struck up a friendship with some of the "middies" I was invited to dine with them, and I am quite sure that my entertainers will excuse me if I say unhesitatingly, that, judging from what I then saw, so far as comfort is concerned, I would far rather be a shepherd in the most isolated back whare that evpr I saw than a midshipman on board one of H.M.s ships. The mess-room in -which we sat down wa3 about 15ft. by 7ft., and from sft. to 6ft. in height, and in this dark unventilated den, thirty youne gentlemen were in the habit of sitting down to their meals, which were chucked in, half-cooked and nearly cold, through a trap door at the end of the room, den, or dungeon (you may call it which you please) on to the bare table. However, in spite of the discomforts they had to un :ergo they were a light hearted, jolly set of youngsters, and at that particular time were in a state of great excitement with regard to the race that was to come off in the afternoon between the boats cf the Plioebe and Challenger. In order that this excitement may be thoroughly understood, I must mention that the Phoebe had always proved victorious in rowing matches wherever she had been, while the Challenger had hitherto beaten every boat on the Australian scation, and the men of the fleet generally were smarting under the defeat of the previous day, when the Challenger's boat had taksn the lead of the whole squadron, a result which was generally attributed to the fact that she was pulling twelve oars whilst the Phoebe had only ten. Add to this the fast that both boats were precisely of the same build, having been made by the same builder in Sydney, and it will then be believed that the event was looked forward to with the deepest interest by all concerned. Five o'clock was the hour appointed for starting, and by that time the wharf was crowded with spectators and many bets were made on the result of the race. The course was from the wharf round the Wild Duck, which lay about 1 £ miles up the the stream, thence round the fleet, and back to the wharf, in all about four miles, half of which had to be pulled in the face of what the Wellington papers call a-fresh breeze — those who have ever been in that city of winds •will know what that means. On the gun being fired a capital start was effected and the two boats went off with a bound, but it was impossible to see until they rounded the Wild Duck whether any change had taken place in their relative

positions, as the course was in a direct line from where we were standing. On reaching the ship however it was seen, and recognised by loud cheers from the men of the squadron, and downcast looks on the part of the Wellington men with whom the Challenger is an immense favorite, that the Phoebe's boat was three or four lengths ahead, the difference in time between the two boats as they appeared rounding the stern of the ship being J 20 seconds. The excitement now became intense. Grey-bearded captains and little middies, dandy lieutenants and rough sailors, ship chaplains and powder-monkeys— all seemed to be reduced to the same level for the time being, and eagerly exchanged remarks on the style of pulling, and probabilities of this or that boat winning, whilst one or two, watch in hand, noted the time ot the rivals passing the different vessels of the fleet. But if the excitement was great on shore, it was doubly so in the eight ships of war then in harbor. At first but a few men were to be seen on board, but gradually their numbers increased as the boats neared them, until vast crowds ■were collected on the decks, which soon seemed to be too small to hold them, and then they were to be seen swarming up the rigging in clusteis, waving their caps, clapping their hands, and cheering as only sailors can cheer. On passing the Barrosa, the Challenger's boat was 18 sees, behind, having gained 2 sees, in pulling from the Wisd Duck; by the time she reached the Phoebe she had gained three seconds rvore, and the hopes of her backers began to rise; but in passing the Liverpool she had lost 4 sees, and in rounding the Kosario, the last ship before turning to come up to the wharf, she was still further behind. And now came the straight run in. " Pull, Phoebe," "Go it, Challenger," " Wire in, Squadron," and hundreds of like exclamations were to be heard from the spectators on the wharf, while from the fleet there came across the water thundering cheers and uproarious shouts of joy as the pun announced that the race was over, and the Phoebe's boat the winner by five lengths. Then followed a most amusing scene; the boats of the Liffey and Scylla, which were at the wharf, at once hooked on to the -winning boat, and towed her to the shore, where, after the men had gone in for a " liquor," they proceeded to start back in triumph to their ships. But this they could not do without some signs of victory, and where were these to be found ? No flags were to be had, but Jack is never at a loss when his mind is made up, so one of the number was despatched to the nearest greengrocers, and on his return a huge bunch of flowers was placed in the bow of the Phoebe's boat, whilst on the boathooks, which were elevated in the bows of each of the other boats, were stuck enormous turnips, and thus ornamented the triumphal procession rowed round the Challenger back to their respective ships. But my report of the race has occupied so much j space that I must hurry over the other events of our visit. On the following morning, at six o'clock, the squadron tripped anchor, and silently as unexpectedly left the Wellington people to mourn their loss, and the town once more relapsed into its normal state of quietude. On Friday morning our little party met on board the Murray and none of us I think were sorry to cast off from the wharf at 7 o'clock and start on our return to Nelson. Crossing the Straits there was a stiff nor' wester, and we were just able to carry canvas, running very close to the wind. On arriving at Wellington Heads on this side the Straits, we saw ahead of us coming up at a tremendous rate a regular " smoker." Like a cloud of white smoke the foam was carried before the wind which met us right in the teeth and fairly whistled through the rigging; now 'was the time for the little Murray to show "what she could do and right gallantly did she behave. Fierce squalls assailed us all night, and rolling tide-rips off the different points did all they could to render us uncomfortable, but it was mere play to our brave little boat, which was as lively as a young kitten, and danced about on the ;giant waves with the utmost confidence,as though she felt certain that do what they would they could not hurt her. All this was very enjoyable to those who like that sort of thing, but there "were certain wenk stomachs on board for whom all the good things with which the tables were loaded at tneal times wtre spread out in vain, and numerous were the unhappy creatures who were to be seen lying about in all directions, seemingly careless as to whether the next wave engulplred us or not. Owing to the bad weather, we missed the tide at the French Pass, and as it was blowing too hard to anchor, we cruised about for five hours, when we came through, and soon ran down the bay to the snug Nelson haven, where we arrived at 7 o'clock on Saturday morning, having, barring those who suffered from sea-sickness, thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Flying Squadron