FROM WELLINGTON TO HONGKONG BY THE BARQUENTINE MAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5294, 14 March 1878, Page 3

FROM WELLINGTON TO HONGKONG BY THE BARQUENTINE MAY.

(FKOM a COBUE3PONDENT.) Hong Kong, 17 th January. The May left Wellington, as your readers will remember, on the morning of Thursday, 29ih November, 1877. Outside the Heads the wind was rather , variable, and a course was made to go through the Strait, but a change in the wind compelled us to go tip via the. East Coast. This made, very little, difference so long as the wind was in our favor, and fortunately such was the , case, as, we experienced fine weather and fair winds. Wo passed the Isle of Pines, a small island (nine miles iu diameter) to the south of New Caledonia, on Monday, 10th December. ' Although we were about twelve miles from it, yet, with the glass, the tall pines for which the island is noted could be distinctly seen. Early on the following morning we passed through and among the Loyalty Islands; They consist of three large islands and a number, of smaller ones. No authentic account was given of these islands until examined by D’Urville, a French navigator, in '1827. ! The 1 principal are Mari, Lifu, and Uea. .The largest is Lifu, which is about ", thirty-seven V miles . in length, the others being, much smaller. ,The natives are very treacherous, aud are cannibals. Many years ago they murdered . and ate the crews of several vessels. The of Uea are said to be more particular than those of the other islands; and pcdy ’eat those .killed,,in battle, but yet with as much relish os their

neighbors. „-Gaptain.. v ’Erpkine, of H.M.S. JJaysmnahj Captain./.Cheyne,.-.and— Bishop Sqlwjn;; have; placed i/ont record* milch ,mation ( as. to. their, navigation, &c; . [Towards noon of thi» day; the wind moderated considerably, t and .'.the thermometer rose’; to 85deg. in •the shade, -.,;; iciT j \ , , - Wednesday, 12 th December. -r-iThb (wind Im-; proyed, and sent us aidngj-at the-lrate-of/hipc* miles an hour. ; ."Shortly; after - 6n6’clock ’ di»-- . covered jiths-t, l the 1 ship n-was ■; in udiScotared .water, got nthe- ileadil ready, ibutn before-aye’-could get.a cast;were,ini deep watfir. > t Where* |the'ship'.passed-:the! water had a dirty.green, appearance, but about half a'mile to the east- 1 yiard.it was quite yellowii-oWith< referenceitothis .the,,following, extract /from 1 Captain l Plumley’a,'diary will/ explain; l /He says :-|- “I have no hesitation;' in /pronouncing 1 , it a ishpal,and' - ht i:,thei; yellow 'part r spoken o|fi very near the surface.>n Sho'nld-,;'.'havje-•routided ship -to;-but-having studding - sails set could not do it in time, and with night coming' pn I, did-not, cate-to-stay in the: vicinity in case of finding other patches. I call'it the ‘ Mayshoal.’ Position lat. 18deg. 42min. t qouth,’, long./166deg./.40min.1/east.’!: iAsT this ■shoal -doesinot appear;-on/any of tho’oharts published, its finding; ;mayi be looked upon ip the; light'bf,ia.-discovery.;'' Nothing .eventful opourred until about J p.nl. 'bn. the 18tli Deicember/ when fwen were i abreast' of "Stewart :Island;; in/lat.Sdeg.; 24mini 'south/ long.' :163deg.;.east/ ; We 1 were ■ sooii - boarded by between twenty and;thirty natives,-who came in; their canoes,-bringing' with them; for the purpose oftrading, cocoanuts; and .oil,'shells; a turtle;- and-a number of: curiosities. - Their apparel consisted of;—well/ I -need - hardly de-. 'spribe it.Vll may -say, '-however, that it was rather, scanty,-and of-a miscellaneous character. The articles they brought were exchanged fori tobacco, ’matches;'wearing- apparel, &c. Some werd; rather , fastidious: in i their Wants (from tha-faOt 'that a -trading.vessel had been , there three or four days-fereviously), asking for' knives, spoons, plates;; jars/ glasses, and hew shirts. - One'native pleaded with the captain to 1 give-him a new hat.- When'-asked’ why- he wanted a new hat, he answered, “To go ashore - flash the women,:, white . man go English -do all same.”; As' there was no hat forthcoming he 11 had to go ashore dip-' appointed' - One of their number, perhaps more 1 fortunate'(ly thau 1 the* others,'secured an old battered black belltoppor from one of the’ sailors, and, putting it on his head, amused us by-strutting about the deck in evident high glee/"As this 1 , was' about his only covering the sight was extremely ludicrous. Another took a great fancy tor a silk coat I had on, and it was with some difficulty that I got rid of him.; The captain,told me that’the natives' were more difficult to,deal with this time than ou ! any previous 'occasion, as they never would bring ’ anything back with them. One man had a pair of fowls, in exchange for which he would take nothing hut an earthenware jar. As we did not haye orie to spare, he took the 1 fowls back with him. .This independence was no doubt attributable to the fact of their wants having been supplied by the trader previously mentioned. /The natives informed us that they had a white man on' shore who was bartering for beche-de-mere and copra, or dried cocoanuts, for the owners of the trader already spoken of. Before quitting the ship, a native who seemed to hold some authority produced a small slip of paper, containing a ,reuuest (from the man on shore calling himself John Cassells) for a supply of biscuits and potatoes, as'he .had run short: of provisions. Captain Plumley supplied his wants as far as possible, and /shortly afterwards our visitors left for the island. This was a lively break; in the voyage, and put us all in a good humor for a few days. For the next two-days we were almost becalmed; so Captain • Plumley proposed that we should test the genuineness of an experiment he had seen tried many years- ago. on board a passenger ship -of which he was then mate. The ship was in the tropics, and it was suggested by one or two of- the passengers that they, should sink a bottle or two of ale, so as to have it nice and cool for dinner. The bottles were. sunk, - by: - means of . the lead, to a depth of about one hundred fathoms, and allowed to remain clown about three or four minutes.. They were then hauled on board, but to the chagrin of the would-be ale drinkers, it was found on opening the bottles that the ale was quite salt. As we did not have any bottled ale,, wo substituted fresh water for it, and the result was the some. The bottle we sunk was an ordinary brandy one, which we filled full of fresh water, driving the cork in as far as it could be got; not satisfied with this, we tied the cork down, and covered it with pitch as an additional security. After allowing it to remain about three minutes at the depth of one hundred fathoms, it was hauled up, and on examination, to our amazement, we found that the cork had been, forced in, and the fresh water, by the same means I presume, had been forced out, as it was full of salt water, and; the cork.pressed tightly into the neck of the bottle, with the pitched end downwards, the cork having been turned; probably this was due to the pitched end being the heavier. Not being quite satisfied with this trial, we essayed another, and on this occasion used the cork of a champagne bottle. The cork was tied tightly down as before, the topof thecorkoveriappingthe head of thebottle. It was then sunk the same depth, and allowed .to remain in the water the same time as the previous one. On examining the bottle we saw that the cork had been forced out about the eighth of an inch, and the string stretched as tight as the string of a violin. We/pext drew the cork, and again, to bur astonishment, ; we found that the bottle was’full of salt water. Captain Plumley and I have often discussed the matter, but have never been able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. I commend the matter to the Wellington Philosophical Society for elucidation. Christmas Day found us about 77 miles north of the Line, the thermometer registering 85deg. in the shade, and a current running to the eastward one and a half miles au hour. With a view of further testing the direction of the current, Captain Plumley threw a bottle overboard containing the following memo.:— “Xmas Day, 1877.—The barquentine May, S. Plumley, master. Port Wellington, N.Z. Lat. Ideg. 17min. N., long. 163 deg. 48min. east, with compliments of the season to finder.”*

New Year's Day, 1878, was ushered in by the captain ringing the chimes on the ship’s bell, and squally weather. We had no firstfooting and no shortbread, but still we managed to do very well. On the following day we passed Rota Island, one of the Marianna Group, belonging to the Spanish Government. The next day was remarkable to us from the fact that it'was the day on which we did the greatest distance, viz., 209 miles. The captain was in great glee, and indulged in , what Anthony Trollope'calls “blowing,” and said “we will do 200 miles a day until we reach Hongkong, which will make our passage fortyfour days." But alas the wind moderated for the next two or three days, and as each day the distance traversed lessened, the captain’s face perceptibly elongated, and he vowed that he would never again believe in a continual north-east moonsoon. Nothing of further interest occurred until halt-past two o’clock on the morning of the 12th January, when all on board were aroused by hearing the stentorian voice of the botswain telling the man at the wheel to put it “ hard up.” The words were hardly uttered when the captain rushed out on deck without his hat, &o. I then heard the botswain say, ■ “ Ship on the lee bow and your readers, may imagine our horror to see a barque cross our bows, and only just in timej for we passed over the water in which she had been a minute or two afterwards. 1 The barque showed no lights until all danger was passed. Wo were going about 9 miles an hour, and the sea was running what is usually termed ihountainshigh. It was fortunate for both Vessels that the May had a good look-out, or I dare say nothing more would have, been seen or heard of either. Thoughts of the’ late,'collision,of the Avalanche and Forest flashedthrough my mind; but for all that I remained quietly in bed, know-. : mg that I could be of no use. We were then about twenty miles, to the eastward of Babuyan .Island, from which the group derives its name. Two days later, at, about the same hour, we were again alarmed by the man ( on the look-" ,out reporting “ Ughta , ahead." The captain

was soon on (leek;' and by means of his night-glass-made out the lights to come from ft steamers''cabin windows.' Shb also crossed our bows, but_ fortunately at so great a distance that'there'was no fear of any accident. The same morning' we _ made _ the China Coast,' add'hy'B o’ were comfortably 'berthed in Hongkoiig harbor,' after a delightful ipassage bf 46 days,'and never haring occasion to use'the-pumps, which'speaks well for' the 'May being a' tight little 1 craft. The thermometer [reached its : highest, viz./ m the' shade; just after'crossing the l Line,' and its lowest when we were half-way- across ’ the China sea, when it fell to 56deg. in: the shade, which made top-coats and extra flahhels iiseful. ■\?7e learned the following morning that a c(tead'ful accident hitd lately happened in the harbor, 'viz., the blowing l up of the steamer Yeasb,.and ' the loss of over 80 lives. The trial Of thp first 'and third engineers for manslaughter‘ had just been concluded. "They were found guilty, and Sentence deferred; I will defer a description of Hongkong, and life there, until my return, as time will not ' permit me to db so'now. v :