OUR MERCANTILE MARINE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8359, 20 February 1913, Page 4

OUR MERCANTILE MARINE

THE NEED FOR OFFICERS WHO ARE SEAMEN. (By Captain E. G. Holmes, in the “ Auckland Star.”) The crying need for officers who are seamen, to officer the large passenger steamboats, is daily becoming more insistent. . . It is admitted that officers trained in sailing ships are the best officers, while the men brought up in steam are, in nautical terms, hobo farmers. Big companies are fitting out large deepwater sailing ships as training ships to help to supply this deficiency, which, are practically a failure as training vessels/ inasmuch as they do not turn out seamen; for the simple reason that the lads pay a premium and so feel they are not compelled to work harder, nor to take a keener interest in their work than they feel inclined to do, for they are not earning their living, and have not tho fear of tho sack ’’ hanging over them if they do not choose to work. They think far more of how their uniform is looking, and what favour they are likely to find in the girls’ eyes at the next port; and when that port does arrive, why, perish the thought of work or tho thought of their profession. The same reasons apply to the apprentices on deep-water vessels, though not nearly to tho same extent, for the number of apprentices carried are only a few and so can be, and are, supervised more strictly, and they turn, out many fine seamen. Admitting that the sailing vessel is the training vessel,' then the intercolonial sailing vessel must bo of the highest value in that respect, liecause— ■ (1) For every time an evolution is done on board a deep-water vessel, it is done a dozen times aboard an intercolonial vessel, as the weather of the Tasman Sea is so boisterous and changeable that every opportunity has to be used to get towards the destination ; every probable and improbable change of wind has to bo read beforehandj and the vessel placed in such a position that the change will be as favourable as possible, not having trade tracks to follow to secure fair winds. This' 1 in itself is a great incentive to tho study of meteorology. (2) These vessels have to go to so many out-of-the-way' ports with bad entrances, where frequently there is no tug available, which gives, fine training of handling vessels in narrow waters, studying currents and guarding against sudden stray puffs of wind doing damage when nearing the wharves. (3) The crew have to rig so many varieties of cargo gear and, purchases in course of a year, being in and out of port so often. They had to load and stow the cargoes, and frequently to discharge the cargoes themselves, and so the officers and men get such a thorough drilling in every branch of seamanship and sailorman’s work. The number of men carried being so few, that there is no room for a shirker ; he is spotted at once, and got rid of; and since, in these ships, men are so well treated and fed, men that are going up for their certificates —- ond 75 per cent, of them are —want to stay in them till' their time is in; which in itself is a guarantee that the men will conduct themselves well, and be keen to learn their profession. (4) ™he test of navigation is in the landfall. In a sailing ' vessel a master cannot afford to make an. error in, his position in making land; if.be.does, ho runs a big risk of being caught on a lee shore or placing his vessel in some other dangerous position. Tho deep-water vessel, that is, the vessel that makes long voyages, say, from England to' Australia or New Zealand, will make not more than six,' and possibly, as few as two landfalls in the year; while the inter-colonial sailing ship will make hardly less than twelve landfalls in the year, aricl possibly twenty; so that the navigation aboard the latter is being constantly subjected to the most crucial test of all. Again, tho case of steam vessels. There is the power aboard which enables the mariner to bring his vessel out of any dangerous position short of being ashore, which tends to make navigation aboard of them slack. The fine performances that these in-ter-colonial sailing ships have put up is _ a proof of their value as training ships' for officers and men. For instance: Lately the barque Marjorie Craig, 8i days from Warrnambool to Hokianga, going sixty miles south of Tasmania, coming in at night from the open sea, and sailing straight into Hokianga at 2 a.m. without stop or hesitation, over a sea that blocked the Northern Company’s , s.s. Earawa in the Manukau, and continuing straight up the river at nigtyt. Also the performance lately of the barque Louisa Craig, 6 days 20 hours from Melbourne to Kaipara, then sailing up the river to Dargaville, as no tow-boat was available. • . The large travelling public axe entitled to demand that the best possible trained men should be in charge of the bgjdge of the vessels they travel by; and soon the source whence the best officers spring wiH bo no more, unless some steps are taken to keep the sailing ships of the country in commission. This question is one of great importance to the country, and worthy of earnest consideration by tho Government. Are we to suffer the elimination of a class of vessel so useful from a training point of view, as we, have endeavoured to show they are? We trust not; but, considering how fast they are disappearing from our ports, we t.bink their owners are fairly entitled to some reasonable subsidy as an inducement to keep them running.