PORT CHALMERS REGATTA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 165, 27 May 1862, Page 4

PORT CHALMERS REGATTA.

Port Chalmers had its limited population considerably augmented yesterday, by crowds of persons attracted thither by a regatta with which the inhabitants had resolved)to celebrate the holiday of the Queen's Birthday; and, to all those who were so attracted, excellent sport; was afforded by a well-ar-ranged programme of boat'races and other aquatic amusements. The celebration of the day in such a fashion had. only.; very / recently been determined upon by the local community, and. another circumstance' which somewhat militated against the. perfect success of such sports as those included in the pro^gramme of * a!. regatta', was the prevalence of the disagreeable weather which we have.lately experienced. Notwithstandingthese.drnwbacks, however;the regatta passed oft with greater eclat than could reasonably have been anticipated; what the Committee lacked in time they possessed in; energy ;, and fayoretl with finer weather than we have had for some time, they found nothing to interfere" with the sports they had arranged, either as a means of competition among boats and boatmen, or as-ft source of attraction to the crowds who had assembled. In recognition of the day and the-sports, the majority of the vessels; in port had, from sunrise; displayed all the bunting they could muster, and a laudable attempt.to .compete with them was made by everyone on shore who happened to be the1 proud possessor of a flag or flag-staff, - the Harbor Department, the hotels, and private praties either showing streams of" colors, or. decorating their premises in. significant evergreen. One especially attractive object was the flag-ship, which was moored paraUel to the end of the jetty, and on board which the committeeassembled, with anuniberof friends and an. instrumental band, who, in the inter-' vals of theraces, "discouisedsweet sounds." Among those on board this vessel—the Success, of Melbourne1 were Captain Currie, of - the Lady Egidia, as ludge • Mr. - Monson, as starter;. and the gentlemen officiating as stewards—Messrs._ Mansford, Knox, Thomson, and others—who were indefatigable in forwarding the amusements of the day. The first race was one of pair-oared skiffs. Several boats hod entered for this race, but, on the appearance at the Btarting-point of the; Blue Tail Fly, a small boat of particularly fine build and speed, to which some objections; .were urged, the others Bulked and retired. She consequently "walked the course," and won with ease th> prize of £8. Unwilling ito exclude the others, the Committee offered an extra prize for the same class of boats, when, three started, and a spirited race was effected, Woods Shamrock winning the first pnzeof £8, and Carter s Reindeer the second of £4; the Reindeer holding her ground weU against: the other until more than half the course was completed, when the Shamrock took the lead and came in victorious. The third-race was that between ships'gigs: ' There was a considerable discrepancy in the character.;of the boats entered for this race, but the captains owning proper gigs waived their objection, and an excellent race was pulled by the five boats which started, the Lady Egidia's winning . the . first prize of £6, and the Camilla's the second of ;'„3. TheAckbar's boat was also well pulled. as well as that of the Eureka;* and at the terminate- of the race- the : winning boat was protested agai_sv~~>*i having rounded all the buoys, but the Protest was riot repe«~i. :.j,t, jfte subsequent meeting of the Committee; and the prizes „„ Q riven as stated, lathe next race—that between baliaßi; iiuato—ave

were entered, and a better run was made than was at first expected, the calm which had prevailed all the forenoon being succeeded ab»ut the hour of starting by a moderate breeze. The first prize of £10 was won by the Young America; the second of L 5 by the Helen; and the third of L 2 by the Geelong; but the crew of the Helen refused to accept the premium, asserting that they had rounded more flag-boats than the others, and that they did so acccording to instructions, which were not, however, in the written rules. Of all the-races, the next, which was the fifth in number, was the most interesting and exciting. It was the rc.ee between five-oared whaleboats. Ten boats entered, and, as drawn up previous to starting, they formed rather a magnificent array of smart boats and stalwart boatmen, some of the crews appearing in quaint costume, and three of the number being Maori crews, whose fine, appearance inclined lhany to back them as the probable winners. _ A good start was made by nearly all the boats, notwithstanding their numbers and the limited space. The most noticeable exception was that of the Telegraph, one of the Maori boats getting foul of her. ; almost at the first stroke, and disabling her for some time, by breaking the tholes of two of her starboard oars. Notwithstanding this delay, she came in well ahead, the order being—lst prize, £20, Dashing Wave;.. 2nd, £10, Telegraph; 3rd, £5, Despatch. The second boat, in reality, was one named the Lord Nelson, pulled by a Dunedin crew^ but. a protest having been made, on the ground, that she "was riot the boat which had been entered by her crew, she was disqualified. In tho case of the.sixth race—the. second class sailing boats—five started, but the wind having fallen off, and ■ the ebb tide being against them in returning, they did not come in until after dusk, and the prizes will again have to b? cofiipeted for. 'For the scullers' race, which succeeded, several boats had entered, but one or two of the number were disqualified, and only three started abreast. The first boat in was the Old Identity, a smart skiff from Dunedin, which wa» well handled by Bruce ; the second the Alert, pulled in good style by J. Robertson ; and the third, the Blue Tail Fly, by Dunbar. The first boat had been entered for the pair-oared race, not for the scullers' race, and was consequently disqualified. The prizes were therefore awarded :—lst, L 7 to the Alert; 2nd, L 3 to the Blue Tail Fly; but,in consideration of the circumstances,the third prize.of L 2 was given to the Old Identity.. Another boat, the Success, sculled by Hind, went over the course, after being disqualified, with the object of a protest being lodged, but this was neglected until after the decision of the Committee had been minuted. For.the Amateurs race no en tries had been made, but a race, which proved rather agood one, was extemporised by some of the gentlemen connected with thegovernment service at Port .Chalmers, and by others from Dunedin, the local and official^ party asserting their superiority of muscle by bringing the Queen in first. In this race no distinguishing colour was shown except in the faces of the rowers ' when they returned to the starting point. The dnck hunt, which concluded the. sports, was so great a source of amusement that an encore was allowed, several gentlemen subscribing for its repetitiori. In the first hunt, the duck was a darky named Murray, and, he : was pursued by a young man of the same Eame, stationed in the bow of a four-oared boat without a rudder or steer-oar. Twice the second Murray made the leap towards the duck's boat, and went down between the two boats, taking his cold plunge with good courage; but the third time' he made aclean leap into the boat, and won his prize. In the second hunt, Main, a young fellow who had entered as drake for the'first hunt,but did not appear in time, took the place of the duck in a very minute dingy, and the darky who was duck in the first became the drake. Main circumvented the pursuing boat for some time, but ■ at.last -Murray made a dashing leap int* the dingy, and, as.he capsized it in doing so, both duck and drake performed a few involuntary evolutions in the water, until they were picked' up by the boat in attendance. By this time the crowds from Dunedin took their departure, the Samson and' Lady Barkly taking large parties, the majority of whom had remained on board all day; and the people of the Port betook themselves^ to the Port Chalmers Hotel, where special provision had been: made for the occasion by the new tenant, Mr. Dodson, arid unto the other hosfelries in the town. The proceedings were appropriately terminated by the Committee resolving to make the regatta an annual sport, to take place in future on New Year's Day,; and by Mr. Mansford, the proposer, giving a subscription of ten guineas towards the funds necessary for the purpose. Except one or two " spills" among some amateur boatmen, tho sports passed off without accident and without disturbance. ~ ■ ■ ;