CANADIAN SCHOONER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24406, 18 September 1940, Page 12

CANADIAN SCHOONER

TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE SCARE IN MID-OCEAN (From Oub Own Correspondent; SYDNEY, Sept. 12. The arrival in Sydney of a Canadian five-masted top-sail schooner wuh a full cargo of lumber, after a voyage of 83 days from Vancouver, is a striking example of the British Navy's control of the seas. Sailing serenely through an area where a German raider is believed to have been operating, the schooner was unmolested, and. despite gales, landed every stick of her 1,600,000 feet of timber for the Sydney market. The cargo was piled high on the decks. The schooner was the City of Alberni, formerly the Vigilant, American built in Washington 20 years ago an>± idle for 18 months before she was bought by a Canadian firm. High freight rates owing to the war-time demand on steam and motor tonnage and war risks, made it profitable to turn back to sail. The schooner's crew had fears for their safety only once during the voyage. They were close to Jarvis Island, right out in the Pacific, when they sighted a grey ship with warship lines steaming towards them. They thought she might be the raider. All measures were taken to abandon ship if necessary, and the ship's papers were placed in a weighted bag ready to be dropped over the side. Then, to theii relief, the stranger revealed herself a» a United Slates coastguard cutter baseu on Jarvis Island. Until the schooner was within 10 miles of Sydney Heads the weather was favourable. Then a howling gale hit the vessel and drove her off the coast, and it took her a week to come back. Half the sails were torn to ribbons and flapping like rags around the masts, and a boom was smashed. This meant hard work for the crew, who slaved to repair the damage while, the schooner was hove to. She was driven out to sea again during the next few days, owing to head winds, and was driven 150 miles off the coast.