SAIL CLIPPERS' RACE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 251, 14 June 1932, Page 7

SAIL CLIPPERS' RACE

ARRIYAL OF WINDJAMMERS IN LONDON PORT CELEBRATED. EUROPEAN WHEAT CARGOES. ^ ! London newspapers celebrate the ' arrivals of the first home-coming windjammers from Australia with wheat, the Winterhude and Abraham ; Rydberg, with full-page photographs. The Daily Sketch, in describing a great and stately ship sailing into the haven of the Thames, says, "The Abraham Rydberg arrived with the dawn a tall, grey lady, mysterous, but a creature of exquisite beauty. ! "If cleanliness is next to godliness," the newspaper adds, "her creyr are a holy, hardworking lot. Their food consisted of fresh pork from pigs killed at sea, beautifully preserved eggs, fresh-baked bread, peas, but no biscuits and no weavils. "It was a woiiderful sight. With all sails furled, decks scrubbed, and' the last strange chanty roared at the braces, the cadets, clustering on the bowsprit and fo'c'stle head, gave three cheers for 'England, home and beauty'." | Drinks were served in the officers' cabin of the Swedish four-masted barque, Abraham Rydberg, on her arrival. j The First Away. i She left Wallaroo, South Australia, | on January 13, being the first vessel | to leave in the race with wheat car- ! goes for Europe. ] Chief-Officer Hallstrom said that | victory was due to a forturiate deci- , sion taken on the day of departure ' to risk unfavourable winds, and return : via the Cape of Good Hope, instead .of | by the customary route round the Horn. "We were lucky," said the oificer. "The weather never failed us, We did not brqalc any records. Our best daily run was 250 miles. We are to discharge 3400 tons of grain in London and return to Sweden in ballast. Commander Daniel, writing to the Daily Mail, declares that Captain Tann has every right to feel the proudest sailorman afloat. "The Abraham Rydberg," he' says, "is probably the best-found sailer left iri the world. She relies exelusrvely on old-fashioned sails, but is equipp'ed with the latest short-wave wireless." The vessel kept in communication with Sweden all the way from Australia.