DEATH OF A CAPTAIN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 9, 9 August 1916, Page 7

DEATH OF A CAPTAIN.

A SOUTHERN PIONEER. AN EVENTFUL LIFE. Bluff, July 31. Best known in those latitudes ns the “Patriarch of Stewart Island," the cleatli of Captain Robert Scollay, at Dunedin, lias created deep feelings of regret among all who knew him, and there are very few connected with the shipping and li siting industries hero during the past half-century who have not known Captain Scollay as the rough hut kind-hearted sailor that he was. Born at the Shetland Islands in 1533, Captain Scollay had thus attained the ripe old age of 83 years before he made his last long voyage. Captain Scollay came to Australia in 1859 as an officer of an immigrant ship hound for Melbourne, and the voyage was quite a romantic one. Two daughters of Colonel Cornelius Reed, of the British Army. Were passengers by the same vessel, and Captain Scollay fell in love with the younger daughter, and they were married- in Melbourne. Captain and Mrs Scollay, with their young family, arrived in New Zealand in 1861 by the ship Queen of Perth, with a cargo ct ..wmilling timber and a complete saw-mill plant for Stewart Island, Captain Scollay being under engagement 'to erect the first saw-mill that was destined to cut into the magnified! timber areas of Rakiura. After .seeing the work completed and the mill in full swing. Captain Scollay came over to Invercargill, where for a couple of •chars ho can' a number of lighters Between that town and the lower estuary and Mokomoko, where the Home vessels 'trading to Invercargill used to lay. The rising usefulness of the port of Bind mitigated against any expansion of Captain Scollay’s enterprise with bis lighter, and he decided to sell out and return to Stewart Island. He was engaged to supervise personally the work of the sawmill that he had erected, and he accepted a free grant of 20 acres of Government land and purchased another 20 acres adjoining. The call of the sea, 'however, was too strong and he could not settle down to an agricultural life on the land that he had taken up." He was a practical shipbuilder, and exceptionally clever ai tlie trade, and lie used !o koijsi thi'U- bo' made'every detail of IT- < a - v Bads, from’(he keel Id the top-gitiiant yards, ' being shipwright, blacksmith.'- woodturner, and sailmaker all rolled into hrte. One of the largest vessels be built was the fore-and-aft schooner Margaret Scollay, of 100 tons, with which he used to trade From Invercargill, Bluff, and Stewart Island to Dunedin, amLon several occasions further north. He was one of the pioneers of the Oyster business, so far as Dunedin and used to run oyster cargoes for Mr lull is*, Ifish. merchant .-of Port Chalmers, inutile seventies. Later on he comfiiTmdoiUtte aMfhiV -Denham, but she fpundcrod in; Jb’oveaux Strait, off Bank Island, in 1883. Other vessels well known in these waters that were huiltf. by Captain Scollay. were the Endeavour (which afterwards foundered at her moorings at South Regasus) Eclipjse (which was wrecked at Stewart Island),' the Lerwick, the Jane Scollay. the Dauntless, and many others, including the Enterprise, with which Captain Catling made two attempts to recover gold of the General Grant at the Auckland Islands. Captain Catling’s recent eulogy upon the staunchness of the Enterprise as a sea boat was a testimony to her , builder, and corroborated the splendid reputation that Captain Scollay’s boats have always held. Two of his sons met their deaths by drowning, one of them (Bob) being on the illfated Wolverine, which‘was lost off Cape Saunders in 1899; while the other (Dan) was lost in an open sailing boat at Stewart Island. After giving up the coastal trade Captain Scollay was " proihihcntly' connected with the tourist traffic of Stewart Island. Tall (being over 6ft in height), broad-shouldered, and powerful, and possessed of boundless energy, his was one of the most remarkable figures of Stewart Island, even after (through advancing years) lie bad given - up active association with his many phases of occupation. Hie last few years of his life were saddened by the death of his wife and by a fire which destroyed the whole of his possessions. A few months ago he removed to Dunedin, where he passed away as stated at the advanced, ago of 83 years. Captain Scollay is survived by one son and seven daughters—namely, Captain Scollay (Dunedin), Mrs G. A. Williamson (Dunedin), Mrs J. Lockhart (Invercargill), Mrs J. Morton (Auckland), Mrs D. Murdoch (Christchurch), Mrs G. Howes'(Oust), Mrs G. Cox (Invercargill). and Mrs H. Hansen (Stewart Island). There are also many grandchildren, two of whom are serving in France with the Expeditionary Forces. #r

Mrs A. M. Spilmaii, of ' Stratford, is a graud-dauditer of tlio late Captain' Seollay: 'l.'oinp: a member of the ’Williamson family.

■ t 'nptain Soollay look a 1.,., n interost in all matters tending to ,1,0 welfare of Stewart Island, and was a member of tin' School Committee from its inception, and also a member of the Stewart Island branch of. the Southland League. Captain Seollav also took an active interest in church matters, being one of the lay preachers of the undenominational church at Halfmoon Bay.