COMIC OPERA CREW

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 468, 25 September 1928, Page 16

COMIC OPERA CREW

GREENHORNS WIN ATLANTIC RACE "All hands on the main-sheet!” "What did you say, sir?” "Get hold of that rope and trim, you swab! ” "I’m sorry I don’t get you.” This isn’t a musical comedy skit but a true story of how W. B. Bell’s 136 ft schooner Elena won the King of Spain’s cup in the trans-Atlantic yacht race in July (writes Lansing Warren in the "New York Times”). The dialogue was between a ship’s officer and one of the 16 members of the green crew signed after the regular crew had been put ashore because of an 11th hour seamen’s strike aboard the yacht. All the ship’@ officers and nine men of the crew had had sailing experience, but the other members o£ the crew were steamboat men, taxi-drivers, longshoremen, stevedors, stokers—anything but ’fore the mast sailors. TERRIBLE IGNORANCE They came aboard absolutely ignorant of nautical terms, names, sails and ropes, most of them thinking that the main boom was a noise m£ide by the ship’s cannon when firing salutes; that aloft meant something about a hay barn or attic room; that sheets were something spread over bunks in the owner’s staterooms and those of his guests. For them the officers* commands were something untranslatable, yet Elena sailed well and sailed fast and won the yacht race.

How this was done was described by Elena’s officers, who never succeeded in thoroughly transmitting orders without the services of the boatswain, who served as an official interpreter. "CREW, THE SPINNAKER” The nine experienced sailors were divided into three groups with different watches. In this way responses to orlers were made into a. game of fol-low-the-leader. When the order was given one experienced man would immediately rush on the job with a troupe of greenhorns following him and by motions, cursing and patience everything was accomplished in good time. Each new sail required a formal introduction, the boatswain proceeding in this manner: "Forward there, men, and hoist the spinnaker. Crew, allow me to present the spinnaker. Spinnaker, fhis is the crew. That pole is the spinnaker boom. That rope is the spinnaker halyard. Crew, get hold of the rope and pull.” This sort of thing went on for days with every new operation of sailing the ship till the men began to learn something of the art of sailing. But to the very last the majority of the crew found difficulty in understanding seafaring jargon. The big point about these men was they tried their best. Because the officers possessed knowledge enough for all and had great facility in gesticulation, somehow or other Elena sailed on in the right direction. The men got to know how to hoist halyards, how to trim and slacken the sheets after a fashion and almost immediately uecognised the dinner signal. But up to the day Elena sailed over the line the captain swears the quickest way to get action from the crew was for the first mate to rush on deck and bellow at the top of his lungs, "Taxi!”

The well-known C class keeler Scout, which achieved considerable success in last season’s racing, has been purchased by Messrs. R. Martin, A. Goldie, and G. Palmer. She will be moored in Mechanics’ Bay during the summer.