H.M.S. OPAL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 461, 9 April 1890, Page 5

H.M.S. OPAL.

PASSAGE TO SYDNEY. Auckland, April 3. By the Sydney mail to-day particulars regarding H.M.s. Opal s trip from this port to Sydney, on her way home to England, are to hand. A letter from one of the Opal’s officers says:—“ We arrived in Sydney at 6 a.m. on the 27th March, having completed the passage from Auckland in six days and 20 hours, not so bad for the old Opal. It has always taken us eight days before, but this time we picked up a wind that helped us considerably. We were all very sorry to leave Auckland and our many friends, and I firmly believe there was never a more miserable lot than when wc were coming away. Both officers and men had made many friends in Auckland, and it was with great regret that we left. Our last few days saying ‘good-bye’ was a hard job. So many friends vied with each other in getting up little evening parties and dinners as a last farewell to us, that made us feel their kindness more “After leaving Auckland we picked up 'some dirty weather outside, and as we neared the North Cape next day it blew hard from the N.E. and rained in torrents. We wondered if you had got the same; at all events we hoped so, for everyone was crying out for rain in Auckland before we left, "We had a very pleasant trip across after this, but tumbled about a good deal on Monday and Tuesday, having half-a-gale of wind right behind us. Nothing of any note occurred on the voyage. We sighted three vessels, the barque Lena of Glasgow, apparently bound for San Francisco, the mail steamer Mariposa bound for Auckland from Sydney, and on Tuesday afternoon a large four-master, evidently bound Home from Sydney, with but little canvas on her, prepared for bad weather. We were caught in a very violent squall about an hour after passing her, so she was prepared for it. “According to present arrangements we leave here on April 8 for Home, calling ! at Adelaide, Albany, the Seychelles and Aden, and then on through the Suez Canal to England. We should be at Aden about the first week in June. About the end of August we shall be in Plymouth.”