A REVIEW OF "THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE WAIRARAPA."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 126, 22 June 1901, Page 4

A REVIEW OF "THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE WAIRARAPA."

[By R. E. D.]

• —. • A Poem, by Aiitbuh Pittar. (Copyright.— Observer, Print.) | Published at Is. Copies of the Author. —~ I Tin; " Wairarapa" was wrecked at eight minutes past 12 a.m. on Monday, 29th J Oi.-tolH.-r-, .ISil-l; being 30 miles out o£ her' course from Sydney to Auckland. One hundred and five persons iiro known to f have been lost. I The author makes his bow with a' dedication to his wife—- " Then let me this, the first effort of my pen, Inscribe to thee—to me the dearest of women. In token that I appreciate the worth 01' one who has made my home a Heaven on j earth." Seemingly, had tho author's slippers been less carefully warmed at the domestic., hearth, the feet of the " Poem" might have 1 halted less. Canto I. is devoted to " The Start." It begins with an invovation to " vSydncy—proud city of a hundred years, Nestling among a thousand bays and piers." Sydney was lying low, those times, and was to be found under the wluurf. It goes on to describe the equipment of the vessel—- " The boats, tho gear, the Captain, and the men Were all well known, and of good acumen ; The Wairarapa—for such was her name— Traded to New Zealand and back-again." Admire the well-known gear, the acumen of the boats, and the masterly simplicity with which the vessel's regular run is placed before us. " In Windsor Castle there is scarce a room That e'en in beauty rivals her saloon." Her freight: " Many cases of oranges there are Carri'd on deck, and horses from afar To compete at the New Zealand races At Auckland, and also Southern places." Her passengers: " A motley lot —some merry are, some gay— Saloon and steerage, crew and stowaway: Some two hundred and fifty souls or more, Salvationists, Catholics, men of law." Canto ll.—"At Sea." Then a few thoughtful things about the ladies (discounted later on by using them to xing in a rhyme)— " While the smooth sea doth promise that the trip S.Will be to passengers enjoyable, ' - Specially to ladies, who, if well, Appreciate the wonders of the.deep Best, when those wonders are all rapt in sleep. Their pastimes " So pass'd the days, the ev'nings were not long; Some preferr'd music, others lik'd a song." Note the nice distinction above. But now the trouble begins : " The Kings are pass'd, and now a heavy swell From the north-east, would to a sailor tell That from thence, a gale was lately blowing! A current, too, with the ship was going, As an accustom'd eye might plainly see, By the rippling lines waving o'er the lea; 'Twas but the fog—which here was very thick— That bother'd them to navigate the ship." - (Our author is evidently a man of some reading.) " All now retire, of tiffin to partake, An easy mind good appetite doth make." (Could Pope or Shakspearoimprove on this?) " Gnat A una, whom three realms obey. Doth sometimes tiffin take, and sometimes tea." The trouble thickens, and everybody gets, anxious, " And generally seem greatly porplex'd, Except the skipper, who alone unvex'd ' Smokes his cigar, and paces up and down, As undisturb'd as in the streets of town; Until the second officer comes up, And asks him if he thinks he should not stop, Or any way slow down, as otherwise, If he may be permitted to advise, He greatly fears, he knows not where they are." How skilfully our author indicates the hesitancy of the officer who " don't know whore 'e are" in addressing a skipper of whom we were informed earlier — " John Mcintosh, the master, was a man Well-known as a disciplinarian." But, " Sir Absolute " " Look well to port, the lighthouse is not far!" The captain cries, with anger in his tone: " I'm skipper in this ship, and I alone Am the best judge whether to stop or no ; But just because they funk it, let her go. By this decision, therefore, I'll abide; And tho' the night is dark, I'll let her slide: I'm well to seaward, and will catch the tide By getting early to the Auckland wharf." Thus spake the master, as he turned aside, " with a short cough " —dragged in by hah and hide, to make a rhyme with " wharf." " And now it is night, and dark as Hades: So to the cabin therefore go the ladies." —Ahem! Canto III.—" The Wreck," " Driven with a fair and following sea, And engine force, at fourteen knots an hour— An awful speed—a terrible power— The noble ship against the cliff is dashed. Her bow is broken, her bottom is smashed.' Her " bottom " reads better with accent or second syllable. The self-sacrifice of the stewardesses (Annie McQuaid, Charlotte . McDonald and others) is next described; k but unfortunately the movement of the shir, has got hold of the metre in such lines as—- " She took the belt and gave it to the child, Caressing it with words soothing and mild." Caressing what? So, too, the heroism of Sinclair, the engineer, who " With his mate Dunlop remains to stay g The dread explosion, that might then occur e If he did not attend to the boiler," * merits better handling. Some of the incielents of the wreck are ' then described : " Just as the stricken beast doth shriek with a fuar, Who sees the condor of the Andes near; 6 So do these poor affrighted people cry, E Who feel approaching dissolution nigh. ', The horses, too, were hurl'd amid them all, While orange cases kill'd some in their fall." And the skipper's end—- " If sav'd, how could lie now his owners greet'.' How hi„ many victims' relations meet ? ' No hope for him from man, that he could see, I Better than trust in God and His mercy. , f Believing thus, and hoping in the Lord, j He brcath'd a prayer, and then sprang overt hoard." ;j Noli- how skilfully the perturbation in the * masters mind is indicated in the metre ij which calms as the skipper's mind settle.- •» down to suicide and security from censure ■ < In some line lines in another poem the con .1 verse of this movement is marked—--8 " His bridle reins were golden chains, * A ad Kith a martial clank, At each leap he could feel his scabbard of stee j» limiting his stallion's flank." Here the movement increases perceptibly. Canto IV.—" The Rescue." The splendid actions of Dunlop am Kendal, who got a line to shore; of Mis; Dickenson, who pluckily tried it first; anc of a Mr. Roberts, who at the instigation oi Mr. Ferguson brought ashore Miss Williams (who had been over twelve hours in the sea), linds its contrast in the next few lines—- " Xow all the living gather'd on the shore, Some were nearly naked, but few had more Than a shirt apiece, or of a pants a pair— Mere than one garment each was very rare. liut while many ladies were dress'd so ill, i Fonwiok, the purser, was rigg'd fit to kill; I He grudged to lend a thing on this sad morn To many people who were quite forlorn." Our author does not spare the lash where he thinks it merited; for after telling how the u:\forUinat.o people made themselves bonis out-of the cork in the life belts, and how llii-y had to live on (wo oranges apiece, In'. !:•!!■> us--"Still ot tin* passengers they were but few In proportion, to tho.-,e spv'd" of tho crew ; While of the women and (he children, too, ; Who liv'd tho horrors of that night to tell, The number is so few that p'rhaps 'tis well For the officers that the captain died, J So that all blame can on his buck, be tied."

So, too, in CANTO V.—" The Arrival." Our author, after telling how the third mate, Johnson, took a boat-load of unfortunates to Whangapoa, where they were kindly tended by "Settler Eglington" (which, by the way, should read EMingtmi), and how others were succoured by the Maoris of Catherine Bay, he tells us—"They managed very well them all to feed, But how to clothe them is a job indeed. Among the passengers when in the boats There was a parson who had on two coats. But . . . he refused to others any help, Arjd kept his double clothing to himself." Well-merited praise is bestowed on the people of Auckland and elsewhere who contributed clothes, food, and money for the relief of the sufferers, and on "Messrs. Moor, Stark, I'addison, and Flinn, Who live on the isle, ami assisted in Feeding the living, burying the dead, Too much'in praise of them cannot be said. The Maoris also did their very best, As did settler Eglington and the rest." Canto Vl.—" A Review," tells us—- " The stewardesses, as we know, were brave; But others, too, tried others lives to save. Thus, French and Jolly sav'd the younir boy West, Who nine years old, was plucky as the best. But still Kendall, Baldwin, and Midtllebrook All great and heroic deeds undertook; Thomson, Baker, Davis, Eraser, and Grey, All gave no chance of saving life away; While Leighton, Corrie, Pounds, Pipe, and i Campbell, With others on the rocks did just as well. Chamberlain, too, must, not be forgotten, Nor Chadwiek, Varley, Harris,_and Madden. Another name that should be on the roll Is that of Mi: French, who sav'd Miss Cole. A steerage stewardess there was, whose name, A sincere grateful world should ascertain. But though it may not be recorded here, In God's great Book ot Life it will appear." Of others we are told— As it is unpleasant to review Both cowardliness and selfishness, too, 'Tis better not to here recount their names, The same great Book of Life black marks contains." Elsewhere in the " Poem " the loss of life is given thus—"The number of dead will never be known, Tho' one hundred and five are clearly shown To have lost their lives, or to missing be, In this most terrible catastrophe." So sad a subject had better have been treated in prose by an author who can control his Pegasus no better than John Gilpin , did the callender's horse. To warn off other I browsers in the paddocks of Parnassus, and to show how close this scheme has been carried to absurdity, it may be well for once to I step just over the line, still keeping close | enough to the original to shake hands with ' it. j A SUMMARY. I. 0 Barrier bold of Auckland's shore, 0 land of gold and copper ore, Of gum aud oysters in good store, Of fish, and flies, and fleas galore. 11. O land of leisure, cream, and bees, Pohutukawa and ships' knees ; Loquat, guava, citron trees, 0 laud where water ne'er doth freeze. lit. 0 island little known to fame Till to your shores a steamer came : The " Wairarapa" was her name, And " running records " was her game. IV. Her skipper, mad, as we suppose, On Miner's Head must pile her nose ! From ocean's bed she never roseHow sad for the Insurance Co.'s 1 v. Then on the sea she flung the freight; The fruit, the steeds, the maid, the mate; And skulls were fractured—dreadful fate— By horses' hoof and orange crate. VI. J O parson, chief of chokered churls, Who in ttco coats himself enswirls, While on the shore squat shivering girls With little on but clamming curls. VII. . 0 crazy skipper, frantic horse, Sea-swollen orange, bloated corse; 0 cleric clad, 0 night-robed ladies .- 0 verses mad; in short, 0 Hades! The writer presents his compliments to "the Author," and is sorry he has not skill enough to make the metre. of his verses bump like the "Wairarapa" on the rocks. ADAM HASBEEN.