THE VIGANELLA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 76, 8 July 1910, Page 2

THE VIGANELLA

FIRST DIRECT TRADER AT THE PORT. AX UNEVENTFUL VOYAGE.

When the New Plymouth Harbor Board's dredge, the "Tommv King," acting as a tug, brought the steel barque Viganella to .her berth on the western' side of the wharf at Moturoa yesterday morning, she completed the vovage of the first vessel which has made the vorage from an English port to Xew Pl'vniouth direct. That she was berthed with so little difficulty, and that she is able, despite her draught of 17ft 6in, to he snugly at her berth, is a proof that the time has come when we may expect to see more direct trading between the Home Country and Xew Plymouth. The Viganella is a German vessel, manned by Germans. Captain E. Nickel is in command, his first officer is Mr. B. Lasson, and the second officer Mr. M. Reiss. The crew comprises sixteen ail told. The vessel was built in Stettin, in Germany, in 1893. Her tonnage is 760 tons, and her dimensions are about 250 ft over all by 35ft beam. With her present lading she draws loft Gin forward and 17ft aft. She is a compact vessel, looking a likely sailer, and made this port trim and tidy, without that battered appearance that one notices sometimes in vessels which have come from the other side of the globe. The voyage occupied 117 days. F

She made the coast on Wednesday afternoon, and the fact that a large sailing vessel was approaching the kind was telephoned from Cape Egmont lighthouse. Arriving off Moturoa at dusk, the lookout picked up signals from the harbormaster, Captain Xewton, who went on board during the evening. 'Yesterday morning he piloted her to her berth, the "Tommy King" crowning a long and useful career by escorting to her place the first direct -vessel from Liverpool' to Moturoa before yielding up her place as dredger-in-ordinary to the Paritutu, recently designed and built for dredging operations at New Plymouth. Captain Newton berthed the barque as neatly as though she were a one-rater yacht. It was some time before the ship was made fast, for there are no steam winches on board.

Dr. McCleland, the port health officer; made the usual inspection, and granted pratique. Mr. Fred. Watson, as representative of Mr. Newton King, the agent 'for the vessel, boarded the vessel with the mail—a bulky collection of letters and newspapers which had reached here from the Fatherland long before, the Viganella was reported. "Letters from home" are a real thing to the seafafing man who hasn't spoken to a soul but the members jOf hisj own ship's companr tor about four jjuonths, and surely no 'postman wa.s ever more welcome than "Fred" on this occasion. There was quite a gathering of local residents to witneis the ship's .arrival. '

A Daily News reporter, in conversation with the ship's officers yesterday morning, gathered that the voyage had been an uneventful one, but not too pleasant, heavy gales having been experienced. Leaving Liverpool on 12th March, they had good weather as far south as the Cape of Good Hope. They crossed the equator on 11-th April, in a very"'light north-west breeze. Missing the < southeast .trade wind, the vessel had baffling south to south-south-east and sou.th°-south-west winds, and only 170 to 180 miles a day we're made. After rounding the Gape of Good Hope the ship ran into rough weather, which lasted, with one or two exceptions, until the time of making port. A couple of sails were lost, and one of the boats on deck stove in! When about two hundred miles from the Cape the ship encountered mbuntairidus seas, and she was what the officers described as "full of water" for thirty hours. It was quite impossible to pass! ajong the deck, and,the officers' cabins, which are on the level of the main deck, had a couple of feet of water in them. An easterly wind carried them to about the 36th parallel of latitude, and it held for about a fortnight. Then came a lull ef three days, when there was only a capful of wiiid. A good breeze from the southward brought her to the Australian coast, but for six days a south-easter had to be fought in rounding Tasmania, This followed by a spell of fine weather, with favorable wind from north and north-west, -which brought them to within two hundred miles of the NewZealand coast, where they experienced a fierce storm from the north-east) the stormiest weather of the whole vo age. | The vessel was hove-to for eight days in a heavy sea and squally weather, the wind rising to hurricane force. They were then in latitude 42y 2 <leg. S. and longitude 169deg. E. Steady wind from the west-south-west, then a dead calm, and then head winds of varying force; and then a good wind from the westward brought Mount Egmont in view at 11 o'clock on Wednesday morning. "Land, ho!" or its equivalent in German, was then called for the second time in the voyage, the previous land sighted being an island in the Atlantic. The street lights of New Plymouth were visible from the vessel at six ; o'clock .last night, and an anchorage found at about seven o'clock. The Viganella was laid alongside the wharf yesterday morning at about half-past nine o'clock.

The vessel was at one. time as far south as the 47th parallel, as the result of a north-east gale which drove them far to the south of Tasmania. Crossing the Tasman Sea, the crew caught several albatrosses, and one or two were cooked in the hope that their flesh would prove a change to the "salt junk." But they were highly unpalatable. The fare was not the only monotony of the voyage—no sail was sighted from 27th April, a fact that is almost incredible to the landsman.

The Viganella has never previously been in New Zealand waters, but was at Hobart six years ago. Only one of her' present complement was then a member of the crew, Mr. Reiss, now the second mate, who is the only man who has been in Australasian waters. The vessel was specially chartered by Mr. Newton King, Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co. : s New Plymouth branch, and Messrs. Burgess, Fraser and Co., and she brings a cargo of 1073 tons (basic slag, superphosphate, salt, wire, nails, etc.) for Mr. King; 75 tons (soap, candles, and general groceries, beer and whisky) for Messrs. Nathan and Co.; and 25 tons of general groceries for Messrs. Burgess, Fraser and Co. Mr. J. H. Hempton, Collector of Customs, boarded the vessel yesterday, and dischanrincr operations will commence today. These will probably occupy from three to four weeks. Her next port is not definitely stated, but she will probably call at Westport.