2,500,000 MILES AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 October 1917, Page 3

2,500,000 MILES AT SEA.

A CAPTAIN'S RECORD. London, August 7. Ninety two round voyages to, the Antipodes and back; 95 times rbund the manoeuvrings of tricky Magellan, 192 times across the Equator, "2J million miles at sea without serious mishap; never off duty for a single day on the score of illness. Surely a good enough record for any man. At any rate, the New Zealand Shipping Company decides that it is sufficient, and Captain H. E. Greenstreet, the doyen of their fleet, has accordingly retired from the sea after bringing the Remuera once mpre safely into English waters.

We are told that the captain was perfectly willing to go to sea again, but the directors of the company realise that the strain of navigation and responsibility tells heavily under present conditions, and they are convinced that their commodore is now entitled to a rest. They would be loth to think that a splendid career at sea might be brought to a forced close under the difficult conditions at present obtaining, and, in any case, retirement would be not far distant. HAPPY SHIPS. For long years travellers have been happy if they had Captain Greenstreet in command, and they felt secure even when threading difficult Magellan. With none has the sense of security been more emphasised during the dangers which have arisen through the war. It is mentioned that the vessels commanded by Captain Greenstreet have always been "happy ships"—he had great tact, and there were no frictions on board; and it has been said that no man has even been better known or more highly thought of in New Zealand. An admirer writes in The Times: "Certainly, very many passengers always choose to travel by the ships he commanded, and officers and crew were always glad to serve under him. In was his cus tost every Sunday morning at sea to read the prayers and to deliver a. little homily. Tor many the effect of the simple, straightforward address spoken by this slight, weathcrmarked, unassuming seaman, as the ship pounded through the water, must have remained for years as an inspiring impression. Captain Greenstreet's immunity from accident has been remarkable, and he is firmly convinced that more than once the direct interventiono of Providence saved his ship and those within his charge from disaster "—Post.