YACHT’S LENGTHY CRUISE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1922, Page 3

YACHT’S LENGTHY CRUISE.

ARRIVAL IN AUCKLAND. OVER 20,000 MILES SAILED. An interesting arrival in Auckland on Sunday was the yawl-rigged yacht Amaryllis, which arrivwl from Sydney after a passage of 15 days. The vessel is on an extended cruise, and has already covered over 20.000 miles. Lieut. G. H. P. Mulhauser, R.N.R., the owner and captain of the vessel, is the only white man on board. He has with him two natives who joined the yacht at the W'est Indies as the crew.

The Amaryllis is a vessel of 28 tons gross, and is 52ft long on the waterline. Her beam is 13ft and her draught 9ft 9»n. As she lies anchored off Parnell flying tlie Naval Reserve and the Royal Yacht Squadron's flags, the onlooker would hardly credit her with having sufficient sea-going qualities to carry her from England by a devious route to Australia and New* Zealand.

The yacht left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1920. The town was en fete that day, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower for America, but no notice was taken of the small vessel which was commencing a long voyage to the Antipodes. The voyage was made in stages, and the distances between ports varied from 50 to 3000 miles. From Plymouth she sailed to Vigo (Spain), and then to Madeira. Las Palmas, Santa Cruz, and then to Barbadoes. Of the four white men who left England in the yacht, two obtained positions in Barbadoes, and left the vessel there. A cruise of IGOO miles round the best Indian group was made, and when the vessel reached Jamaica a third man went ashore and abandoned the trip. .This' left Lieut. Mulhauser alone on the yaeht, and as he decided to continue the cruise he shipped trwo native young men. for crew. From Jamaica the yacht Wentgrto Colon, and then through the Pananffi Canal to the Galapagos Group. The next run to the Marquesas was 3057 miles direct, and occupied 26 days, the longest run between ports the yacht has made so far. She next visited Tahiti, in the Society Group, Rarotonga, in the Cook Tsland.% and then Tonga and Suva, Fiji. At Suva an American, whpse sea experience had beenconfined to passenger liners,, joined the yacht for a cruise to Sydney. On arriving at Sydney, via' he stated that no amount of money would induce him to make another sea trip in such a small vessel.

The yacht’s cruise so far has been made without misadventure, and under fairly fine weather conditions. No very severe storms were met with. A moderate gale off the coast of Portugal was pxperiencwl for 24 hours. The worst.weather was between Noumea and Sydney. when strong winds and a high sea made things uncomfortable on board and necessitated the vessel being hove-tq. for 60 hours when approaching the Australian coast. She cleared Sydney on December 17,, and experienced light variable wind> on all but foutj day», whan

the weather was somewhat stormy. Tn spite of her small appearance the yacht is very commodious below, and is fitted out with every comfort. Lieut. Mulhauser was engaged during the war on mine-sweepers and submarine-catch-ers. He is making the cruise solely for the sea trip, and expects to stay in N«w Zealand until about, April.