UNKNOWN

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3007, 2 October 1908, Page 6

UNKNOWN

(BY J. C. ALPASS).

TUE VOYAGE DESCRIBED.

it wan a bright autumnal morning in May when our train left the chief town of the Wairarapa. There had been a slight frost, and the air was crisp and fresh on the plains, little misty clouds hung over the guillies of tbf distant Tararuas as if to shield the ferns and other shelter living pi ints from the face of the rising sun. This luminary, as it rose above . the horizon, tipped the various peak* with Roft and manycoloured tints, and at least one of tue passerined sat and wondered when he would again behold those old familiar scenes, and what changes might take place and what changes might be experienced before Master ton soil was again trodden. In due time the train arrived in Wellington, and 8S we shaped our way to-warts the Glasgow wharf the first thins that attracted our attention was a fire engine. One of our party suggested jokingly that perhaps the lONIC WAS ON FIRE, and we had not gone far before the j.ike proved only too real. Fire had tii-it been discovered in the No. 1 hold. Immediately 011 the discovery the officer in charge had closed down the hatch, making it as air tight asi possible, then large iron bottles of carbonic acid gas were br.;U o ht up from the refrigerating uepaitmai.t and the conttnts forced into toe h 'ld with the idea of smothering the fire in its incipient stage. The Harbour Board fire tngine stood on the wharf with steam up and everything in readiness for any emergency, but it was confidently hoped to put out the fire (without using water ,and thereby damaging the cargo in the lower decks, as it was evident that the fire had originated amongst the flax in the upper holds It was decided not to open the holds untiji the following morning with a view of giving the chemical every opportunity for proving its efficacy against the fire fiend.

But to the chagrin and disgust of the ship's people and also the passengers', very soon after the hatches were taken' off the fire commenced to burn up again, and it was decided to flood the hold. The Union

Company's I'erawhiti came alongside, and what with the capacity of her immense pump and the Harbour Board fire engine a little river of water poured into the fore-hold of the lonic, and in a few hours the fore part of the big ship was resting on the bottom and the whole contents of No. 1 hold was under water. Tiien the order was reversed, and the lonic's pumps started to pump the water uut. As soon as the water had got down a little the unloading of the damaged cargo commenced, not such an easy job either, as the bales of flax had swollen with the 'water, causing them to jamb together. This added to their extra weight and necessitated the use of the ship's winches to get them up, so that slings cauld be put around for the wharf cranes to hook on to. It was neces-

sary to open up No. 2 hold to see - what effect the fire and water had had on the watertight bulkhead. , ■ Then it was discovered that a little water had leaked through between decks, this had dripped on to the froien mutton in the refrigerator at the bottom, defrosting and damaging a number of the carcases and necessitating the unloading 'of the whole hold, X which was reported to contain twenty-seven thousand carcases of mutton. Nn time was lost ~ night and day (Sunday included) three, and sometimes four hydraulic cianes were busy unloading flax wool and mutton, until by Monday morning the two. holds were empty/ excepting' some casks of tallow, which the water had not damaged. Ti.c hatches were put on, and we realised that the time of starting so often deferred would soon be a reality. Passengers and their friends cro/.cefl the decks and the wharf, and we began to think what a crowd, we should have on board, but by the time the noon bell .rang out visiting friends had said good-bye and passed down the steps to the wharf.

THE LAST CORD that connected us to New Zealand was soon ,untied,' the good ship backed slowly out from the wharf, and with many good-byes and waving hands and handkerchiefs we turned our backs on the land of our adoption and steamed steadily out of the harbour. All ot us landsmen rejoiced inwardly that we had such a fine, calm day for starting, and we fondly hoped that such might continue until we had got our sea legs. But we soon found there was a swell on, and that our ship rolled somewhat unpleasantly; so much so that quite a number refrained from going down to tea. On the following day the rolling was somewhat worse, and the noise • and vibration so unusual to mo3t of rs caused many headaches. Many of us did not show up at meals, bat worse still meals taken previously came up again to view accompanied with most unpleasant sensations. The next day might be termed headache day, as a great nuniuer, especially of the lady passengers', had bad heads. Some would have given almost anything ,to be back on land again, while others wertf wishing that the noise and vibration would stop if but for one minute. But, "use is ' second nature," and in a very few days w'e began to get used to our surroundings. Monday we left Wellington,on Tuesday we reached the ]Botb degree of lo gi'udf, the ' following day the ship's officers called Tuesday again, so that i WE HAD TWO TUESDAYS in one\ week in order to make our days tally with England. ' As our course was laid east, south-east, for Cape H< rn we had tu alter our time on an about thirty minutes each day. Seven days from New Zealand wought us to ajbout the halfway p» g, a point in the great southern ocean which is perhaps the furthest possible to get from land. New ,70 jonH trd South America are each distant o» r two thousand miles. Pitt «ui 1 . .d id is the nearest inhabited land, and about fourteen hundred miles to t 0 north, the nearest solid *r-it. rial, e great southern sea barri;riuns it inhospitable face five or MX hundred miles to the south. Beiv een N.w Zealand ai.d Cape Horn

some thirty soundings are recorded, averaging about fourteen thousand feet. We look at an atlas and see a space, perhaps the size of a man's hand, representing the southern ocean, but until we cross it we never realise its immensity, nor do we form a»y g idea of the vastness of this waste of waters. And then if we consider that taking an average of many soundings the bottom of this gigantic pond is over two and a-half miles below its surface, we begin to think with the savant who a r gued that the moon once rested peacefully in this hollow, but by some mighty i convulsion of nature the materials of wnich the moon is composed were blown out beyond the attraction of the earth, and so started to ravolve in an orbit of its own. As we gradually went south to get around Cape Horn (which is over one thousand miles south oi Wellington) thife-weather got considerably colder, particularly when there was any wind. For a day or two the thermometer on deck stood at 36, once for a few hourd it went down to 32, but the greater part of the time it was above 40, so there was hardly a day but what the passengers could parage on the shelter side of the ship. Many passengers, after getting over their sea sickness, developed ravenous appetites, which for a few days they did their best to gratify, but nature soon rebelled against such an overload with such a limited amount of exercise to counteract it, the result was the whole machine got clogged and out of order, and appetites failed, a; sure indication that nature was calling for a rest. The air of these southern regions proved exceedingly invigorating to many of the passengers, particularly those from the North Island, but few of them could get a decent night's sleep. They would turn and twist for hours, and then perhaps drop off to sleep , for a few hours. Sometimes they switched on the electric light, and read until two or three o'clock. The next day they would tramp, tramp, tramp, the deck to try and get a bit tired, but this appeared impossible; the air was so invigorating they felt fit for joining Colonel Shackleton in his South Polar expedi tion. But this feeling did not last long. On the second Saturday after starting we . STRUCK A STIFF GALE,

and the ship being light forward, pitched considerably, which proves one of the most distressing motions for a landsman or woman either. In the foienoon we caught a glimpse of a ship, the first we had seen since leaving Wellington, and we felt thankful that we were not in her position, trusting to the caprice of the wind to beat round the Horn, but could plough steadily ahead regardless of head winds and high seas. ! Nevertheless, the motion" of the ship began to tell on the passengers, and both at dinner and tea there were many empty chairs. Next day was headache day for many of us, and we laid very low. On Monday we were promised the sight of land, and as the thermometer had gone up to 44, and the sea was smoother than it had been previously, almost every passenger was on the deck looking out for terra firma. By and by, through the distant mist, we descried the faint outline of something solid, and in a few hours we were abrest of some small rock islands, Diego Ramaru, the southern outposts of the great Continent of South America. After passing these islands, our course, which had previously besn south-east, was changed some points, making it north-enst, with a view to passing the eastern side of the Falkland Islands, as owing to our having lost several days through 'the fire, it was decided to go direct to Rio de Janeiro, and not; call at Monte Video as usupl. Since the v/reck of the New Zealand Shipping Company's Matuara at the entrance of Magellan Straits, the insurance companies have decided not to insure ships unless they keep clear outside of all land, so we did not get a sight of the rugged grandeur of the Straits, notwithstanding that the sea was calm and the weather fairly clear.