Southwand Band

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 24, 23 December 1932, Page 1

Southwand Band

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Old Wire

Whiskers

TT was the middle of May, 1892. The place was Pier 9, East River, ‘New York, where two vessels were moored, one on either side of the pier. One was a barquentine and the other a barque. . he barque, belonged to New Zealand, and was named the Kathleen Hilda. She was owned in Auckland and was commanded by Captain Geo. Davies, an old Nova Scotian who had sailed out of New Zealand for years. He had Billy Nagle with him as mate, and old Tom Tree as second mate. The crew forward were all New. Zealanders, _ and every man from captain down to the apprentice was a sailorman. Every man of that crew forward secured his foreign master’s ticket, and in later years most of them commanded ships. Of the three surviving members, two are in charge of large _ steamers, and the other is an Anglican parson somewhere in New Zealand. The Kathleen Hilda was a broad, beamy vessel of shallow draught, bluff in the bows and square in the stern, and a good, comfortable ship in a sea way.

The barquentine was the Elinor Vernon, belonging to New York, and a steady trader to New Zealand. She was a long, narrow, lean ship with low bulwarks, and she was a brute in a sea way. She was very heavily sparred and extremely lofty, and her huge fore and aft sails and heavy booms and gaffs made her hard to handle. She could sail all right, but it was dangerous to drive her if there was any sef on. She was commanded by Captain Chadbourne, a down-Easter wht was a sailor and a driver. He was getting old then, but he still had plenty of "ginger," so he said. The mate was a German Yank, whose ambition was to be known as a bucko mate. There wete only four of us aboard-the captain, the mate, the cook and myself. The rest of the crew were to be aboard in a couple of days, and only the shipping master and crimps- knew what they would be like. The two ships were loading for New Zea-Jand-the Yank for Dunedin and the New Zealander for Auckland. It was Thursday morning, and the two captains were yarning on _the pier. "You are pulling out this morning, captain?" said the Yank. i "Yes," said Captain Davies, "I am going to an anchorage down the bay, and when I am ready I will tow out. I expect to sail early on Saturday." "What about a race out, Davies?" said the Yank. "Say, for 590 dollars. I am sailing on Saturday, too." "No," said Davies, "I don’t do that sort of thing.’ They then

discussed it, and the matter was ended by a bet of a silk hat. "Not that it matters much, for I am sure to beat you," remarked the Yank. "Well, I suppose you will," answered Davies, as he went aboard. A couple of hours later the Kathleen Hilda hauled out and was taken to an anchorage in the bay by a tug boat. Well, we finished loading on Friday morning, the hatches were put on, and the sails were bent by the riggers. On Saturday morning the rest of the crowd came aboard, or rather they were put aboard, for they were all either drunk or doped. Staggering and even crawling over the side, they came, encouraged by the boots of the boarding masters who supplied them. Two were absolutely dead to the world and were just dumped into the fo’csle to recover at their leisure. Their gear was dumped aboard after them. Growling and cursing, reeling and falling, they staggered forward, assisted by the two mates whe used the boot, fist and belayingdin indiscriminately.

The tug lay alongside, the lines were let go, and off we went to sea with a crew drunk or doped, and only the two mates and myself fit to take the wheel or set sail. The crew of the tug helped us to put sail on the ship and, casting off the towrope, off we went. With the assistance of a few buckets of water, liberal doses of black coffee, and boot and belaying-pin soup, the officers eventually got the crew into a sort of working order. At noon fhe next day the crowd was mustered’ aft and the watches were picked. The whole crowd consisted of : Master, American; first mate, Ger man; second mate, Norwegian Yank (no tickets) ; cook, Frenchman; 1 Bulgarian, 1 Turk, Salonika, 1 Greek, Salonika (no English) ; 1 Greek, Candia (a few words of English); 1 Spaniard (no English) ; 1 Belgian (spoke German and a little English); 1 Cardiff boy; and myself. I got as watch mates one Greek, one Turk, and the Spaniard, and none of them could speak English. Well, off we went with everything set. The Kathleen Hilda had evidently got away a few hours before us, and we cracked on to beat her, for, as the captain said, "We must beat the old blue-nosed Maori at any cost"-and to our cost it was. We crossed the Gulf Stream, and it was here that the cap tain’s dog committed suicide. He was sitting on the afterpart of the cabin when he suddenly got up, and peering dowa into the cabin attentively for a few moments, (Continued on page 24.)

Southward Bound (Continued from page 1.) he then raised his head and howled ‘mournfully twice; aud then making for the rail, over the side he went. I was at the wheel at the time, and the captain was only a few feet from me, and saw the whole thing. "Very strange, ithat." he remarked. "Anyway, we can’t .go back for him." And so on we went, logging ten or eleven knots. We made good time to the Line, and it was here that we saw a strange mirage. The wind had died down, and we were lying becalmed. It was about 11.30 a.m.; and all hands were on deck. One of the Greeks came to me and said "Kook," and pointed out on the port ‘beam, There on the horizon was the ‘mirage of a vessel. It was very plain, It was the mirage of a barquentine, and, like most mirages, she was upsidedown.. But in spite of all this we all recognised her. It was a mirage of ourselves. As we looked some of the masts seemed to break off. The Greeks and Spaniard appeared very much concerned and crossed themselves repeatedly. One said to me, "No good thatbad luck," and bad luck it proved. The mirage was in view for about ten minutes, and then it faded away. We got the wind again and off we went. We eracked on madly and wildly; we were going to beat the "Kathleen Hilda" or

bust. With everything set and yards hard en the backstays, we cracked on through the S.E. trade winds, which were strong and well to the eastward. The sails as high as the upper topsails were wet all the time with the spray. We sighted Tristan Achuna and commenced to run our Eastern down. This is where the sailor shows his quality, and our skipper soon showed himself a cool, alert sailor man of a very superior quality. He was a believer in the High Latitudes, so we sought 48deg. south and ran it down near that lati‘tude. . We cracked on through the Roaring Forties and were doing well, doing twelve and thirteen knots occasionally. We swung royal and gaff topsails, and the ship became a brute to steer. It was mid-winter in these latitudes, and it was cold and miserable. Day followed night, and with the wind about W.S.W. and a high following sea, the ship was continually full of water. Still we cracked on; every sail that could be used was on her. Two men were at the wheel all the time. Hard westerly gales with snow and sleet squalls blew unceasingly. Often the ship was washed fore and aft when huge combers came aboard-in fact, she was like a half-tide rock. No dry clothes, no way of drying them, no bogey to get warm on, and wet and miserable all the time. And still we cracked on; even doing sometimes fourteen knots, "We will sure beat the barque easily if we go on like this," said our captain. In the meantime the two mates had been getting in good work with the crew. By constant reiteration, punctuated with plentiful applications of boots, leather, and fists, the crew had gathered a workable knowledge of pidgeon English as spoken on a ship where the crew is mixed. The members of the crew did not hang together, neither did they trust each other, and the result to them was chaos,

Kivery day somebody got it, and she was a perfect blood-ship. The mate had gathered the sheath-knives of the ; crew and had cut the points off them, so while they were of use for sailors’ / work they were no use for stabbing purposes. In those days sailors wore sheath knives. These days they wear gloves. Then my turn came, One day I evidently did not move quick enough to

suit the mate and he gave me a crack. f I jumped back to return it, when the second mate,, who was close handy, struck me on the side of the head with the thick end of u marline spike, and down I went. "Hold him down, mister," yelled the mate and the second mate ‘caught me by the two ears and held me down. I was too dazed to resist, and the chief mate then proceeded to kick my slats in-which is American for kicking a man’s ribs in. The mate made a very good job of me; finally finishing by kicking me once or twice in the face. I was a holy mess, and I lay there dazed for a little while until one of the Greeks helped me into the foc’sle. "Why you no put knife?" he said; and though I would not do this, still I registered a. vow to get even, * Then the trouble came. It was Sunday about 4 a.m., and the watch was being changed. All hands had been © on deck all night, for the wip’ #had tacked to the S.W. We were s ning with all sail set-a sea ‘ke 2 mountain. It was a howling hurricane with dreadful squalls. Two men were at the wheel. A heavy squall was coming from.the S.W. We could hear the roar of it as it came. "Hard up, hard up," yelled the captain. "Let go gaff topsail halyards. Let go royal halyards. Slack up the | spanker sheet," he roared, "Hard up / that helm." The men at the wheel did: their best, and just then the squal struck us. The captain grabbed the wheel to assist and he gave it a mighty heave, Crash, crash, was heard heneath the counter, and the rudder carried away. Relieved of all restraint (Continued on opposite cover page.)

Southward Bound! (Continued, from page 24.) _from the helm, the ship raced: up intoihe. wind, shipping huge. seas as she ; did so. Crash, bang, crash, and the fore: roydl and gallant mast went over . the side, taking the yards and jibboom.. This was followed by the main topmast, which fell on deck with a dreadful crash. Then the huge mizzen mast, . the heaviest spar on board, carried away about forty feet. from the deck, "and with a thunderous roar came down on deck, bringing: with it the spanker with its heavy gaff and boom. It was a_bell.of, a mess, What with the crash of spurs break: ing and the thunder of the heavy can~ vas blowing away, and the roar of the. sea-as it came aboard in htiige masses, and ‘the intense darkness, the whole position wis indescribable. Then our captain. showed his calibre, Under his orders ‘the yards . were braced up and the main sheet hauled in. The vessel came right to the wind and wi commenced to look about-us. We were a lame duck, indeed-no rudder, two-thirds of out spars broken‘or damaged, and nearly every sail gone. or split. The mainsail, the lower topsail, and fore topmast staysail were the only sails left. We cleaned the ship up as best. we could, and close-reefed the mainsail: She was now on the starboard tack, reaching away toward the southward, making about three or four knots... We hid little or no control over her, We quickly secured what was left of the mizzenmast, and secured everything else about the decks. Two heavy wooden wuter tanks which were 16 feet slong each had broken from their beds, bursting their heavy iron bands, and had crashed through the lee bulwarks. We were in a holy mess, all hands being more or. less injured, We tried to get her around as we were making about true south, nearly 100 miles.a day, but she would not stay. The latitudes of forties: soon became fifties, and things were looking serious, for at this rate she would soon make the region of ice and eventually the Ice Burrier. It was cold and miserable and there was always the danger of ice. When we were well into the fifties the weather cleared up and the sea became smoother. We often tried to get her around, but she seemed determined to investigate the Ice Barrier. It was in lat. 62 deg. south that we eventually succeeded. We had been trying nearly null day to get her around, but she wgildn’t Gome, and toward evening the had grown light and finally died away. About 10 p.m. we noticed that she was slowly getting around to the eastward, By 11 p.m, she was around to N.E., and a light breeze came up from the N.W. We braced her up to this. She was. now heading about N.N.E., and the wind increasing it backed. to the westward. We now put on. all sail thats we could and away she went to the north. We bent a trysail on the,mizzen, and she Was now under _foresail and fore-lower-topsail. foretopmast. staysail, main staysail. mainsail, and mix-trysail. By skilful trimming of sheets and braces we kept her to the northward, and she wis now doing about five knots. We still had no rudder. + ‘We raced-across the Roaring F orties, aud you :can imagine our feelings of thankfulness when wwe. crossed into the

Thirties and after .a few days with no sights we found we weresin 37 8S, We had made ‘fifteen hundred miles of latitude with no rudder. "Thank God," said the Old Man; Being now in fine weather, Wwe proceeded with the construction and shipping. of a jury rudder, and under the captain’s direction we made a good job of it. A spare-spar was cut into yarious

lengths, which were fastened together by driving lengths of rod iron through them. his rod iron we got-ont of the cargo. Now we had to ‘wait for a quiet day to ship it, and ‘it soon came. The sea was dead calm, so we gof our rudder with its rigging aud gttys into position and hove it oyer the side. We hauled it through the rudder trunk, and the various guys being hauled

tight, we soon had it into position. We now fixed it on to the wheel and were set. ; : Soon we got a nice breeze, and ~wé set a course for Port Louis, Mauritius. We had light winds all the way, which was lucky-for us, with our jury rudder. We finally arrived off the lightship at Port Louis Mauritius, and were towed in. I¢ was November 15, and we had been nearly one hundred and eighty days at sea, Here we discharged our cargo and underwent. repairs, but we

did not get either a new miazzen-mMast or main-topmast. We had repaired the sails on the drift, and the ship was clean. The captain put three of us in’ hospital for a week or two really to have a rest. It was here discovered that I had two ribs fractured. This was probably due to the mate's and second mate’s kind attentions, and I register ed a vow. Of course, the doctor told the captain, and the captain asked me if I would make a | complaint, but I refused, saying that I: would "butter my own bread." Ie seemed pleased at this, When I . went back to the ship I found there had been troubled, and the captain had decided to discharge the second mate. When I found that he had gone I askel — ‘ perniission to gomshore. It was granted, and I found the second mate in the bar of the Harbour Lights, a sailors’ resort, kept by a Greek. He was brag: ging about what he had done to the crew of the vessel he had just left, When he saw me he tried to get away, but I wouldn’t let him. When he had finished I had fulfilled half of my-vow. We stayed in Port Louis till just hefore Christmas. Mauritius is a lovely island, famous for its sugar and its hurricanes.’ It is also the resort of all yessels who suffer in these hurricanes. It is indeed the home of the Lame Duck. -It is also noted as the scene of that wonderful book, "Paul and Virginia." Its fruit and gardens are Well, we left this paradise of the ‘tropics the day before Christmas, bound foy our original port. We had done certain repairs, but not everything, the expense. being too great. ~ Five days after we left we struck 2 hurricane, and more trouble ensued. We lost the royal yard, a few more sails, and sprung the fore lower mast. We finished this and proceeded. We wer) now Crippled once more, and it was under very easy sail we again made our way along the roaring forties. | About the end. of March we made Port Chalmers, over ninety days from Port Louis. The tow boat met us at the Heads, ahd towed us up to Dunedin. Here I fulfilled the other portion vf my vow, as far as the mate was concerned, This trip broke our captain’s heart. He was too old to stand this sort of thing. While here we learned that the Kathleen Hilda had comfortably. run out in ninety-eight days, not losing 4 . rope yarn on the way, whilst we had taken 807 days to do nearly the same trip, and had made our port crippled. ‘Our captain paid.up all right, but he was 2 sore man. The KHnor Vernon was sold to John Mills, Port Chalmers, who sold her +o the U.S.S. Company, who used her for "many years as a coal hulk. She wis burnt at one ofthe islands putsidée Auckland Warbour, about eighteen months igo. The Kathigen Tilda ran intercolone ial for many years, J. J, Craig, Ltd, bought her, and changed -her name to the "Alexander Craig. She, too, finished up as a. coal hulk, and was bréken up and burnt about four years ago.