AN ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2544, 3 July 1909, Page 3

AN ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE

SHIP’S SENSATIONAL EXPERIENCE. TIDAL WAVE AND GALES. PUTS INTO PORT IN DISTRESS. A large full-rigged sliipi .put in an appearance off Hawaii, Auckland, shortly after three o’clot k last Monday afternoon in a very much disabled condition (as briefly reported by telegraph) and signalled for a. tug. Captain Gardiner, of the. s.s. Pelican, which was engaged in shifting logs at Kawau, noticed the signal,, and immediately proceeded out to the vessel’s assistance. On .arrival alongside the stranger proved to be the Leicester Castle, a full-rigged ship, bound from Monte Video, to Newcastle in ballast, .which desired to iput into Auckland for repairs. A towline .was thrown on board, and the disabled ship.was towed into port, anchoring in the stream off Mechanics’ Bay .at midnight. The shin had lost her fore top-gal-lant and the upper portion of her mainmast, and -was in a more or less battered condition, and the crew had had an adventurous and trying experience. According to the story to'd by Captain Robt. Brown, master of the vessel, to a New Zealand “Herald” representative shortly after anchorage, the eicester Castle left Monte Video on April 12, and all went well until she was eight days out. The shijn was then proceeding along under a light wind, when, without warning, a big tidal wave, estimated at 120 ft high, struck the vessel. Had the ship been fully loaded she must have met with serious consequences. As it was, she was thrown on her beam ends, and it was ‘fully 10 minutes before she righted again. Those on deck at the time the mountainous wave struck the ship were thrown off their feet, The (captain supposes that the disturbance was due to seismic action under the sea.

Nothing of further moment was experienced until Monday, April 26, when tempestuous weather was met with, the vessel then being in 41.18 degrees south and 3.45 west. At 6.10 a.m. that day, such \vas the force of the wind that the main ixip-gallant yard and sail were carried .away. The .storm raged for several days afterwards, but the ship safely weathered it, and made Cape Howe, on the Australian coast, on June 10. At eight p.nj. that day a strong gale, witli heavy running seas, set in, and continued throughout the night, increasing in violence as the hours progressed. Six o’clock on the following morning found the vessel laboring heavily in mountainous seas, and further damage was sustained to the masts, sails and rigging. The gale continued unabated throughout the day, but towards midnight it eased off, .and the. following morning found the vesse' off 'Montague Island, 150 miles south of Svdney Heads. " It seemed then that the vessel was te experience fine weather for the remainder of the voyage, but. on the morning of June 12 the gale set in, and continued with unabated fury for several days, during which the ship was ‘hove to. On the 16th the fore-topgal-lant crosstrees snapped, and later the fore-topgallant mast carried >awa v, bringing down the top masthe-ir and all yards, which hung over the side. These would have bqen removed at once, but the ship was laboring and straining so heavily that the captain deemed It unsafe to send the crow forward to cut the wreckage away. At six a.m. on the 17th a. steamer was sighted, and rockets were fired in order to bring her to the Leicester Castle’s assistance, hut the signals were ‘not noticed, and the steamer was soon lost sight of. At 6.30 p.m. the shttt 'met with further, disaster, her main top-gellantmast being carried away. The gale then appeared to have blown itself out, as on the 18th and 19th fair r ly moderate weather was experienced. During this time the vessel was hove to in order to enable the wreckage to be cleared away, and the captain then determined to go before the wind, which carried .him to New Zealand, Cape Maria being sighted on Saturday. Down the. coast the captain and crew, naturally had .a trying time, but they were favored with light winds, and made port as already stated. The Leicester Castle is an iron ship of 2067 tons register, and was built in 1882 by Messrs Oswald, Mordaunt, and Co., of Southampton. Her dimensions are as’ follows: —Length. 273 ft 4in: breadth, 40ft 3in; and depth. 24ft 2in. She is owned by Messrs J. Joyce and Co., of Liverpool.