FIFTY YEARS AT SEA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2722, 29 January 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

FIFTY YEARS AT SEA.

A MAKER OF MARITIME HISTORY C ATTAIN BERNECH’S RETIREMENT. Nature does not specialise in the matter of Austrian mariners, out when she does evolve one he is usually of the best. The unexpected so often happens, but who would have thought that the little lad of 13, Avho in the dim past sailed av-ay in a coasting schooner from the port of Trieste Avould one day find himself the veteran master of the U.S.S. Company’s fleet, Avith a splendid record behind him, and for the future an honored old age, in sight of the sea, in his home on the sunny heights of Roslyn. This (says the “Otago Daily limes ) is the position in which Captain John Bernech finds himself placed after having served in the Union Steamship Company in the capacity of master on xne coast of New Zealand for over 33 years. During this period lie has never had an accident worth mentioning, and his reputation for seamanship is second to none on the coast. Last October he came ashore owing to ill health, and he has recently undergone an operation. This, Avith the fact that lie has reached the ago at which masters resign from the company’s service, is responsible for his retirement. John Bernech, before the mast, ivent to and fro, in the old sailing ships lor many years, across the latitudes till one voyage he found himself in the barque Cambodia in the Southern Seas. This vessel was wrecked on the New Zealand coast on Christmas Day, 1866, and the crew, finding she was about to break up, abandoned her on the bar. Many seamen, after such an experience, would have, as it is called in maritime circles, “swallowed the anchor,” and gone farming or something. John Bernech ivent straight back to sea. After making several voyages in A’essels belonging to the old Panama Company, ho spent four years round and about Nelson, turning his hand to anything that offered. A good many things offered. Shipbuilding appliances were not, and the feats performed by amateur shipwrights and boilermakers Avith makeshift tools did great credit to their ingenuity, persistency, and strength. Mr Bernech came down (by sea, of course) to Dunedin in 18/1, and went before the mast in the Maori, 174 tons, one of tlio three vessels of the Harbor Steam Company. It Avould be interesting to see this little craft alongside the present flyer of the ferry service, 3399 tons, and 6500 i.h.p. Subsequently, from A. 8., Mr Bernecli Avas made second officer, and afterwards captain, of the Maori, This he affectionately refers to as his first command. He took set-vice .with the Union Steamship Company on the advent of that concern, aud Avas given command of the Beautiful Star on March 3, 1876.

The Beautiful Star was 177 tons gross, 119 feet long, 17 feet beam, 10 feet depth, and was built in a Northuraberland yard in 1862. Sho carried her engines well aft, so her funnel stood only a little forward of the nuzzen mast, rigged for the old-fashioned spanker. The fore and main masts carried fixed gaffs, and the sails, when not set, were brailed to the masts in slender cylinders reaching from the throat halyards to luff. A donkey engine stood just forward of tlio foremast and. drove the winch. She had a. “halfround” hurricane deck about midships, a small turtle-backed foc’sle, and the old-timer poop. Not much to look at beside the Marama, for instance; but ships, like all things else, are gauged by comparison, ancl in those days the Beautiful Star Avas numbered among the local leviathans. She AA-as one of the three steamers taken over from 1 the Harbor Steam Company of Dunedin by the Union rteamship Company of New Zealand on its formation in 1875. Captain Bernech was frequently transferred from one ship to another. He does not seem to have had much “tshore service.” His knowledge of the New Zealand coast soon became almost a byword, and accordingly his services were in request. Ho seems to have commanded in turn practically all the Union Steamship Company’s boats on the coastal runs. He can speak Avith an intimate knoAvledge of the Beautiful Star, two of the Maoris, the Maliinapua, Haivea, Flora, Rotorua., and later the Te Anau, Taraivera, Talune, the ill-fated Waikare, and the Monowai. He knows these vessels from stem to stern, understanding their various temperaments, and almost feels Avhat each. Avill do under certain and diverse circumstances.

For many years ho ivas with the Penguin bn the Dunedin-Wellington-Onehunga run, when .this was carried out by the Penguin. Haivea, and Rotorua. The Penguin, 824 tons, ivas built at Glasgoiv in 1864, and in 1880

ivas purchased by the Union Steamship Company from the Bird Line. She was lost, it Avill be remembered, in Cook Strait, in February, 1909. Captain Bernech spoke of his first trip as chief officer Avith tlie Maori m November, 1874, when, under charter, she made her way round the Middle Island, touching at the Sounds, and leaving the West Coast Then he ivas made master. Sometimes it would’be “south about,” and at other times “north aboutbut month in, month out, for a period of 35 years found liim somewhere off the coast ot New Zealand. He remembered taking a.party, after copper, to Dusky Sound. These fiords of the south have evidently laid tliei.r spell upon him. With a distant look in his eyes he ivas evidently once more on the deck of\ one ot his ships, treading again the tortuous passages. “I can see them,” lie said; “ah, I can see the headlands and the tide wash as plainly as though I Avas there.” Though—or, perhaps, because —he is not adept in the higher planes of navigation, his acquaintanceship with landmarks is almost incredible. To him the coast of New Zealand reads like a printed page, and the face of tlie ivaters, to most men so inscrutable, is to Captain Bernech an open book. It is said that even in the thickest fog he Avas never at a loss for his bearings. He seemed to know intuitively whither the currents set, and the place to a fathom where they would drift his vessel steaming at certain angles to Hiem. * [any men, notably fishermen, possess a wonderful knowledge, but few indeed have extended it to embrace the broken coastline of all New Zealand. Throughout the interview Captain Bernecli resolutely refused to say anything about parts he had played in trying moments. Though known to have been beset Avith countless storms and weathered them all Avithout sfraining a rope yarn, all ho would say Avar, •. “When it came on dirty weather I was there; that’s all.” Asked Avhich Avas the worst storm he had ever encountered, the captain made a mental search of the New Zealand littoral and the seven oceans, from which he returned with the information that the gales had been so many and so bad that he really could not particularise. Some men have a passion, others hobbies, but to this master mariner tlie sea lias been existence. He has lived for it, and, had it not been for liis extraordinary skill, and unerring judgment, he might have died for it. The obvious question was; “And AA'hat will you do now, captain, that you are no longer afloat.” He took in his house, his garden, with one comprehensive glance, and hold ut> his hands. “Man,” he said, “I can turn them t-o anything.” There were evidently visions of alterations and repairs Avith a nautical twist in them. And then liis gaze fell upon the ocean, broad and blue, beyond St. Kilda, and he sighed a little. Hillmen may desire their hills, but a mariner’s love for the sea ucA'or grows cold. With all his special knowledge, the immense quantity of priceless information he must have amassed, all those adventures lie declined to speak of — the deduction was. plain. “Why don’t you write a book?” asked the reporter. The captain laughed. “Why,” he exclaimed, “I would rather go out and do a hard day’s work than sit down and ivrite a letter even.” The following letter from Sir James Mills, managing director, of the Union Steamship Company, to Captain Bernech, speaks for itself: “Your connection with the. company has extended over such a long period, ancl has been in every Avay so satisfactory, that it is with feelings of more than ordinary regret that I admit you have readied the age at which masters retire from actn-e service in the company. It is now more than 33 years since you Avere appointed master d the Beautiful Star, so that you have had longer service as master- t-finn anyone else in the fleet. The directors have at all times felt the utmost confidence in your character and seamanship, while you have enjoyed in aii equal degree the esteem of your fellow officers. Your career has been marked by exceptional freedom from accident to those ships under your commandand now that you have recalled th<3 close of your period of active service it must be very gratifying to you to look back upon such a fine record. I have pleasure in saying that, as a practical mark of our appreciation of your services, the directors have granted you half pay for two years, from the Ist instant.” The letter concludes with the hope of the writer that Captain Bernech’s health will soon be quite restored, and that lie may be long spared to enjoy the rest he has so£well earned by long and faithful service. Captain Bernech has spent 50 years at sea, and has been connected ; iyith the rise of shipping in New Zealand from the days of the City of Dunedin and the old light draught paddle bqats rip till the present. He has been cine of the makers of New Zealand’s maritime history. Many will be glad to know that he has come through his operation remarkably well, and seems to be in a fair way to regain his health.