ADVENTUROUS CRUISE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 8 January 1931, Page 9

ADVENTUROUS CRUISE

NORWEGIAN YACHT

TWO AND ATIALF YEARS AT SEA

ARRIVAL AT AUCKLAND

AUCKLAND, 6th January. Arriving unheralded in the course of an adventurous cruise around the world, the Norwegian yacht Teddy, of Larvik, reached Auckland shortly before mid-day after a voyage of 26 days from Samoa. The onlv persons on board were Captain Erling Tambs and his wife and their nineteen-months-old son Antonio, who was born after the venturesome couple set out from their home at Oslo about two and a half years ago. Another member of the party is an intelligent-looking dog of rather obscure pedigree, whose real name of “Teddy lias been dispensed with by Captain Tambs in favour of “Spare Provisions.” The first intimation that the Teddy was coming to New Zealand waters was brought to Auckland early in September by Captain Salvesen, of the Norwegian steamer Penybryn. Captain Salvessen had met Captain and Mrs Tambs at Tahiti, where they had spent three months, and tliev informed him of their intention to visit Auckland about Christinas timo.

STRANGE-LOOKING YACHT

Since then little had been heard of the craft until 7 a.m. to-day, when the signalman at Tiri reported having sighted a strange-looking yacht. Later, Captain Tambs established his identity, and the Teddy was picked up off the Rangitoto beacon by the Auckland Harbour Board’s pilot boat Waitemata. and towed to Stanley Bay. There pratique was granted by the port health officer, and tlie vessel was cleared by the Customs officials, after which she was towed to the Queen’s Wharf, where she was an object of considerable interest throughout the dav. “I am afraid we are not looking at our best,” remarked Captain Tambs as he spared a moment from his manifold duties on deck to accede to a request to be photographed. He said that from Pago Pago they had the mosf trying trip of the whole voyage. Suffering from a poisoned finger, which had affected his arm to the shoulder, Captain Tambs had been unable to do anything after the first day out. Fortunately he had set a storm jib and trysail in place of the mainsail, and for 14 days the tiller remained untouched by human hand.

BOAT SAILED HERSELF “The Teddy sailed herself for that fortnight, and found her own way, which shows the advantage of having an old pilot-boat, such as the Teddy is,” remarked Captain Tambs. His wife was also ill. and neither of them put foot on deck, except to take a daily “shot” at the sun at noon to check their position. After that an improvement took place in the condition of Captain Tambs’s hand., and with better weather they made more progress. They reached Auckland without a chart, and for the last two days and nights there was no sleep for either of them, on account of the necessity for carefully making their way down the coast. Both Captain and Mrs Tambs are tanned from exposure to sun and wind since leaving Oslo. They voyaged first to the Canary Islands, thence across the Atlantic to the Dutch West Indies, through the Panama Canal, and southward to the South Pacific, where they spent many delightful months among what they described as the most beautiful islands in the world. Antonio was born at the Canary Islands. Apart from being a healthy and cheerful boy, he is probably for his age the most travelled child in the world. He does not talk much ; but his vocabulary already includes French, which he picked up as the result of his long stay at Tahiti, Norwegian, his parents’ native tongue, and English, which captain and Mrs Tambs speak fluently. 1 FOLLOWED BY SHARKS The couple are not in the least awed by their wonderful trip. Storms have little terror for them, so great is their confidence in the well-tested seaworthiness of their craft. The only incident which Mrs lambs regarded as exciting was the presence of large sharks, which followed the ship on the trip from Samoa. Antonio is always secured on the deck in a little canvas jacket attached to a line, and one day when he was dragging a line to which was tied a piece of coloured material at the side of the ship bis mother found him gazing intently overboard at a huge shark which was swimming right up against the vessel. She drove the monster off; but it come up on the other side, and followed them for days. BOAT BUILT BY A SCOT The Teddy is a stout ship, although she is over forty years of age. Originally she was a Norwegian pilot ship, and was built by a Scotsman living in Norway, Mr Colin Archer, whom Captain 'lambs described as the best builder of that type of ship that ever lived. She is 40ft long, and her beam of 14ft bin gives her exceptional stability, and a shape oE hull that is different from the usual class of pleasure yacht seen in the Ilauraki Gulf. She has a depth of 7ft 6in, and has a pointed stern, in which has been built a special navigating cockpit. A feature of the little ship is her rigging, which is about three times as heavy as that employed on small boats on tlie Waitemata; but although it bears ample evidence of the weathering it has received during the 17,000 miles already travelled, it is still serviceable. “It is really too heavy,” said Captain Tambs. “In Australia I intend to rerig and replace our mutton-leg mainsail with much lighter canvas. At present it is only one degree lighter than the heaviest in use.” ROOMY QUARTERS The quarters are roomy and comfortable. Four tanlcs, each holding about 146 gallons of water, are carried, and on one occasion, after a period of seven weeks at sea, there was still one tank full remaining. Tho usual provision were supplemented with fish of which plenty were caught. Captain Tambs says he is not going to make any records. He is just loitering around the world. His experiences arc being described in newspaper articles and in books, one of which, covering the voyage as far as Tahiti, has just been published by a leading Norwegian firm. Later, he hopes to amplify the narrative and publish it in English. He intends to stay at Auckland for about a month, during which time the Teddy will be overhauled and refitted. After that he is going to visit Australia, and does not expect to return to Norway for at least another 18 months or two years.