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SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1933. Volume 4. Number 1.
Argonauts of to-day 300 Miles Journey . .
Argonauts of to-day 300 Miles Journey . . .
The Heartease Adventure.
To journey three thousand miles in a 500-foot yacht requires more than average pluck, and yet that is what the crew of the Heartsease, the Auckland cutter, have done.
From Auckland to Tonga, to Suva, round the Fijian Islands, thence from Suva to Noumea, and on to Brisbane—that has been their itinerary.
In all those hundreds of miles down the Pacific seaways adventure must have crossed their path, and these extracts from a letter of one of the crew, Mr. H. C. Dixon, of Wellington, reproduced with his permission, make most interesting reading.
Here is his description of the journey from Suva to Noumea:—
Good-bye, Suva!
"Leaving Suva, we had a journey of some seven hundred and fifty miles ahead of us, Noumea being he next port of call. Our time of departure was about 10 a.m., and by daybreak the following day we dropped the last little knob of the Fiji Highland over the horizon.
"Moderate following winds and seas were the gift of the gods, and so we were in luck. This favourable weather was experienced throughout the journey, it being nothing more than a pleasant yachting cruise. On the morning of the fifth day we sighted Pine Island, the south-western reach of New Caledonia.
"By nightfall we had run past 'the island' and were lying outside the reef with all canvas furled, waiting for daylight to see us through the passage and on to Noumea, a distance of some 60 odd miles. With no pressure on 'top-side' of ship, we rolled all night and were very pleased when daybreak came and we were able to proceed. Our way lay through the reef, then on along the coast and through a long channel between When Island and the mainland.
"A terrific current was running through the reef passage, and we only just managed to make it. with engine running and all sails set. We gained about one knot in about seven, and to make matters worse, the outgoing tide meeting the incoming breakers made a choppy, overfalling sea. However, we soon worked our way out of that, and on we went, the tide changing later and pushing the ship along at a great pace.
"Running along the coast and up the channel, one could not help but think what a bleak and barren place, patches of red clay and barren hill forming the entire surface of the land. No green grass or waving tropical foliage here; just bleak bareness, with a few stunted cocoanut trees near the water's edge."
Then, again, this is a description of the run from Noumea to Brisbane:—
"Leaving Noumea at 10 a.m. on the Thursday, we were out of land sight by sundown of that day, well on our way to Brisbane, some eight hundred miles away. We were all in good spirits, for not only had the people of Noumea given us a rousing send-off, but we had Australia for a destination, which, I think, to a New Zealander sounds the next best thing to Home.
A Shark Is Sighted.
"The weather was favourable, following wind and Sea moderate, which continued till the fifth day out, when we ran into a dead calm. That day we spent in reading, playing chess and draughts, till sundown, when the monotony was relieved by the appearance of a ten-foot shark.
"We always have a way of dealing with these 'blighters.' but we like to get a little fun out of them first, if possible. This fellow, in the way apparently quite common to all of his class, swam around the ship, rubbing his sides and back against the bottom of the ship right up on the waterline. We, like a pack of school kids, ran around the deck following his progress, shouting and yelling the while, and nearly pushing one another over in the excitement. You get that way when cruising as we do; you see nothing now day after day, just the monotony of yourselves, the ship, the sea, and a few birds; so naturally a shark is worth watching.
"Trev. long since had gone below to get his .303. and was also running around; so we tossed the 'brute' a few odds and ends, which for the most part he ignored, and then the death sentence was passed.
"He was nearly more out of the water than in it; you could have leant over the side and stroked his back had you cared, so he presented no difficult target. One shot just above the breathers did the trick, his every movement stopped, just became paralysed, sank like a stone going down, down, down the clear blue water, till he looked like a small white star finally fading out of sight altogether. We had a tune on the old guitar and a song or two, then a darkness went to bed, but not for long. At 9 p.m. a breeze sprang up, so we clapped the canvas on her, and started on our way again. The wind freshened and kept on doing so, till by morning it was blowing a gale and the sea was running mast-head high—some forty feet or so. Fortunately the weather was still following, and so drove us on at increased speed rather than delayed us. This continued fill we finally ran into sheltered water after rounding Cape Morton, when we took on a pilot, and went on to
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the mouth of the Brisbane River.
"That gale gave us a bad time; there was water everywhere. Our bunks were wet and our clothes were wet. We couldn't cook food, and we couldn't have anything hot to drink, and it you wanted to lie down you had to hold on with both hands or he thrown all over the cabin. On Wednesday the first we had to put another tuck in the mainsail, and that's no joke. To go up on deck stripped to the waist, with water flying in all directions till you gasp for breath, to slacken away peak' and 'throat.' and then to haul on the reefing points and canvas, it's all really hard. The sail tosses you around as if you were a straw, not to mention the inconvenience of the ship's motion, and the canvas tears the skin off your knuckles. Try it; it's good exercise.
"We had that gale for company two days and nights, a period of discomfort for all. No decent food; only salmon eaten out of the tin with a spoon, and water; no sleep, and plenty of hard work to keep things going, even if it was only holding the tiller during your watch, for that took a bit of holding, too."
These few extracts show the magnitude of the adventure these six New Zealanders took, and make one realise that the Seafaring, adventurer still lives to-day.