A fine little sailer for her size—she was only 764 tons—was the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's barque Glenlora, which was very well known in Auckland, to which port she brought several thousands of immigrants between 1874 and 1895, during which period she made nine passages from London to Auckland. the Glenlora was generally proclaimed a comfortable ship, and she

The Barque Glenlora.

was a consistent sailer. She completed no less than 27 runs to the Dominion, and only five of these exceeded 100 days. That is with the exception of one disastrous run, when the vessel was dismasted, and she was 215 days between London and Wellington, 47 days being spent at Mauritius, where the ship put in for refitting. Another exciting incident in the history of the little ship happened at the very end of one of her trips to Auckland, the Glenlora running plump on to Rangitoto reef, but fortunately floating off again without damage.

It was in 1872 that the Glenlora made her protracted trip to Wellington. She left Gravesend on August 8th of that year, and struck bad weather almost as soon as she cleared the English Channel, and again when between the Line and the Cape of Good Hope. But worse was to follow, and, after she had passed the Cape, she was struck by a squall, and lost her masts. Captain Culbert, who was in command, managed to get enough sail on her to bring her into port at Mauritius, and some idea of the damage done may be gathered from the fact that it took over forty days to get her ready for sea. She started out again on her voyage to Wellington on January 5, 1873, but the storm-fiend waspage 52 still on her track, and four days after leaving port she ran into a gale of hurricane force. The straining the ship encountered had the effect of slacking up her brand-new rigging, and the crew had the tedious job of bracing it up to keep things in their places.

During this bad weather the Glenlora met with a barque called Der Fuchs, from an Italian port, which had been so badly buffeted about by the gale that she was in a sinking condition, and her crew were much relieved when the British ship bore down upon her. The captain and crew of twelve, including four Lascars, were taken aboard the Glenlora. From then onwards the Glenlora experienced fair weather. Three days after leaving Mauritius the ship's doctor (Dr. L'Estrange) died from a dangerous fever he caught at the island. Owing to the protracted nature of the voyage the provisions did

The Storm-Tossed Glenlora.

not last out, and for several days before Wellington was reached the passengers were living entirely on rice. From the time the Glenlora left Gravesend until anchor was dropped in Port Nicholson 215 days elapsed.

Runs On Rangitoto.

It was four years later that the Glenlora had such a narrow escape from coming to grief when entering the port of Auckland. She was in command of Captain Mitchell, and arrived at the entrance to Rangitoto Channel on the night of January 16, 1877. It was a dark night with a light wind from the north-east, and the ship was doing about four knots under full sail.

Eight bells (midnight) had just gone, the watch had been changed, Bean Rock light had been duly reported on the port bow, and the captain was watching the peak of old Rangitoto and waiting until it bore east-by-north before straightening the ship to come up Rangitoto Channel. Suddenly the look-out man cried out "Hard a-starboard! Hard a-starboard! There's something ahead!".

Captain Mitchell sprang to the wheel, but he had scarcely pulled it over when the ship's forefoot grated, then "slithered up" over the rocks, and there the ship hung; hard and fast for'ard and afloat astern.

Awakened by the shock, the passengers soon came running up on deck, but they were at once reassured that there was no danger, and the captain ordered blue lights to be burned and rockets sent up.

Within twenty minutes of the stranding the steamer Lalla Rookh (Captain Somerville), then on her way to Coromandel, was on the scene. The spot where the Glenlora went ashore is a nasty rocky corner, and Captain Somerville naturally did not care about going in too close for fear he might get into trouble himself.

Floated Off.

Just then off came the pilot boat that had been attracted by the signals of distress sent up by the stranded ship, and the pilot, Captain Burgess, went aboard the Lalla Rookh and steered her alongside the barque.

Nothing could be done in the direction of getting the Glenlora off her uncomfortable berth at that stage, but just about daybreak she floated off on the rising tide and the Lalla Rookh took her in town.

Near the North Head they met the Enterprise coming out to help, and the newcomer making fast on the other side of the barque, the two steamers soon had her at the wharf, undamaged, much to the relief of the merchants who were expecting cargo by her, for those were the days when it took many months to fill orders.

Eventful Run Home.

the Glenlora had a rather eventful passage Home from Auckland in 1875. Mr. Albert G. Allom, who is now residing in Auckland, was a midshipman on board at the time, and he has supplied me with a few incidents of the voyage. The ship ran into very dirty weather off the Horn, with head winds. It was understood that Captain Le Vesconte had made a wager with the captain of a ship sailing a few days earlier that he would be round the corner (meaning Cape Horn) in less than twenty-one days. He ran very far south, and encountered a large number of icebergs. One morning at daylight the ship was surrounded by no less than thirteen huge bergs, and in order to clear them the ship had to be continually put about. As the nights were very dark it was a wonder the ship did not run into one, it being impossible to see further than the end of the bowsprit. Later the ship ran short of water, and put into Pernambuco for a fresh supply. Soon after getting under way one of the sailors fell overboard from the cat-head while assisting to get the anchors on board. No time was lost in manning a boat, and just as his comrades were about to assist him into the boat he was caught by a shark and dragged under.

Her Best Run.

The best run ever made by this little barque while in the New Zealand trade was between London and Nelson, seventy-nine days land to land and eighty-four days port to port. Her next best performance was from Glasgow to Port Chalmers, the run taking eighty-three days. On the passage out from London to Lyttelton in 1883-4, Captain Pitfield was found dead in his bed on March 31. The chief officer, Mr. Bowling, took command, and brought the vessel to Lyttelton.

From the following list it will be seen that the barque made several runs of between eighty and ninety days to the several New Zealand ports:—

Most of the illustrations of ships at Port Chalmers appearing in this book are from the studio of Mr. D. A. De Maus, who has a very large collection of the ships arriving at Port Chalmers from 1850 until 1900.