Voyaging In 1877.

Some very interesting details concerning the passage of the Canterbury from Glasgow to Port Chalmers in 1877 are given in a letter I received from Mr. Andrew Gray, of Messrs. Gray and Cockroft, Auckland, who came out on that occasion, he being then a lad of twelve. Mr. Gray speaks very affectionately of the old ship, and as an instance of the deep impression made upon travellers by the old sailing ships as compared with the very sketchy impressions that one gathers in a trip in these days of steam and speed, it is interesting to know that he retains a most vivid recollection of what happened, and of the fascination of the shipboard life.

Even in those days cargo-broaching was known and Mr. Gray tells of a steward that awakened the suspicions of the chief from the fact that he always carried the slop bucket forward to be emptied. One day the chief made an investigation, and snugly lying in the bottom of the bucket was a bottle of grog that the steward had purloined from the lazarette. Put in irons, confined for two days, and then degraded to "brass man," was the punishment of the steward, and an apprentice was mastheaded on a charge of being accessory before the act, but at the solicitations of the passengers was pardoned by Captain Leslie.