Foot Of Water In Hold.

The gale moderated during the night, and on September 11 officers and crew set to work to repair the wheel, the upper gudgeon of which was found to he broken, while four chain plates were gone. Handspikes were lashed to the tiller. and the ship brought under command again. The upper jib was blown into ribbons from the gaskets during the gale, the spanker blown to pieces. and the ship lay to under the main topsail and foretopmast staysail. All the poop rails were washed away, and 12 inches of water was found in the hold, while the cabins were filled with water. The ship was pumped out, and as soon as they got steerage way on her, Captain Wood directed the ship to be steered for Mauritius. She had strong westerly winds but arrived in the harbour at Port Louis on September 27th.

After the damage had been repaired, the Soukar left Port Louis on Novemberpage 92 23, and had calms and light south-east winds for a few days, followed by moderate passage winds across the Southern Ocean. She passed Tasmania on December 31, for the next eight days strong easterly winds prevailed, with heavy seas, when westerly winds set in and the Snares were sighted on January 11th, Port Chalmers being reached on the 14th. On arrival at Dunedin it was found that Captain Wood's legs had been properly set by the steward and the Captain was progressing satisfactorily.

A passenger who came out to Wellington over fifty years ago, now residing in Auckland, has supplied me with the following interesting details of the voyage made in 1874 under Captain Adams. He writes:—

"I came out with my family, and on a fine bright August day we left dear old

the Soukar Alongside Wellington Wharf.

England to see what the New World was like. Prior to sailing we were housed in the immigration barracks for four days, and this was a real nightmare for many of the women who had been tenderly brought up. We sailed from Gravesend with 600 immigrants who had never seen the sea before, and to them the novelty of it seemed to ease their minds of the miserable feeling when in barracks. We took our final departure from Start Point, and experienced rough weather all the way to the Equator, when the ceremony of receiving King Neptune was given, and, numerous summonses having been issued, a goodly number underwent the ordeal of being shaved. The manner in which this was done was as follows: A sail was filled with water, and, King Neptune having come on board, a temporary throne was erected, and the king having taken his seat, read a proclamation calling on all single men who had been summoned to come forward. When they did not come voluntarily they were arrested and brought before the king, who immediately ordered them to go through the ceremony. The boatswain, who was the barber, in fancy dress, and having a piece of hoop-iron in his hand, a yard in length, made ready to operate. The victim was seized, and after having a thorough sousing of soap, etc., was taken backwards into the water, when two or three burly men immediately seized the unfortunate and gave him a thorough sousing.

"Previous to crossing the Line was the ceremony of 'The Dead Horse,' which meant that those sailors who had drawn their month's pay in advance had now commenced to receive pay, such as it was, from 1/ per month to about 2/5 per month. After crossing the Line we met with some strong winds, but nothing to speak of until we commenced running down our easting, when we encountered a very heavy gale, and to those not initiated to the fitting up of an emigrant ship in the early days it may be as well to explain that the different emigrants were distributed as follows: Single women, widows, etc., at the stern of the vessel; married couples in the main part; and single men forward. The fitting up was as follows: Bunks built one abovepage 93 the other, for single men and women, the laths running lengthways of the ship, and when not in use run up to the roof; the married quarters double, on the same principle, with only one partition between each couple—a number of children also. During the gale mentioned we had to heave-to, and the conveniences for the immigrants having been washed overboard from the deck it necessitated the using of 'tin hats,' and one can only imagine what it was to go below, all being battened down, and the suffering entailed it is not wise to describe. During the height of the gale twenty-six chain plates on the foremast were broken, and in order to prevent the mast from coming down the anchor chain was taken round the mast and through the scuppers. The single men fared very badly; one huge sea came on board, and entering their quarters filled it with two feet of water, and the unfortunates in the lower bunks had a most unpleasant time.

Several deaths occurred, and this had a very depressing effect. After this gale had abated we had fairly good weather until our arrival at Wellington. The passage lasted 102 days, and when we got into Wellington Harbour, in December, it was indeed a haven of rest. The writer of these few notes always looks back with deepest thankfulness that he came to this really fine country, and if only some of the immigrants now arriving by splendid steamers, with good food (which we had not, for on one occasion a shark was caught, and we had a portion of that; another time we caught a porpoise, and some steaks of this were a real treat), I think that they would more fully appreciate the benefits that they had."

Captain Adams had another rough experience on the run out to Lyttelton in 1876. the Soukar experienced fine weather until abreast of the Cape on December 23, when the wind veered to the west, and was blowing a perfect huricane. On the morning of December 24 the foretopsail was lost when trying to take it in. The maintopsail also blew clean out of the bolt-rope. Shortly after a heavy sea struck the ship, carrying away the fore topgallant mast, the flying jibboom, and port whisker; also a portion of the topgallant bulwarks, and made a clean sweep of everything movable off the poop. Capt. Adams and the chief officer were knocked down, and narrowly escaped being washed overboard. Two of the channel plates in the fore rigging were carried away from the stern. After two days of this terrible weather the gale moderated, and the vessel experienced fine weather until sighting the Snares on January 16.

In 1878 the Soukar was brought to Lyttelton by Captain Renaut, who attributed the long passage of 123 days to adverse weather, as the Channel was not cleared until eleven days after passing Deal, and to the stormy and unfavourable weather met with on this side of Cape Leuwin, as no less than 28 days were occupied in covering the distance between that point and the Snares. For sixteen days out of twenty-eight the Soukar had to contend against a heavy south-west gale.

Again in 1885 the Soukar met with severe gales in the Channel, and the pilot was not discharged until February 13, nine days after leaving Gravesend. On April 21 and 22, during another severe south-east gale, a heavy sea broke on board, doing considerable damage. The steerage passengers were battened down and the ship hove-to for several hours under bare poles.

Still another rough passage was experienced on the run out to the Bluff in 1887. Captain Croker reported the ship experienced stormy weather throughout, and oil bags were used with good effect. Towards the latter end of the voyage numerous heavy seas broke on board, smashing boats and bulwarks and rendering all fittings useless, the cabins being swamped on many occasions.

Following are the passages made by the Soukar to New Zealand:—