Fisticuffs.

The duties of a shipping reporter were a pretty fair training for the "ring" away back in the good old days. When I left the "Southern Cross." in 1865, five men were tried in my place within two years, and I sometimes had a brush with my rival for the time being. Once when clambering up the narrow companionway of a barque with my bundle of papers under my arm, I felt a tug. Turning round I was in time to see the rival reporter trying to make off with the parcel, so I was under the painful necessity of knocking the gentleman down the stairway, where the captain added some appropriate remarks.

Only a few instances are given of the many trips made during heavy gales to meet vessels, frequently outside of Rangitoto reef, on the darkest nights, and on those occasions when hugging the shore from Takapuna up we on several occasions ran ashore or touched a rock, necessitating either the waterman or the writer getting out to push the boat off.