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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

The Bombay

page 199

The Bombay.

Craft of Many Storms—Dismasted and Towed to Auckland.

It is not generally known that the Bombay gave the name of Bombay to the settlement situated about 29 miles south of Auckland. Most of the early settlers in this district came out from England by the Bombay on her first voyage to Auckland in 1863.

the Bombay seldom had a fair chance when trading to New Zealand of showing what she was capable of doing, as on nearly all the voyages out she had the ill-luck to strike furious storms, either in the English Channel or later. the Bombay was a full-rigged ship of 937 tons, and flying the Shaw, Savill flag. On the four voyages she made to the colony she was under the command of Captain G. Sellars, a fine old gentleman and a skilful sailor.

On her first voyage to Auckland the ship sailed from Gravesend on August 26, and reached her destination on December 8, 1863. She encountered a heavy storm the day after sailing, and sought shelter at North Foreland. Sailing again on the 28th, she soon after met with a strong westerly gale, and was severely handled. She again ran for shelter, and finally left Falmouth Roads on September 3, a week after leaving Gravesend. She then experienced light contrary winds to the Equator, and met another severe gale when running down her easting.

the Bombay had a similar experience in the English Channel on the next voyage to Auckland. She sailed from London on November 26, 1864, and met with strong westerly gales, again sheltering at North Foreland. She lifted her anchor once more on November 30, but immediately ran into bad weather, and did not leave the Lizard light until December 8, twelve days after weighing anchor at Gravesend. the Bombay then had a fairly good run until ten days before reaching Auckland, when she was struck by a squall from the south-east, which carried away the bowsprit, the fore topmast with several yards, and the main topgallant mast and royal mast were sprung. A number of sails were blown from the yards, and altogether there was a pretty mess aloft. With considerable labour the wreckage was cut away, all speed being used, as it was feared that the heavy spars, with their attached iron work, would chafe a hole in the wooden sides of the ship. The next day the gale increased until it was blowing a hurricane. Nothing could be set except the upper topsail, and that was lowered down on top of the lower topsail yard. Early in the day the ship gave a sudden lurch in a more than usually severe squall, and to crown the misfortunes of the crew and passengers (there were 400 of the latter on board) the main mast went by the board and the mizzen mast was sprung. It was at first feared that the mizzen would follow the main mast, but eventually it was saved. Naturally this was a most anxious time for the passengers and crew. The ship was rolling fearfully, and the work of clearing the wreckage was terribly hard and dangerous. Later the starboard quarter boat was blown from the aft davit, and had to be cut away to prevent it doing further damage.

Welcome Help.

In spite of the buffeting the Bombay had received she was still keeping remarkably tight. During the night the ship lay hove-to with a tarpaulin in the mizzen rigging—all her canvas having been blown to ribbons—and all hands were hard at work straightening things as far as they could. In the morning the carpenter set about setting up some sort of a jury rig, and many of the passengers lent a hand where they could. At half-past seven the welcome sight of another ship appeared over the horizon. She proved to be the Circular Saw liner Constance, from Sydney, and her skipper (Captain Elliott) at once offered to give the derelict a tow. A line was passed and the tow commenced. Fortunately the breeze held in the right direction, and the strange pair—a smart barque and a sadly disabled ship—made steady progress.

By the time the Three Kings were reached the Bombay people had succeeded in rigging up jury gear, and they were able to get some sail on their vessel. They were in great luck, for the next day H.M.s. Curacoa hailed in sight, and Commodore Wiseman, taking the "lame duck" in tow, brought her safely into Auckland Harbour. There are, nopage 200 doubt, many of the passengers and their descendants still living in the Dominion, who will recall the anxious days experienced during this terrible storm.

It was four months before the Bombay was ready for sea again. H. Niccol and Sons had the contract, which included a fine set of kauri spars.

Another Dusting.

In 1866 the Bombay left London for Lyttelton, leaving the docks on May 5, and arriving on August 18. The passage was made in 105 days, or 94 land to land. When supplying a report of the voyage to the Lyttelton papers, Captain Sellars said he had experienced a succession of heavy gales throughout. The ship was nine days clearing the English Channel with light winds, and immediately after leaving Start Point the first westerly gale was encountered. On June 27 a heavy squall carried away the mizzen and topgallant masts. Three days later the main topsail tie broke, and the yard was broken in two. On July 16 the mizzen topgallant mast and yard was got up, and five days later the ship struck another furious gale, with a heavy cross confused sea, which broke on board and carried away a portion of the bulwarks and stove in the main hatch. A large quantity of water rushed below and greatly frightened the passengers.

Nine days later, on July 25, the Bombay was rolling heavily and taking in large quantities of water during another gale similar to the last, and in spite of all attempts to stop it the cabins were again flooded below. On August 5 the ship was labouring in another heavy gale. "Indeed," said Captain Sellars, "it has been gale, calm, gale, calm, rolling continually round, flying about round the compass, for the past six weeks." Just before sighting the Snares on August 15 the ship struck another severe gale, and then light variable winds carried her to an anchorage on August 18, 1866.

the Bombay made one good voyage to Dunedin in 1862. She sailed from London on June 17, and arrived on September 8, making the passage in 84 days.

The passages outwards by the Bombay were:—

To Auckland.
Sailed. Arrived. Captain. Days.
Aug. 26, '63 Dec. 8, '63 Sellars 104
Nov. 26, '64 Mar. 18, '65 Sellars 112
To Lyttelton.
May 5, '66 Aug. 18, '66 Sellars 105
To Port Chalmers.
June 17, '62 Sep. 9, '62 Sellars 84

Another vessel bearing the name Bombay, a boat of 400 tons register, arrived at Nelson on December 14, 1842, under Captain Moore. She had a tedious run of 135 days. It was, I believe, this same vessel which arrived at the Bluff in 1863. She sailed from London on August 1, and arrived on November 21, under Captain McLeod.