Captain Adolphus Martin is Master and Part Owner of the auxiliary trading schooner “Waiapu,” running between Auckland, East Coast ports, and Gisborne. This vessel is one of the Skinner Line of schaoners, which also includes the “Gisborne” and “Aotea.” The “Waiapu” is fitted up with a fifteen horse-power gasoline engine, manufactured by the Union Company of San Francisco, which propels the vessel in ordinary weather from five to six knots per hour. Captain Martin was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 30th of October, 1859, and is the second eldest son of Mr. John Martin, watchmaker, of that city. After leaving school he was apprenticed as a mechanical engineer in the firm of Messrs Dixon and Co., engineers, of Gothenburg. Me remained with that firm for some time, and then decided to adopt the sea as a profession. He joined a German ship, the “Dolphine,” of Hamburg, which traded to London, and remained for several years on that vessel. Subsequently he was on the “Golden Horn,” of Boston, and the Liverpool liner, “Isle of Anglesea,” and arrived at Melbourne in 1877, by the “Dunnottar Castle.” Captain Martin then abandoned the sea for a year, and was engaged in various occupations, until he shipped upon the American ship “McNear,” page 451 of Boston, and made a voyage to Sydney in her. He afterwards shipped on the “Wave Queen,” of London, and upon that vessel's arrival at Lyttelton, he joined the New Zealand coastal service, sailed in various boats from 1878 to 1880, and was in partnership with Captain John Nicholas in the schooner “Minnie Hare.” This vessel was subsequently sold to Captain Thomas Hamilton Moore, a nephew of Mr. Moore, of Glenmark, Canterbury. Captain Martin was engaged from 1881 to 1884 in the South Sea Islands labour trade, during which time his experiences were most exciting and interesting. He returned to New Zealand and joined Captain James Smith, as part owner of the schooner “Saxon,” which traded to all parts of the Colony, and in 1892 he parted with his interest to his partner. Captain Martin then associated himself with Captain Skinner and became master of the schooner “Gisborne.” In 1894 he purchased a half share in the schooner “Waiapu,” which in September, 1895, was fitted up with one of the San Francisco Union Company's gasoline engines under his own personal supervision. During a cyclone, which swept over the southern portion of the North Island on the 17th of April, 1896, the schooner “Waiapu” was caught in the centre of the storm, but owing to the seamanship displayed by Captain Martin and his crew, she escaped the dreadful fate which befell the unfortunate ship “Zuleika” in Palliser Bay, and the “Pirate” off Portland Island. As a Freemason, Captain Martin was initiated in Lodge Kilwinning, No. 23, New Zealand Constitution, at Lyttelton, on the 19th of April, 1892, and took his third degree on the 21st of July, 1892. he is also a member of the Star of Auckland No. 26, American Order of Oddfellows, and joined his Lodge on the 30th of May, 1889. Captain Martin became naturalised on the 16th of April, 1885, during the Governorship of Sir William Jervois.