Chapter XIV: Part II: “the Wool Clippers.” (3)

Mr. Walker lived at Hackney and later at Snaresbrook, and he used to arrive at the docks punctually at 9.30 every morning. By this time the decks of all the Walker clippers in port had been washed down, the ropes Flemish coiled, the brass polished and everything was in order for his inspection. And everything had to be in perfect order, for he had an eye like a hawk and nothing escaped him: the least thing wrong or out of order and he was sure to detect it. His captains used to assemble together to meet him and make a daily report on their ships. After Mr. Walker had made his inspection it was the long-established custom for his captains to conduct him to the West India Dock Station, where he entrained for his day’s work in the City. In the spring when most of the ships were home, this procession of Mr. Walker and his captains from the docks to the station was a well-known sight of the neighbourhood and was referred to as “Mr. T. B. Walker and his satellites.”

Walker’s Clipper Barques.

Mr. T. B. Walker’s long connection with the Tasmanian trade began in 1851-2 when he despatched the brig _Arnon_, of 338 tons register, to Launceston. She was commanded by Captain Benjamin Fowler, a brother-in-law of Mr. Walker’s; she arrived out of season and lay in port for some months waiting for the following season’s wool, during which time Captain Fowler married a daughter of Captain William Nielley (late 40th Regiment), of Rostella, East Tamar, Launceston, and by so doing set an example which was followed by quite a number of Walker’s skippers and officers. To name only a few, I may mention Captain Barwood, who succeeded Fowler in the _Arnon_ and is, I believe, still living in Tasmania; Captain Wittingham, who was lost in the _Lanoma_; Captain Smith, of the _Westbury_; and Captain Brown, of the _Corinth_. To return to the _Arnon_, on her return trip besides wool, she carried the mails and a large shipment of gold.

On his arrival home Captain Fowler transferred to Walker’s new barque, the _Henry Reed_, of 495 tons, and finally commanded the _Alfred Hawley_, another new barque of 420 tons. Captain Fowler retired early from the sea and settled down in his native town, Scarborough, where he took a great interest in municipal and local affairs, becoming in turn Alderman and Mayor, and lived to a good old age, being greatly respected and esteemed by his fellow townsmen.

In the early sixties Walker kept three ships in the Launceston trade, the _Durnstan_, _Fugitive_ and first _Westbury_, all small wooden barques. He also had ships in the Queensland trade; most of his ships were built by Pile, of Sunderland, as the following list of his later ships will show:—

+-------+--------------+-------------+-------+---------------------+
| Date | Ship. | Description.| Tons. | Builders. |
| Built.| | | | |
+-------+--------------+-------------+-------+---------------------+
| 1863 | _Arab Steed_ | wood barque | 635 | Pile, of Sunderland.|
| 1866 | _Araunah_ | „ „ | 448 | Gardner „ |
| 1867 | _Westbury_ | iron „ | 493 | Pile „ |
| 1868 | _Decapolis_ | „ „ | 632 | „ „ |
| 1869 | _Berean_ | comp. „ | 526 | „ „ |
| 1870 | _Corinth_ | „ „ | 614 | „ „ |
| 1873 | _Barossa_ | iron ship | 968 | „ „ |
| 1876 | _Lanoma_ | „ barque | 665 | Austin „ |
+-------+-------------+--------------+-------+---------------------+

The Beautiful Little “Berean.”

The best known, as well as the fastest, of all Walker’s barques was the beautiful little _Berean_. She was built by Pile, of Sunderland, on similar lines to the tea clippers _Maitland_ and _Undine_, and was launched in August, 1869. She was a 19-year A1 ship, and so fine was the shipwright’s workmanship that when she was 18 years old and due for remetalling, Mr. Spencer, Lloyd’s senior surveyor, who was superintending the work, asked Captain Wyrill when she was last caulked, to which he got the reply:—-“On the stocks before launching.” Mr. Spencer could hardly believe this surprising statement; he had the seams of the topsides put to the severest test, but was obliged to admit that they could not be improved, his opinion being shared by the master caulker. And the _Berean_ continued to the end of her career without being recaulked; even after years of carrying heavy ice cargoes when owned by Norwegians, it was not deemed necessary to touch her seams.

_From a painting in possession of the late Captain John Wyrill._ ]

Her registered measurements were:—

Net tonnage 526 tons.
Gross tonnage 542 „
Under deck 506 „
Length 160.5 feet.
Breadth 30.2 „
Depth 17.2 „

She had a raised quarterdeck 43 feet long. This was laid with New Zealand Kauri pine planking, 4 inches wide, extending the full length without a butt, and what is more without a knot. All the deck fittings, houses, fiferails, skylights and topgallant bulwarks were of selected teak, the bulwarks being panelled with fretwork designs. The boats also were of polished teak; in fact, the only bit of painted wood about the decks was the longboat chocks. Even the bunk boards and lining of the foc’s’le were of teak.

The _Berean_ carried skysails for many years, and the following are her spar measurements:—

+-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
| Spars. | Foremast. | Mainmast. | Mizen |
| | | | mast. |
+-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+
| | ft. | ft. | ft. |
|Mast (deck to truck) | 112 | 116 | 93 |
|Lower mast (deck to cap) | 50 | 54 | 50 |
|Doublings | 12 | 12 | 9 |
|Topmast | 38 | 38 | 29 |
|Doublings | 6.6 | 6.6 | — |
|Topgallant, royal and skysail masts| 42.6 | 42.6 | 23 |
|Lower yard | 62 | 62 | — |
|Lower topsail yard | 55 | 55 | — |
|Upper topsail yard | 50 | 50 | — |
|Topgallant yard | 40 | 40 | — |
|Royal yard | 30 | 30 | — |
|Skysail yard | 23 | 23 | — |
|Spanker boom | — | — | 44.6 |
|Spanker gaff | — | — | 44 |
|Bowsprit and jibboom | 48 | | |
+-----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------+

_Berean’s_ best point of sailing was with a whole sail breeze and smooth water, the wind quarterly or 2 points abaft the beam. Her best run in the 24 hours was 315 miles. She was, of course, too small and hardly powerful enough to equal the larger iron clippers when running down the easting, but in moderate weather there were not many ships which could show her their sterns. The following sailing records will give some idea of her powers:—

Equator to the Channel 17 days.
First 4 passages out averaged 77 „
First 4 passages home averaged 84 „

In sailing round the world from 30° S., 20° W., to 30° S., 20° W., her yearly average was from 80 to 85 days, her quickest circle of the globe being 76 days.

Her best outward passage to Launceston was:—

71 days pilot to pilot.
68 days land to land.

In 1881-2 she ran from Launceston to the Lizard in 79 days. During her first 14 voyages, all her passages were under 90 days. She generally left the West India Docks in May and was back in the Thames about the following March.

Captain John Wyrill.

Captain John Wyrill, who, I am glad to say, is still hale and hearty, took _Berean_ from the stocks and only left her when she changed her flag. He is one of the few sailors left of the good old sort, for he has the distinction of never having served in a steamship. Coming from one of the foremost seafaring families in Scarborough, Captain Wyrill went to sea as far back as 1850; his apprenticeship indentures were for seven years, but he was an acting second mate within three years of his going to sea.

His first command in T. B. Walker’s ships came about in rather a curious way. He was appointed to command a ship, belonging to Mr. Hodgson Smith, the father of Scarborough’s present harbourmaster, in place of a captain who was ill. This ship lay in a South Coast port, but on Captain Wyrill arriving there to take up his command he found that the sick skipper had recovered and sailed on his voyage. Mr. Smith thereupon introduced him to Mr. T. B. Walker and his brother Henry Walker, who, by the way, were natives of Scarborough. Through them he obtained command of a ship called the _Lady Stanley_, his next command was the _Asphodel_, then the _Velocidade_, which he left to take the _Berean_.

Captain Wyrill circumnavigated the globe no less than 36 times, and was 44 years in command of sailing ships, for 42 of which he was in the Tasmanian trade. Indeed no history of Tasmania’s rise to her present prosperity and importance would be complete without some mention of the _Berean_ and her commander. And when it was known in Launceston that Captain Wyrill was leaving Tasmania homeward bound for the last time, with the intention of retiring from the sea, a meeting and public send-off was arranged and a purse of sovereigns and an illuminated address were presented to the veteran captain by the Mayor of the town after several eulogistic speeches, in which Captain Wyrill was referred to “as one of the most popular men ever connected with the shipping of Launceston.” Like many another sailing ship captain, Captain Wyrill was no mean surgeon and the setting of broken limbs at sea held no terrors for him. He once made a very good job of his second mate’s broken arm.

The _Berean_ was so free from accidents at sea that after she had been afloat some years the underwriters at Lloyd’s offered to insure her at a specially reduced premium. Her most serious misfortune, whilst under Captain Wyrill, occurred whilst she was towing up to the docks from Gravesend. A large ship ahead suddenly took the ground and the _Berean_ was unable to clear her, the collision costing her a new bowsprit, besides damages to figure-head and cutwater. Her narrowest escape from shipwreck was owing to a wrong light in 1888 in no less a place than the Channel. _Fairplay_, in criticising the misdeeds of Trinity House, gives the following account of the incident:—

The _Berean_, Captain Wyrill, left London for the Colonies in the
fall of last year. Before sailing the captain received from the
Board of Barnacles notice that the light on St. Catherine’s, Isle
of Wight, was to be altered in October from a fixed oil light to an
electric flash with intervals of about five seconds. The captain,
like a prudent man, entered this on his chart, so that it should not
be overlooked. Before he left the Colonies, another notice of the
impending change was given him, and he was well armed with timely
advice. He made his homeward voyage, and calculated he was off the
Channel. He had not been able to get an observation for three days,
but he felt sure of his position, and he shaped a course right up
Channel for Beachy Head. A strong S.W. wind was blowing, and the
weather was thick and dirty. When he judged he had run his distance
to Portland, he bore up a little for the English land to catch St.
Catherine’s light, and word was given to look out for the bright
electric flash. No such light was visible and the vessel was still
kept away. Presently a dim light was seen 2 points on the starboard
bow. At first this light looked green and was taken to be the
starboard light of an approaching ship, and the helm was starboarded
a little to give more room. A little time showed that idea to be
wrong, and eyes were still strained to catch St. Catherine’s with no
result. Then the light seen was taken for a steamer’s masthead light,
but that notion did not do, and it was quite clear that the light,
let it be what it might, was a fixed shore light. Over went the lead,
and the soundings showed the shore to be handy, but what shore? Or
what part of the shore? Clearly not off St. Catherine’s, because
according to notice given there could be no fixed light there.

The course and soundings would have agreed with the French shore in
the neighbourhood of Cape La Hogue. Something had to be done, and
quickly. The light was getting clearer but no land could be seen.
If the vessel was on the French coast it would be fatal to haul her
wind, if on the English coast it would be destruction to bear up.
What was to be done? Over went the lead again. Twelve fathoms. That
was enough, thank you. There was too much sea on to stay the ship
in a hurry, so the captain wore her round and stood off on the port
tack to get back where he came from. The compass soon showed that
the flood tide was setting the vessel in by the light, and there was
nothing for it but to wear again and get out past the light on the
old course, if it could be done. The captain took the wheel, and
calling to the crew to pull hard if ever they pulled in their lives,
sent her round again. It was hit or miss, but the vessel was smart,
and was smartly handled. She came round like a duck and just managed
to go clear of the light, which after all, turned out to be St.
Catherine’s. It had never been altered.

The “Berean’s” Races.

In her 27 years of sailing out to the Antipodes and home, the _Berean_ had many a contest with clippers twice her size, in which she gave a very good account of herself.

Captain Wyrill gave a very interesting description of three of these encounters in the _Nautical Magazine_ a few years ago, and I do not think I can do better than quote his own words. He writes:—

Coming home from Tasmania in the _Berean_ early in 1870, about the
equator and nearing the tedious “variables,” alias “doldrums,” alias
“horse latitudes,” we overhauled the clipper ship _Yosemite_, from
San Francisco for United Kingdom for orders. Her captain signalled
for permission to come on board, and a prompt reply of welcome
went up. The captain reported himself tired and restless, that he
was racing home with two or three ships, and was anxious to know
what vessels we had spoken. My list was produced, but none of his
competitors was in it. After a pleasant visit the captain returned to
his ship giving me the names of two of his antagonists.

_Berean_ gradually crept away from _Yosemite_, and in about two
days she had dipped below the horizon, but was still visible from
aloft. By this time we were coming up with two ships, which, by their
spread of stunsails, water-sails, Jimmy Greens, etc., were evidently
in a great hurry. In exchanging signals they proved to be the two
vessels racing the _Yosemite_, viz., ship _Lady Blomfield_ and
barque _Cerastes_; the latter was slightly ahead. We passed within
hail of the _Lady Blomfield_, and when I reported the _Yosemite_ not
far astern the captain was greatly excited. Throwing up his cap, he
exclaimed, “Go and tell the other ship there is a bet of £100 between
them.”

A hand went aloft and pointed out the _Yosemite_ astern. Shortly
after we sailed alongside the _Cerastes_, but the captain took the
news of the racer’s proximity very calmly and seemed to be surprised
she was so near. We gradually got away from these two ships and
saw no more of them. On arrival in the English Channel I sent a
report ashore which appeared in the _Shipping Gazette_, and I found
considerable interest was being taken in this race. I was interviewed
by _Yosemite’s_ agents as to my opinion which ship would win. Two
or three days after _Berean_ arrived in London _Cerastes_ reached
Queenstown, and was the winner of that race.

In 1893, homeward bound from Tasmania to London, Lat. 19° S., Long.
22° W., _Berean_ fell in with Geo. Thompson’s Aberdeen White Star
clipper _Samuel Plimsoll_ from Sydney to London; strong S.E. trade
wind, squally. At daylight the two ships were exactly abeam of each
other, and throughout the day neither could gain an inch. (The old
man of the _Samuel Plimsoll_ stamped up and down his poop all day in
a very excited state of mind and kept exclaiming, “A little thing
like that hanging on to me like a flea and I cannot shake her off.”)
The royals were frequently lowered during the squalls and hoisted
again when they had passed. _Samuel Plimsoll_ steering slightly more
easterly, the two ships gradually closed, and if the respective
courses had been continued must have collided. _Berean_, being the
windward ship, was bound to give way, so at sundown she was shaken
up in the wind and the _Samuel Plimsoll_ allowed to pass ahead. At
daylight next day, the Aberdeen clipper was well out to windward and
slightly ahead, and in that bearing the ships parted, seeing no more
of each other.

Unfortunately, in the chops of the Channel, _Berean_ was surrounded
with a fleet of herring nets, some of which clung to her the rest
of the passage impeding her speed. _Samuel Plimsoll_ arrived at
Gravesend an hour or two ahead, but being too early in the tide had
to anchor. _Berean_, being of lighter draught, passed her and was
first in dock. But for the detention through fouling the nets, in all
probability these two ships would have reached Gravesend together
after a race of 6000 miles.

In 1895, when outward bound to Tasmania and in the doldrums north
of the equator, _Berean_ fell in with the four-master Loch liner
_Loch Carron_, bound to Adelaide. The two ships after a chat with
signals parted on opposite tacks and did not sight each other again
until crossing the Great Bight of Australia, when at lunch one day
the welcome cry of “Sail-ho!” was heard. Going on deck the chief
officer and myself naturally looked ahead for the stranger, but a
ship on our starboard quarter was pointed out. _Berean_ was steering
due east for Tasmania with the wind right aft, the worst point for
fine-lined ships, head sails all becalmed; the _Loch Carron_ hauling
up for Adelaide was carrying the wind 2 or 3 points on the quarter,
all sails drawing, and was gaining on the _Berean_. When she got
into our wake she kept off on the same course as if intending to
speak, but finding she could not gain on that course hauled to again,
crossing astern, and with the difference in the courses the two
ships were soon out of sight of each other. The picture of the _Loch
Carron_ as she sheered away under all sail, scattering the feathery
foam from her bows, still lives, forming one of the series of mental
photographs an old sailor naturally collects.

Another still more interesting meeting was with the famous _Thermopylae_. Both ships were outward bound, and the _Thermopylae_ overhauled and passed the _Berean_ to the southward of the Cape, the weather being unsettled, and the _Thermopylae_, being able to bear more sail than the little _Berean_, soon went out of sight ahead. Nevertheless she only passed Cape Otway 17 hours ahead of the _Berean_, so Captain Wyrill was not quite broken-hearted.

On another occasion the _Berean_, when outward bound, crossed the southern tropic in company with Green’s _Melbourne_ (afterwards the well-known cadet ship _Macquarie_) and the little barque arrived in Launceston two or three days before the big iron ship arrived in Hobson’s Bay.

Again, when homeward bound, the _Berean_ was passed off the Falkland Isles in a strong breeze by Green’s fast Blackwall frigate _Windsor Castle_, nevertheless the _Windsor Castle_ docked in London four days later than the _Berean_.

All the above trials of speed were with vessels very much larger and more powerful than Mr. Walker’s clipper barque, but the _Berean_ once had a very interesting race round the world with another well-known barque, the little _Harriet McGregor_, of 331 tons, belonging to Hobart. The two ships left Tasmania together, and the _Berean_ arrived at Gravesend, 90 days out, beating the _Harriet McGregor_ by a week. On the return passage, the _Harriet McGregor_ was loaded first and got away about nine days ahead of _Berean_, but again Walker’s clipper got in ahead of her, this time by one day only, after making the run to Launceston in 77 days.

“Berean” as an Ice Carrier.

Mr. T. B. Walker died in 1894, and all his ships were sold two years later.

_Berean_ went to the Norwegians and was employed for the next 14 years carrying ice from Norway to the Thames. Captain Wyrill took over the _Eden Holme_ and some of his old hands went with him. He was hauling into the London Dock after his first voyage to Tasmania in the _Eden Holme_, when the poor little _Berean_ under her new flag was hauling out; and the change for the worse in the old ship was so marked that one of her old crew remarked to Captain Wyrill with tears in his eyes:—“There she is, sir, but she looks very different from what she was when _we_ had her.” Nevertheless, though uncared for, the _Berean_ still continued to make good regular passages, and was a constant visitor to the Regent’s Canal Dock. But in 1910 she was run into by a foreign steamer below Gravesend, when inward bound from Langesund, and was towed ashore in a sinking condition. This was the end of her active career, for she was now condemned, and after being patched up went to Falmouth as a hulk. I saw her there not many years before the war, and the marks of the thoroughbred were still plain to be seen.

Loss of the “Corinth.”

The _Corinth_, Walker’s only other composite ship, was lost by spontaneous combustion.

In the year 1890 she sailed from Launceston, in the wake of the _Berean_, with a cargo of wool and skins, under command of Captain Littler. When she was a week out and about 300 miles S.E. of New Zealand, signs of fire in the hold were discovered early on a Sunday morning. Prompt measures to fight the fire were at once taken, everything was battened down, holes were cut in the deck, through which the hose was led and the wool bales were soused with water; nevertheless the fire gained rapidly and at 10 o’clock the same night the ship had to be abandoned. The crew got safely away in two boats and headed for the New Zealand coast, but with little hope of making the land against the stormy weather of the prevailing westerly winds.

After they had been five days and nights adrift, the smoke of a steamer was sighted about sundown; then darkness set in. The provisions had become soaked in salt water but the shipwrecked crew had managed to keep a few rockets dry, and these were sent up one after the other in the hope of attracting the attention of the steamer. At last only one rocket remained, and after some discussion as to whether to risk it or keep it for a future occasion, it also was fired and was seen from the bridge of the approaching vessel. However, she showed no signs of having seen it in the way of an answering rocket or flare, so one can imagine the relief of the shipwrecked crew when her masthead and later her side lights were seen, steering end on for the boats. The steamer proved to be the _Fifeshire_, homeward bound from New Zealand, and she took the Corinth castaways right on to London.

A description of Walker’s iron barques will be found at the end of Part III.

The Little “Ethel.”

Perhaps the most familiar ship to old City men was the little _Ethel_, which under the command of Captain A. Ross ran for years with the utmost regularity between London and Tasmania, and when in the Thames always moored at Hayes Wharf, London Bridge. She was a composite barque of 556 tons and was built in 1866 by Pile, of Sunderland, and owned by Fenwick & Co., of London.

The Hobart Barque “Harriet McGregor.”

A still smaller ship than the _Ethel_ in the Tasmanian trade was the smart little _Harriet McGregor_, which had the “round the world” race with _Berean_. A. McGregor who built her was also her owner.

She was built at Hobart in 1871, and measured:—

Registered tonnage 331 tons.
Length 134.2 feet.
Beam 27.6 „
Depth 15.9 „

This little ship for year after year did the following annual round with the regularity of a clock. On Christmas day she left Hobart for London, loaded with wool and sperm oil. She returned to Hobart from London with general cargo at 40s. and often more. Then she ran across to Mauritius from Hobart with coal, and returned with a cargo of sugar, in time to get away on her usual sailing day for London.

The Fremantle Barques “Charlotte Padbury” and “Helena Mena.”

In the early days the Fremantle wool trade, including that of the Ashburton River and Sharks Bay, was all carried in the holds of fast clipper barques, such as Walker’s _Westbury_, _Decapolis_ and _Corinth_, and well worthy to be ranked with these were the _Charlotte Padbury_ and _Helena Mena_, both of which were well known and much admired in the London River for many years.

The _Charlotte Padbury_ was a wood barque of 640 tons, she was built at Falmouth in 1874 for W. Padbury, of Fremantle.

The _Helena Mena_ was a composite barque of 673 tons, and was built by Thomson, of Sunderland, in 1876, for J. Wilson, of London.

The _Charlotte Padbury_ was wrecked in April, 1903, and the _Helena Mena_ was sold to the French for £1275 in 1898.

These were two of the last of the wood and composite clippers, for by the early seventies every shipowner, however conservative, found himself compelled to go in for iron ships, if he was to compete successfully in the world’s freight market.

Footnote.

[B] The green with which the Aberdeen White Star ships were painted was a composite paint always known as Aberdeen green.