31 DECEMBER 1921, Page 18

A CLIPPER SHIP.* Tins is a book about a real

ship by a real seaman. It is a formless book; the proofs have not been read properly and the spelling of some of the words is ludicrous. Nevertheless, Captain W. H. Angel has an entrancing subject, about which he writes with deep knowledge. In all the long history of British mercantile shipping nothing appealed to the popular fancy more than the -clipper sailing ships—renowned for their

• The 'Clipper Chip • : Angel—afaster. ay Captain W. IL Angel.

Loudon : It Cranton. U7s, ed. net.]

tremendous spread of canvas, for their-rakish beauty, and for their speed. Sixty years or more ago the-Clyde, Aberdeen and Baltimore were the chief centres of the Britt& and American clipper shipbuilding industry. The voyages of-the clipper ships In the tea trade seized the imagination because the ships rushing home to put. heir cargoes as quiekly as possible upon the-market were in effect engaged in continual races across the ocean. People who had never seen a clipper in 'their lives grew excited as they waited for the news that the first of the clippers en-gaged

in a particular voyage had arrived. The clippers were, of course, built mainly for speed. They used to leave their foreign port in droves ; so that, although there was always a good deal of luck in the weather according to the course chosen, the result of the race depended as far as was humanly possible upon the handling of the ships.

Captain Angel's ship Sheila' was built for carrying coolies and not for the tea trade, but for her particular purpose speed was even more necessary. The owners had not only to feed

the coolies during the voyage—and they thus saved on a quick passage—but they were responsible for their health ; and the ship's doctor knew only too well 'that every unnecessary day at sea increased the risk of some outbreak of sickness. She was launched on the Clyde in 1877, and was named after the heroine in William Black's novel, A Princess of Thule, which was popular at that time. Captain Angel tells us that she was constructed of the best Gartsherrie iron and was the most expensive ship of her size ever launched. In the course of his narrative he gives us some reason to believe that she was

also the fastest. She used steam for all purposes except propul- sion. Captain Angel was instructed to superintend the whole of her fitting-out :-

" She was also to be extremely heavily rigged as regards masts, yards, booms, and sails, the injunction was to give hor as much as she could carry with a margin of safety. Her iron lowermasts and topmasts were in one piece, and were enormous spars specially strengthened inside with extra angle irons and heavily strapped outside ; and together with topgallantmasts, royals, and skysailmasts, stood one hundred -and eighty-seven feet above her decks. Her yards on the mainmast and foremast were interchangeable, as to the yards and sails, except the courses, owing to their different shapes. The main and fore 'yards were ninety feet in length, and the other yards in propor- tion ; in fact, she-was rigged equal to a ship twenty-five per cent. bigger, toget the speed out of her. Also, to that end, she carried every imaginable extra sail as auxiliaries, studding-sails' dower, topmast, topgallant, and royal, each side, flying jibboom, balloon-sails, ringtails, and wind-savers of queer names ; and when all were on, as per sail plan, she spread eight thousand four hundred and ninety-seven yards of canvas."

The ' Sheila ' was designed on the combined lines and models of some of the best-known tea clippers, Sir Launcelot,"..Ther- mopylae," Taeping, ' John R. Worcester,' .Cutty Sark,' ' Duke of Abercorn,' Ailsa ' and ' Jura.' These -names have become legends in all the seven seas. Thousands of boys who know the affairs of the sea only through reading have heard of the Cutty •Sark.' She and the ' Thermopylae ' were probably the fastest of all the tea clippers, and which was the faster of these two no one could say. The Cutty Sark' survives in a sadly altered form. She now sails under the Portuguese flag, is called the ' Ferreira,' has been cut down, and is rigged as a barquentine. The present writer heard of her taking in a -cargo only a few weeks ago in the Surrey Commercial Docks. The reason why the name of the ' Sheila' is not so well 1rnown as some of the others is no doubt because owing to the nature of her trade she did not take part in the rakes of the tea tclippe,rs. As speed took precedence in a clipper over weight-carrying power, she was always built rather on the lines of a yacht, with her •under body _out away into a great

siseof floor, with a sharp bow and clean run, as contrasted with the fiat bottom, bluff bow and thick run of the ordinary cargo ship. Captain Angel has nothing but praise for the handsome- ness with which his ship was ,fitted and furnished, and for the generosity with which the owners supplied her with food and stores. It is delightful to detect in -every page his en- thusiasm for the art of sailing a ship. He would never let the ' Sheila' dawdle along on one tack if he thought she would sail better on the other. Though he had put her about only few minutes before he would do it again. Every sailor knows that in the doldrums you nearlymlways seem to be on the wrong tack ; and most masters .do not worry -much about it. " But with the 'Sheila,' " writes Captain Angel, " we would allow none of that. Around she would have to come instantly the wind headed us if it was half a dozen -times in a watoh." He

tells us that she was a marvellous ship for moving along in what seemed to be a calm. When other ships would lose steering way she would do six or even eight knots, and in quite a light breeze would respond up to 10 knots. Perhaps it should be explained to the landsman that when a ship is sailing on a wind —that is, not running free—she can move faster than the speed of the wind itself.

Captain Angel suggests that the days of large sailing ships are by no means over, as the increased cost of fuel makes steam- ship charges prohibitive for certain kinds of cargo. On several occasions he had the satisfaction of sailing clean past steamships, and some of his voyages to the other end of the world were as fast an those of ordinary steamers. We like the note of triumph with which he describes how he left one steamer standing :—

" I expect his officer of the morning watch got a wigging for not calling the Captain as soon as they caught sight of us over- hauling them. At 8 a.m. we were abeam of her, less than a quarter of a mile away, and passed her like a race-horse ; at ten o'clock she was out of sight astern—and do you think the rope's end was forgotten ? The steamer was going about twelve knots—her capacity ; the- Sheila ' nearly sixteen knots,. and that not her capacity, as I had means afterwards of finding out."

The waving of a rope's end is, of course, a seaman's humorous signal. for " Shall Igive you a tow ? " Occasionally, the ' Sheila' was logged as going 20 knots. We must also quote what Captain Angel says about the dangers of a following sea :-

"There is a wonderful fascination in watching a noble ship, Bail driven to her utmost speed, in a driving gale- of wind and the most enormous seas in the whole world of waters.; watch- ing her, as a more than usually high sea comes towering down on her, with its crest breaking and tumbling in a mass of danger- ous foam. There lies the most danger, in those breaking crests. They can only be avoided by careful steering and, as it were, tooling the ship along. See her now, as one towers up following her ; up goes her stern until the crest arrives and passes, with a liberal donation of sea tumbling over the rails to career along the deck—a small ocean, sufficient to float a coasting schooner ; then down goes the bow with a plunge at an angle of thirty degrees, and apparently goes struggling up the other sides This is only faintly describing what happens when the sea is a regular following one, but often there is that awful cross sea to contend with (a relict of gales from other directions); which, as the ship rises on to its crests, seems to be endeavouring to twist and curl her to destruction. And then, almost equal in thrill, is ' the strain on the sails and spars, and in the great ocean highway down south, this goes on, seemingly for ever."

In the worst gale Captain Angel ever experienced it was doubtful whether the ` Sheila' would come through, and he was often asked afterwards why he did not jettison some cargo. His answer is interesting. He says that he did not do so because it went against the grain with him to do such a thing, and he did not want his ship to earn a bad name, but principally because

he considered the danger at taking off the hatches far too great. The decks of the ship were, of course, being constantly swept.

He expresses his firm belief that many a ship has been lost by opening the hatches to jettison cargo.

On one occasion he had the good fortune when making a passage to fall in with the ` Cutty Sark,' and he describes his race with her. The ` Cutty Sark' was bound from China for

New York with a general cargo, mostly tea :—

" She first appeared at daybreak, about five miles away on our port bow, ahead of us, with the same sail on that we had— that was, nothing higher than the three topgallant-sails, as it had been very squally in the night.. We set the royals; and most of the stay-sails, and were after her ; she did the same$ and as we increased sail, she followed sail for sail, until we both had all plain canvas on the ships. She seemed. to hold her own for a-long time, and also it was problematical- which ship was going the faster;. but anyway, it wan a. pretty race, although not in the best of weather for it, being far the squally,. Wo had frequently to stand by the. royal halyards, and pull down the higher- stay-sails, which we set again directly the squall would pass.' We were going a good sixteen knots.at tunes, with the lee rail -under, but when the squalls would ease up,. slew down to twelve knots ; we were close hauled to the wind, two points off our course, so not at. our best. However, in the afternoon we had closed up to the Cutty ' within speaking distance ; the- Captain said that he was going to call at St. Helena, and would report. that the Sheila' was coming along after him ! ! ! The. next morning she was still in sight, but six miles astern. But, anyhow, she was the nearest competitor-to tying us up we had come across yet ; I should have liked to do a bit of hard running with her in company."

What terrific races those between the clippers- must' have. been I, Sometimes for days at a time the clippers-were competing against one another tack for tack against high winds, carrying

on with their tremendous spread of canvas as though they were racing yachts. With what aJeaping heart, but also• with what anxiety, a skipper must have watched his straining masts and sails and gear—the highest sail up in the skies, some hundred and eighty feet above his head !