Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/451

 11 S. X. DEC. 5, 1914.]!

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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all the associations of history and romance which it startles into new life, to remind them how rare a luck any captain has nowadays who sails an uncharted sea, or to suggest that there is something at the moment peculiarly grateful in a deed of daring which, while it tried no less than fighting does the endurance, wit, and courage of the doers, had for its direct object the saving, not the (1 -n-oyiiig, of life.

The following is taken from the columns of The Times :

" The Secretary of the Admiralty communicates for publication the enclosed letters which have been received concerning the escape of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's steamship Ortega from a German cruiser :

" British Consulate-General, Rio de Janeiro,

Oct. 3

" SIB, The Pacific Steam Navigation Com- pany's steamship Ortega arrived at Rio de Janeiro upon Oct. 1. The Master, Douglas Reid Kinneir, in reply to my inquiry as to whether he had any- thing in particular to report with respect to his voyage from Valparaiso, modestly gave me the following facts :

" The Ortega sailed from Valparaiso with some 3 '.10 French reservists on board. When she had arrived close to the western entrance of the Straits of Magellan a German cruiser of the Dresden class suddenly appeared and gave chase. Be it remarked that the normal speed of the Ortega is only some 14 knots per hour, whereas the speed of the German cruiser was at least 21 knots per hour.

" Under those circumstances the master of the Ortega took a heroic resolve. He called for volunteers to assist in stoking his vessel ; that appeal met with hearty response firemen, engineers, and volunteers, stripped to the waist, si-t lo work with a will, and the master assured me that they actually succeeded in whacking the old ship (she was built in 1906) up to a good 18 knots ! The master headed his ship straight for the entrance of a passage known as Nelson's Strait ; and he made for the Strait at full speed hotly pursued by the German cruiser, which kept firing at him with two heavy bow guns Luckily none of the shots took effect, and the Ortega succeeded in entering Nelson's Strait where the German cruiser did not dare to follow her.

" In order to realize the hardihood of this action upon the part of the master of the Ortega, it mus be remembered that Nelson's Strait is entirely uncharted, and that the narrow, tortuous passag< in question constitutes a veritable nightmare fo navigators ; bristling, as it does, with reefs am pinnacle-rocks, swept by fierce currents and tide rip-, and with the cliffs on either side sheer-to without any anchorage. I can speak from per snn;il experience as to the terrifying nature of th navigation of Nelson's Strait, having once passei through it many years ago in a small sailin schooner.

" However, the master of the Ortega manage'

to got his vessel safely through this dangerou

i '-co, employing the device of sending boat

ahead, to sound every yard of the passage

Sventually, by a miracle of luek and good seaman- hip, he worked his way into Smyth's Channel, without having sustained even a scratch to his- )lates, and finally brought his vessel to this port^ " When it is remembered that, as already stated, Nelson's Strait is absolutely uncharted, and that never before had a vessel of any size attempted -hat most perilous passage, it will, I think, be admitted that the captain's action in taking an 8,000 -ton steamer safely through that passage constitutes a most notable feat of pluck and kilful seamanship ; and it is reassuring to know hat the old spirit of daring and of resource is still ,live in our mercantile marine.

" I have no doubt that Capt. Douglas Reid Sinneir's services will be fully appreciated, not only by the directors of the Pacific Steam Naviga- .ion Company for having thus saved the Ortega
 * rom capture by the enemy, but also by the French

Government for having saved from capture the- 300 French reservists who happened to be on board lis vessel.

O'SuixrvAN BEARE, His Britannic Majesty's Consul, The Right Hon. Sir E. Grey, St., K.G., M.P., &c-, &c.

"Admiralty, Nov. 7.

" Sin, I am commanded by my Lords Com- missioners of the Admiralty to request that you. will represent to the directors of the Pacific Steam- Navigation Company that they have received through the Foreign Office a copy of a dispatclv from His Majesty's Consul-General at Rio de Janeiro regarding the escape of the R.M.S, Ortega during a recent voyage from Valparaiso- to Rio de Janeiro from pursuit by a German, cruiser.

" My Lords desire to place on record their appreciation of the courageous conduct of the Master, Capt. Douglas R. Kinneir, in throwing off his pursuer by successfully navigating the uncharted and dangerous passage of Nelsons- Strait. I am, &c.,

W. G. GREENE.

The Secretary,

Pacific Steam Navigation Company (Limited ),

31, St. James Street, Liverpool." Led by this story to try to recall other feats of seamanship, I recollected, but not with any accuracy, a fine achievement, of a somewhat different order, which took place several years ago : the repair, under great difficulties, of some portion of a ship machinery in mid-ocean. I should be very grateful to any correspondent who might happen to recognize the incident and would tell me the approximate date of it.

PEREQRINTTS.

THE REFUGEES IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. My late father Frederick Tavare- and his sister Miss Juliana Tavare, of Manchester, translated into English the sub- joined French letter, which was sent to my grandfather, Charles Tavare. It may be < interest to some of your readers at the'.present critical moment of European historj'.