The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-08-29 00:00:00

ISLE OF WIGET.

VOYAGX YROM THE TZLIC OF WIGHT TO NOTTING,
HAM—An extraordinary feat of navigatlol2 has just
been performed by a young man named Samuel
Smith, aged 24, a native of Sutten-on.the- Wolk, •
village distant some seven miles from Nottingham.
Mr. Smith was formerly employed by Mr. Plummer,
gardener to Mies Freeth, Standard-hill, and lei
about three years ago. Since then he had been
employed in various capacities. He was engaged as
cook on board a collier from oae of the northern
ports to the Thames, and with this exception he ham
had no opportunity of knowing anything of seaman-
ship. Latterly he was employed as a labourer on
the Isle of Wight fortifications; being prudent he
saved as much money out of this earnings as sufficed,
to purchase a boat, and he employed his leisure houns;
in fishing. This year, feeling desirous of seeing his
father and mother, and being unwilling to spend ha':
money in railway fare, he conceived the notieent!
making the trip to Nottingham in his fishing boid,';',
Had he been a more experienced seaman be wouht"
have shrunk from the experiment, under any cir-
ounatamies perilous and tedious, but, with the
,weather he had to encounter, dangerous in the ex-
treme. He had • companion of his voyage, a prudent
ticotobman, who was anxious to see his relatives Ia
Aberdeen. The boat is only 14 feet in the keel and
five feet in the beam; the rig is Imply a sprit mid •
mainsail There is no deck, and the few storm and
change of clothing which the daring navigators hook
with them were, stowed away in a rough sea-obese
which Mr. Smith knoarked together from some on
boards, and which be placed amidships under the
thwarts. On theist of Angina the start was effected
from a marine village near Sandown, and despite the
fearful weather that prevailed, Hull wee made on
the 14th of August. In many instances Mr. Smith
and his companion kept the open sea when edierniele
and barks were obliged to run for shelter. They
landed at Dover, Margate, and Lowestoft for water,
and enjoyed themselves at sight-seeing. But their
only lodging ashore, as well as afloat, was in the
little boat. Their slumbers were not always the
meet agreeable, as the couch was the lid of the 'es-
cheat or the bottom of the boat, and the coverlet a
piece of canvas. On several occasions, when worn
out with fatigue, Mr. Smith lay down to ansibeh
few hours' rest; the passing thunder was his lullaby,
and on waking be found himself almost floating in
water. The diffieuhy of the voyage was enhanced
by the abeenoe of a compass. The voyagers steered
by the sun in the daytime, and by the pole star at
night; but when thick weather prevailed they had.
to steer by guess-work.. Frequently they were in
danger of being driven on a lee shore, and they were
twice grounded on sandbanks. Throughout all, the
stout little craft behaved admirably. Mr. Etaniti's
companion left him at Hull, and from that port to
Nottingham Mr. Smith pulled his brave little bark.
up the Trent unaided, save for about 12 miles at this
side of Gainsborough, where he was taken in tow by
a barge laden with flour and timber. The boat is
named Borer, and is now moored off Mr. Singing's-
wharf, below the Trent bridge, where she is an
object of much interest to all who }Java heard of the
successful voyage her owner accompkirshed in her.
The log of the trip must be a curious donut/sue, and
we expect to be furnished with it in a fiver days—
Nottingham Guardian