The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-11-23
FIFTY YEARS
A SAILOR

Fifty years at sea, thirty-eight OF
them spent In command OF docl yea
ships. has not soured the milk of hui
man kindness In Captain Raeburn, Of
the British steamship willesden. now
in port, for more genial man and a
more jovial seadog than this veteran
of the deep has never visited Homo
lulu. This Is his first visit, too, to
these islands, although he has many
times sailed his ships within sight Of
them.
Half a century at sea could scarcely
pass without adventure and Captain
Raeburn has certainly had his share
on all the seven seas. But he is better
known to fame as the protector and
sailer of the longest steaming trip ever
made when he took the S. S. Becken-
ham, loaded with cordite for the Japa-
nese at the outbreak of the recent war,
around the cape from London, down
the west coast of Australia, west of
New Guinea and north to Japan, 10000
miles without a stop. steaming steadi-
ly with the war material that enabled
the Japanese to push their operations
with such signal success around Port
Arthur.
This trip of the Beckenham stands
as the record for continuous steaming
and to accomplish 1t $500 tons Of coal
were taken aboard in London and
practically all consumed in the run
For this feat, in addition to the big
bounty paid captain and crew by the
owners, the Japanese government and
people showed their appreciation of the
arrival of the steamer with the precious
explosives by treating the crew as
guests of the nation and Captain Rae
burn received the personal thanks of
the Mikado for his work.
The owning company, the Britain
Steamship Company, known also as the
Watts-Watts company. reaped a big
harvest during the hostilities in the Far
East, despatching two blockade run
ners on an average every month with
contraband of war from San Francisco,
Vancouver and London. In their oper-
atoms they favored neither belliger-
ent, accepting cargoes with equal read
mess for the Russians as well as the
Japanese and in the whole course Of
| their operations they escaped without
the capture of single one of their
steamers.
RESCUED SHIPWRECKED CREWS.
The crews of three wrecked ships
have been rescued by Captain Raeburn
during the past twenty years. in recog-
milton of which the American govern
ment and the Norwegian government
have each presented him with testimo-
malls and gifts, the records of which
appear on his masters papers, stamp
cd on by the British marine authori-
ties. Two of these rescues were
made with vessel of the same name
as the one at present under his COM
mand, the Willesden, the first of her
name in the Watts-Watts line.
The first % these was the rescue Of
the crew of the American schooner
Reuben S. Hunt, which had been ham
mered In gale in the north Atlantic
and which had been. when sighted by
the Willesden, drifting a helpless hulk
for three days, her decks awash and
her crew dashed to the stumps of her
masts. Among those aboard her was
the wife of the captain and after the
shipwrecked people had been taken
aboard the steamer Captain Raeburn
surrendered his suits Of pajamas that
the material might be converted into
clothes for her, her own going down
with the schooner and there being
nothing else available in the way of
cloth. For this rescue the American
government presented Captain Raeburn
with handsome silver cup, standing
twenty-four inches high and of a nau-
tical design, suitably engraved.
With the same steamer, two years
later in the Gulf of Mexico, the crew
OF the American schooner Charles r.
Campbell We're rescued, their vessel
having been caught in the teeth of
hurricane and all but torn into pieces
| The crew were destitute, starved and
almost exhausted when found A pair
of binoculars and a sense of duty done
were the rewards received by Captain
Raeburn for this deed
His third rescue was accomplished
with the s. s. Bohemian, when that
vessel was being used by the British
government as transport during the
South African war. The Norwegian
| bark Varuna drifted across her course
of the West Coast, dismantled wreck.
For rescuing her crew the Norwegian
government expressed it's thanks by
presenting Captain Raeburn with
another pair of binoculars and a testi-
monial.
BRINGS RECORD COAL CARGO.
The Willesden brings the biggest
cargo of coal ever brought to Homo
lulu, the bulk OF which will be dis
charged at the channel wharf for the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In
Guiding her bunker coal, the Willcs-
den left Newcastle with $500 tons
aboard. OF this 400 tons goes to the
Pacific Mail. leaving 1000 tons to be
otherwise disposed Of
As the WilIesden lay at the channel
wharf yesterday she was listed con-
siderably to port, occasioned from the
, fact that at low tide she was lying on
the bottom. The depth OF water at
this part of the harbor at ebb tide is
rs feet, while the steamer drew 26 feet
when she came in. She is a large ves-
sci OF $3.50 tons, one OF the largest of
her line. She Is fitted up primarily as
transport, having first-class accom-
modations for men and animals.
From here she will go TO the Sound
to load either for Australia mr. for the