The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-11-21
FIFTY YEARS
4 SAILOR
Famous Veteran Visits
Hawaii for First
Time.

Fifty years at sea. thirty-eight OF
them spent in command of deg yea
ships, has not soured the milk of hu-
man kindness in Captain Raeburn, OF
the British steamship Wiuesden, now
in port, for a more genial man and a
Of the deep has never visited Homo
lulu. This is his first visit, too, 10
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, 10 coo
miles without a stop, steamfng steadi-
- Win LAlC " d I44d lSilc4 l14dA C4Ac1 bACA
the Japanese 10 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 it $500 tons of coal
We're taken aboard in London and
practically all consumed in the run
For this feat, in addition TO the big
~ h.
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 hostflities 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 beI1iger-
ent, accepting cargoes with equal read
mess for the Russians as well as the
japanese and in the whole course Of
the capture of a 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
meEt and the Norwegian government
have each presented him with testimo-
malls and gifts, the records Of which
appear on his masters papers, stamp
ed on by the British marine authori-
tics. Two of these rescues were
made with a 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 cs these was the rescue of
the crew of the American schooner
Reuben s Hunt. which had been ham
mered in a gale in the north Atlantic
and which had been, when sighted by
the WilIesden, drifting a helpless hulk
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
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 a handsome silver cup, standing
twenty-four inches high and of a nau-
teal design, suitably engraved.
With the same steamer, two years
later in the Gulf Of Mexico. the crew
of the American schooner Charles r. |
Campbell Were rescued, their vessel
having been caught in the teeth Of a !
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. I
were the rewards received by Captain !
Raeburn for this deed.
His third rescue was accomplished /
with the s. 8 Beckenhan, when thar |
vessel was being used by the British |
as a transport during the !
South African war. The Norwegian |
bark Varuna drifted across her course |
off the West Coast. a dismantled wreck |
For rescuing her crew the Norwegian /
expressed its 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 viii be dis
charged at the channel wharf for the /
Pacific Mail Steamship Company. IN |
Guiding her bunker coal, the Wilies-
den left Newcastle with $500 tons /
q board. Of this 400 tons goes 10 the |
Pacific Mail. leaving 1000 tons TO be |
otherwise disposed Of