SAIL PLAN OF “LOCH MOIDART” AND “LOCH TORRIDON.”Larger image(192 kB)
SAIL PLAN OF “LOCH MOIDART” AND “LOCH TORRIDON.”
Larger image(192 kB)
Captain Pattman, who commanded her for over 26 years, gave the following testimony to her qualities, when interviewed by theShipping Gazette:—“Being perfectly sparred, the ship is easy to steer, and even in the worst weather the smallest boy on board can keep her on her course.”
Anyone who has felt how hard-mouthed the average four-mast barque can be will appreciate this quality and envy the lucky quartermasters of such a ship. OnLoch Torridonthere was certainly no excuse for bad steering, and the most strictly adhered to rule on board was that any man or boy found more than half a point off his course was at once sent away from the wheel in disgrace. There were two other factors inLoch Torridon’ssuccess, which she owed to her enterprising commander. Captain Pattman believed in British crews, and took the trouble to train his apprentices.
Regarding the first, he once remarked:—“Give me a Britisher everytime, drunken and bad as he is. The best crew I ever had during the past 15 years I shipped in London last summer (1907). They were all Britishers. The view I hold on this question is that the British sailing ship sailor cannot be equalled, let alone beaten. But the difficulty I have experienced is in regard to steamship A.B.’s. I shipped one of these fellows some time ago, and it turned out that he knew nothing of sailing ship ways. He could not steer, and he knew a good deal less than one of our second voyage apprentices. As compared with such a man, I say, ‘Give me a foreigner who has been at sea on sailing ships for two or three years and who knows the way things are done on a sailing ship.’ I find, however, that the foreigner who has been a few years in British ships becomes more insolent, more disobedient and moredifficult to manage than the British sail-trained seaman.”
With regard to the training of apprentices, many a good officer owes his present position to the late Captain Pattman. TheLoch Torridonapprentices went to the wheel on their first voyage. At first they took the lee wheel, but as soon as they showed their ability they were allowed to stand their regular trick. In other matters Captain Pattman was a strong advocate of the system carried out on board the German training ships, notably the North German Lloyd.
Captain Pattman took command ofLoch Torridonon her second voyage. Her maiden voyage was a very tragic one. She went out to Hobson’s Bay from Glasgow under Captain Pinder, arriving on 27th April, 1882, 105 days out. This gave no indication of her sailing capabilities, so she was not taken up to load wool but was sent across to Calcutta to load jute. She left Calcutta on 22nd August. On 9th October, when off the Cape, she ran into a heavy gale from W.N.W. Captain Pinder hove her to on the starboard tack under close-reefed main topsail. After a bit Captain Pinder wore her round on to the port tack, but with the squalls increasing she lay down to it, dipping her starboard rail. Thereupon Captain Pinder decided to wear her back on to the starboard tack. The mate besought him not to do this without setting the foresail, but unfortunately, having been lucky once, the captain insisted, with the result that when she got off before the wind she had not enough way on her and a tremendous sea came roaring over the stern and carried overboard the master, second mate, man at the wheel, sailmaker and a boy, all being drowned. The mate also was swept away but was saved by a hitch of the main bracegetting round his leg. On the following day the weather moderated, and the mate brought the ship home to Plymouth, from whence she was towed up to London.
CAPTAIN PATTMAN’S EARLY CAREER.DateShip served inRigTonsCapacityRemarks1864Woodland LassSchooner120BoySouthwold to Shields and back.„Hearts of OakBilly boy105BoySouthwold to Hartlepool.„AdviceBarque397ApprenticeHartlepool to Cronstad—Cronstad to London.1866Hearts of OakBilly boy105BoySouthwold to Sunderland.„HubertusBrig190O.S.Seaham to Boulogne, London, Hamburg, Dieppe and London.1867Kingdom of ItalyBarque427O.S.Sunderland to Aden, Tuticorin, and back to London.1868CallistoBarque598O.S.London to Adelaide, Newcastle, N.S.W. and Shanghai.„MaggieBrigantine230A.B.Shanghai, Yokohama, Hongkong, put back to Yokohama disabled.1869LauderdaleShip1174A.B.Shanghai to Foochow and back with Chinese passengers. Shanghai to London, 153 days, put into St. Helena short of provisions, put into Spithead, Captain ill and no food.1870Christiana ThompsonShip1066A.B.London to Sydney and back.„Kingdom of BelgiumBarque6722nd MateLondon to Madras, wrecked in cyclone 1st May in Madras Roads.„Kingdom of FifeBarque4972nd MateMadras to London.1871Ocean BeautyBarque5972nd MateLondon to Adelaide, Newcastle, N.S.W., Hongkong, Saigon and Sourabaya.1872County of ForfarShip9991st MateSourabaya, Rotterdam and Glasgow.„„„„„Glasgow to Batavia, Sourabaya and Rotterdam.1873-4„„„„Glasgow to Samarang, Sourabaya and Niewe Dieppe.1874-5„„„„Glasgow to Samarang, Sourabaya, Bombay, Akyab and Antwerp.1875-6„„„„Glasgow to Sourabaya, Bombay and London.1878Countyof Cromarty4-mast ship1673„Glasgow to Rio Janeiro, wrecked in ballast S. Rio Grande del Sul. Captain and second mate died of smallpox.1879Countyof Selkirk4-mast ship1865„Glasgow to Calcutta and London.„County of ButeShip789MasterCardiff to Batavia, 80 days Akyab to Antwerp.1880County of Selkirk4-mast ship1865„Cardiff, Bombay, Rangoon and Liverpool.1881„„„„Liverpool to Colombo, Bombay to London.
Woodland Lass
Southwold to Shields and back.
Hearts of Oak
Southwold to Hartlepool.
Advice
Hartlepool to Cronstad—Cronstad to London.
Hearts of Oak
Southwold to Sunderland.
Hubertus
Seaham to Boulogne, London, Hamburg, Dieppe and London.
Kingdom of Italy
Sunderland to Aden, Tuticorin, and back to London.
Callisto
London to Adelaide, Newcastle, N.S.W. and Shanghai.
Maggie
Shanghai, Yokohama, Hongkong, put back to Yokohama disabled.
Lauderdale
Shanghai to Foochow and back with Chinese passengers. Shanghai to London, 153 days, put into St. Helena short of provisions, put into Spithead, Captain ill and no food.
Christiana Thompson
London to Sydney and back.
Kingdom of Belgium
London to Madras, wrecked in cyclone 1st May in Madras Roads.
Kingdom of Fife
Madras to London.
Ocean Beauty
London to Adelaide, Newcastle, N.S.W., Hongkong, Saigon and Sourabaya.
County of Forfar
Sourabaya, Rotterdam and Glasgow.
Glasgow to Batavia, Sourabaya and Rotterdam.
Glasgow to Samarang, Sourabaya and Niewe Dieppe.
Glasgow to Samarang, Sourabaya, Bombay, Akyab and Antwerp.
Glasgow to Sourabaya, Bombay and London.
Countyof Cromarty
Glasgow to Rio Janeiro, wrecked in ballast S. Rio Grande del Sul. Captain and second mate died of smallpox.
Countyof Selkirk
Glasgow to Calcutta and London.
County of Bute
Cardiff to Batavia, 80 days Akyab to Antwerp.
County of Selkirk
Cardiff, Bombay, Rangoon and Liverpool.
Liverpool to Colombo, Bombay to London.
Captain Pattman took charge ofLoch Torridonin December, 1882, giving up the command of the four-mast shipCounty of Selkirkin order to take the Loch liner. As a sailing ship commander of the first rank, it may perhaps be of interest to give a short outline of Captain Pattman’s previous career.
From this record it will be seen that Captain Pattman had won his way to command by the time-honoured means of the hawse-hole.
In the barqueAdvicehe had an experience which would have sickened most boys of the sea, and he bore the scars to his dying day. The officers of the ship were actually prosecuted by his father for their brutality, the result being that Pattman’s indentures were cancelled, the captain had his certificate cancelled and was sentenced to 18 months’ hard labour, whilst the mate was given three years’ hard labour. Both were hard drinkers and uneducated men.
The brigHubertus, which Pattman joined as an ordinary seaman, was a real old-fashioned Geordie collier brig. Her skipper could neither read nor write, and Pattman acted as his clerk and did all his correspondence. But the old man knew his way about the North Sea by smell: he only had to sniff the arming of the lead and was never wrong in naming the ship’s position. These old collier skippers always wore sleeved vests and stove-pipe hats at sea, and in the summer the Thames was often a wonderful sight when these colliers sailed up to London before a fair wind. There were often a hundred and more, brigs, schooners, and barques, all crowding up the river so closely,that these old Geordie skippers, all smoking long church-wardens, would be leaning over their respective taffrails exchanging greetings and gossip. Truly 60 years have changed the London River. Yet many a man living to-day can remember the year 1866, when Pattman sailed up to London in his Geordie brig. It was the year in which the three famous tea clippersAriel,Taeping, andSericaarrived in the river on the same tide. Seafaring then was far more like that of the days of Drake and the Elizabethans than it is like the seafaring of the present day.