FAMOUS SHIPS - THE "PIAKO" - CAPTAIN W.B. BOYD
THE "PIAKO"
THE "PIAKO " built by Stephen,
of Glasgow, in 1876-7, was one of the
last three beautiful little
1,000 ton sister ships built for the New
Zealand Shipping Company.
The Piako's registered measurements were:
Tonnage, 1,075 tons; length,
215 feet 3 inches; breadth, 34 feet; depth,
20 feet 5 inches. Launched
in December 1876, she sailed on her first
voyage under Captain Fox on
February 5th, 1877 leaving the Thames for
Lyttelton with a list of passengers.
She made her first voyage to New
Zealand in 99 days, a good
average passage at that time.
On her second voyage a new
skipper, CAPTAIN W.B. BOYD, a noted seaman,
took over. Leaving Plymouth
on November 20th, 1877 and arriving at Port
Chalmers of February 12th,
1878, being 76 days 12 hours from port to
port a near record breaker.
Piako's third passage and CAPTAIN
BOYD's second, almost ended in
disaster. She sailed on October
11th with a crew of 40 and 317
passengers. Just a month out
about 180 miles from Pernambuco smoke was
reported to be rising through
the fore hatch in the 'tween decks. In
order to get to the seat of
the fire, the fore hatch was removed upon
which a 20-foot flame leapt
out of the hold. The foremost tier of cargo
was ablaze! They tried to
put the fire out with the fire hose to little
effect. They decided to batten
down the hatch again and try to get at
the fire from another direction.
They tried to get at the fire from
below through the married
quarters below decks, but the dense smoke
prevented them from advancing
very far. The situation started to look
very bad indeed. The Captain
then gave the helmsman a new course to
steer - toward Pernambuco.
The boats were then provisioned and lowered.
It required every effort by
CAPTAIN BOYD to avoid a panic among the
people.
There were 160 men among the
passengers as well as families that were
going to New Zealand. Some
of the men were acting bravely, but many were
running back and forth in
panic. The Captain stood at the break of the
poop, pistol in hand. He was
calming the women on board at one moment
and the next making sure his
orders were being obeyed. Once the boats
were lowered into the water,
there was a rush upon the Captain by some
of the rougher characters,
but the Captain met the rush with "Stand back
everybody! Women and children
first!"
Just then came a cry of "Sail
Ho!" CAPTAIN BOYD took one look to make
sure a ship was in sight,
then happily said, "Well done! You'll all be
saved if you don't get excited.
Deep yourselves calm and don't make a
noise." From this time on
the situation settled down and thing were much
calmer on board. The vessel
turned out to be the Loch Doon. It still
took 3 hours for the vessels
to come close enough together so that the
passengers could be transferred.
A few ex-sailors volunteered to stay on
board Piako and help fight
the fire. Having reached Pernambuco the
Captain found that his troubles
were increased, since there was smallpox
raging at that location and
four hundred people a day were dying. There
was a small island, called
Coconut Island, which was uninhabited and had
a grove of coconut trees surrounded
by a lot of sand, located about
seven miles up the river from
Pernambuco. The Piako's passengers were
landed here and had to endure
the island for nine weeks. Food was sent
from the ship. Meanwhile,
CAPTAIN BOYD and his crew managed to save the
ship. The fire was smothered
by the expedient of scuttling the ship to
the level of her poop deck!
This most effectively put out the fire, and
when she was raised again
very little damage was done to the ship
herself. However, the fire
destroyed most of the cargo in the forward
hold, the greater part of
the emigrant's baggage and effects, and the
galley and donkey-engine.
The Piako finally arrived at
Lyttelton on March 5th after necessary
repairs had been made, being
145 days out from Plymouth. An
investigation was held at
both Pernambuco and again at Lyttelton, but
the cause of the fire was
never determined.
On her very next outward passage,
the cry of "Fire!" was again heard on
the Piako. This time, however,
the fire was quickly put out. It was
determined that a group of
rockets stored in the lazarette had somehow
ignited, probably from rubbing
against each other due to the rough seas
in the "roaring forties" while
she was running her easting down. This
passage was her second best,
arriving at Lyttelton on January 16th, 85
days out.
CAPTAIN BOYD had the Piako
for six voyages and was by far her best
commander. Her best homeward
passage, being 71 days, was made under his
command. He left the ship
to take over the firm's agency at Dunedin.
Captain Sutherland was another
well known commander of the Piako. He had
her from 1885 until in the
early 1890's she was sold to the Germans,
being purchased by J.E. Schaffer,
of Elsfleth. In 1900, when bound to
the Cape from Melbourne with
supplies for the troops in the Boer War,
the Piako was posted missing,
just short of being 25 years old. She was
always considered on of the
finest ships of the New Zealand Shipping
Company and particularly noticeable
for her good looks.
........................................................................
End
Karen from Ohio,USA
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bschode@neo.rr.com
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