Misfortune has dogged the footsteps of one member of the crew of the wrecked barque Triton with a relentless persistency during the last 12 months (says our Wellington correspondent).
His unenviable record during that time is to have been shipwrecked on no fewer than three occasions. His name is Oscar Yousson. Rounding Cape Horn last year, he was wrecked in a foreign sailer. Destiny directed him to New Zealand, where he again went through the experience of being shipwrecked. On that occasion he was on the ill-fated barque Okta when she was totally wrecked at Stirling Point, Bluff. His next vessel was the Triton.
It is proverbial that sailors are superstitious, and in this connection the crew of the wrecked barque are no exception. A Post reporter unsuccessfully questioned a group of the men as to the cause of the wreck of their vessel, when one of their number, with superstitious gesture, remarked that at the time of the disaster there were 13 persons on board.
Her crew number only 12 all told, but on her ill-fated voyage she was carrying a passenger to Malden Island. Several of the crew also divined further significance in the fact that it was the vessel's thirteenth trip from New Zealand to the destination she never reached. Again, it was mentioned to the pressman that the Triton left Bluff on a Friday, while to cap all a weather-beaten salt reminded his audience that he signed on the ship's articles on the 13th of the month.
• A point of interest to launch-owners and flag-fliers generally is mentioned by the Bay of Plenty Times. A Tauranga launch on a recent holiday trip had a neat Union Jack flying at the jack staff in the bow.
''Doubtless,'' says the Times, ''the owners flew this flag out of a spirit of patriotism, and were ignorant of the fact that they were committing a serious offence. The deputy-chairman of the Harbour Board (Colonel Ward) informs us that the owner, if on board, and any persons hoisting without warrant the Union Jack or any other of his Majesty's colours, except the Red Ensign or the Jack with the broad white border known as 'the pilot jack,' on any ship or boat, for every such offence incurs a penalty not exceeding 500 and the confiscation of the flag. Officers in the military and naval service of his Majesty and British Customs officers and certain other officials are authorised to see to the proper carrying out of the law.''
• As proof of the fact that no effort is spared to test the ''airworthiness'' of the aeroplanes in use in the army, an account of some experiments was given some time ago by the Secretary of State for War in the House of Commons. He told how a young airman took up his machine in a tremendous gale. There were no spectators, none to know of his daring act except the commandant, the timekeepers, and the officials of the Flying School.
So violent was the wind that when the machine was let go, although it was capable of travelling 57 miles an hour in a calm, it rose straight up in the air. Rising to a height of 300ft, the aviator directed his aeroplane in the teeth of the gale. His progress over a measured course of 400 yards was timed, and occupied 16 minutes, or at the rate of less than four miles an hour, thus showing the wind to have been blowing at the rate of over 53 miles per hour.
The War Secretary next described a cross-country run of 21 miles in a wind of great violence. The outward journey of 21 miles with the wind dead ahead occupied one hour and a-quarter. The return journey was made on the wings of the wind in 4sec under 12 minutes, or at a speed of 115 miles an hour - a truly remarkable performance. - ODT, 5.1.1914.
