"And so we came around Cape Horn and were suffered to enter the Atlantic without sacrifice. Our price had been paid on April 5. Our damaged ship still limped a little from that night of storm," A.J. Villiers continues his account of The Cape Horn Grain-Ship Race: The Gallant "Parma" Leads Vanishing Fleet of Square-Ribbers Through the Raging Gales and Irksome Calms 16,000 miles, from Australia to England, National Geographic Magazine, January, 1932, p. 26.
On they went, "slowly we wandered on, wondering always where were the other ships, never seeing anything of them or of any other vessels. . . We were come to the good weather now, with sunshine; the wreck of the midship house could be restored to something like order, and the havoc of the storm repaired. It was warm and the decks were dry," (p. 32). They had thoughts the other ships would win the race to the finish but dismissed the thoughts quickly.
At last they had caught enough wind to sail north to the Bermuda Islands and caught their first view of what appeared to be their rival ship, the Pamir. It was too far away - perhaps 15 miles - to know for sure the identity. Some of the crew had a wild idea, "Let's row close enough to her to find out!" The Captain thought it was madness to attempt but gave permission and instructed the seamen to "not remain aboard the other vessel for more than two hours," (p. 35) and to take extra food and water on the lifeboat they took.
It was stifling hot but the Parma never lost sight of the other two boats. The sturdy men rowed tirelessly and reached the other boat which was, in fact, the Pamir. The crews had never seen each other but had an enjoyable two-hour visit and dinner. They found out that the Pamir had been four days ahead of them rounding Cape Horn. They were pleased to now be so close.
They left in the light of a full moon and rowed 15 miles to where they thought the Parma should be. What fantastic seamen they were! They reached their ship in the dark! As the ships plunged onward, the author notes, "we did not see her (the Pamir) again," (p. 37).
"Between the Azores and England we had light winds, so light that over its entire length the North Atlantic was about as "rough" as Long Island Sound by the Connecticut shore on a summer's day.". At long last, after a passage of 103 days, we were come to our anchorage. The roar of the anchor cable as it disturbed the fish in the anchorage was sweet music in our tired ears," (p. 37).
The ship the author sailed on, the Parma, had won the race!! The captain and crew were elated! They had come in on the exact same day as their rival ship, the Pamir, but had 70 miles longer to travel to their port, so they had won the race. Out of the twenty grain-ships in the race, the longest passage was 150 days. One ship had collided with a steamship only six hours from anchorage at home and quickly, tragically sunk, losing the entire crew.
Most of the vessels were "now very old, and the annual grain race cannot go on much longer. We will sail the Parma while we can, but it is likeliest now that the number of entrants will steadily dwindle, until within a very few years there will be very few commercial sailing ships left in the Australian grain trade," (p. 39). But what wild rides she enjoyed!!
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