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that I hope in some way you hear of where we are. I take my hour's
turn at the wheel now, when it falls due, and am getting on fairly well
altho' it takes a lot of strength to turn it sometimes. Most of my
strength was in my legs after cycling 7,000 miles but here its strong arms
& shoulders that are needed. During this warm weather many of us made
hammocks out of wheat bags & slung them up out on deck & it is much
better & no bugs. However I find it necessary to usually sleep on my back
& since doing so I dream a terrible lot & most fantastic they are at
times. I thought a few facts about the "Parma" may prove of interest.
It is a 3,000 ton four masted barque built in Glasgow in 1902 & named
"Arrow" later changed to "Parma" after an inland Italian town famous for
its violets. It is one of the larges sail driven ships afloat today and
holds the record of the Cape Horn trip from Australia to England of 83 days; in
1933, & also won in 1932 with 103 days. It has 18 square sails on its 3 main
masts and 9 others; 27 sails with a total of 32,000 square feet. In one
of the biggest sails (the foresail) it takes over 10 miles of twine to sew
it together, which makes approximately 2,000,000 stitches. The main
deck is 328 feet long and 46½ feet across. It has been in many storms &
been knocked about a lot. I am very glad we didn't go via Cape
Horn for by comparison, a bike ride from Adelaide to Perth would
have been the perfect holiday. In 1932 nearly all the sails were
blown to ribbons, galley wrecked, solid iron apprentice house wrecked & bent &
twised & all the apprentices' gear washed away, compass washed away, captain injured and 8
new wire buntlines (ropes) each 1/2" thick on one sail broken like
cotton. The cold there is terrible, even the Swedes and Alanders feeling it.
Lives are lost every year on these ships there being about 5% loss of