She had a full complement of passengers, who occupied 250 tons of cargo space. So laden she drew 15½ ft. forward and 16 ft. 2 in. aft, her best draught for sailing being 15 ft. forward and 15 ft. 8 in. aft. Port charges, harbour dues and light and tonnage dues £28 11s. 6d.; pilotage in and out £17.
Screwing Wool.
As every sailorman knows, wool is screwed into a ship’s hold like cotton; and a good captain in the old days would see that his ship was jammed so tight with bales that one would think her seams would open—indeed wood and composite ships always used to have their decks and topsides well caulked before loading wool. As showing how much the amount of wool loaded depended upon the captain, Captain Woodget used to get 1000 bales more into the Cutty Sark than his predecessor. He made a habit of spending most of the day in the ship’s hold and thought nothing of having a tier or half longer pulled down and restowed if he was not satisfied with the number of bales got in.
You can dunnage casks o’ tallow; you can handle hides an’ horn;
You can carry frozen mutton; you can lumber sacks o’ corn;
But the queerest kind o’ cargo that you’ve got to haul and pull
Is Australia’s “staple product”—is her God-abandoned wool.
For it’s greasy an’ it’s stinkin’, an’ them awkward, ugly bales
Must be jammed as close as herrings in a ship afore she sails.
For it’s twist the screw and turn it,