Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide'

Letters and Newspaper Articles Relating to the Career of John Bruce

South Australian Register, June 11, 1867

The Ocean Race – The interest which has been excited by the race home between the two celebrated clippers, Yatala and CITY OF ADELAIDE, will be increased by the extracts from letter which we publish below. It is clear that they are about a match in speed.  A lady passenger on board the ship Yatala on her last voyage writes:

"We arrived on the 8th April, and were in the Docks at about 5 o’clock. Captain Legoe is deservedly popular; he is such a nice person, so kind, attentive, and obliging; the perfection of a captain and a seaman, always at his post and attending to his duty. The ship is beautifully clean, kept in order, and well found.

When we went into the Cape it was in the teeth of a strong south-easter, and of course we had to tack. We afterwards heard on the shore that numbers of people were watching the vessel, and the exclamation was – ‘That ship has a first-rate seaman on board’. We went in with one tack, which they say is a most unusual thing, and that the vessel looked beautiful, she was so well handled…. You will have heard that we beat the CITY OF ADELAIDE. Several times when we were becalmed or had light winds we saw her quite near; it was very close; but in the end we were in the Docks 48 hours before her; but the precise time I am not sure of; it was at least a day. We passed quite close to St Helena on a lovely day; we could almost distinguish the people in the streets.”

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The following is an extract from a private letter from Captain Legoe, dated London, 25th April (presumably 1867):

“London Dock, April 26th – No doubt this trial of prowess between the two vessels is of subordinate importance to you; but the ocean race possesses on this occasion features that should not be passed over without being noticed. The register tonnage of the ‘City’ is 791; of the ‘Yatala’ 1,217. I don’t know whether in Adelaide this fact is known. At the Cape, in a newspaper paragraph, they were said to be an unfair match in class, age and size.

The Yatala, if you remember, took the initiative in starting from the Lightship on account of our having to wait for some papers that were forgotten. She got under weigh at 6 o’clock, while we had a ‘five hours’ cruise in the Gulf until we got the missing documents at 11am. At daylight on the following morning we found ourselves within a short distance of our competitor, and the evening saw us abreast of each other, with a fresh south wind, and not more than a quarter of a mile apart. The custodians of the Cape Borda Lighthouse must have taken notice of us as they would have an uninterrupted view of the course for many miles.

During the night we did not steer parallel courses, for the next day the ‘Yatala’ was nearly hull down in a S.W. direction. Fog came on and lasted three days – rather unusual on the Australian coast I should imagine. The wind, E., was of course very light, as is the case with fogs. Light and variable winds characterized the passage to Cape Lewin, which we rounded on 7th January.

On the 12th a large vessel was seen astern. Speculation was rife, and tendered to one conclusion – it was the ‘Yatala’. This probed so far on the 13th that the rig corresponded to the ‘Yatala’s. On the 14th all doubts were removed, as she was near enough to exchange signals. At noon on that day we were in Lat. 30^o S., long. 100^o E. The ships parted company during the day, the wind a pleasant and increasing south east trade. Tedious weather succeeded in a few days, and we made slow progress to the Cape. 

On February 10, off Cape Afulhas (land in sight), the ‘Yatala’ was seen three miles ahead of us, gradually increasing the distance; the wind at the time was of the description that figures in sea logs as ‘faint, variable airs’. Three days afterwards (13th February) we anchored at table Bay at 10pm. The ‘Yatala’ reached the same place at 6pm, four hours sooner. It blew hard from the south east during our stay, which terminated on the 16th, both ships leaving within half an hour of each other, ‘Yatala’ first. The ‘City’ crept up in the night, and the following evening she was six miles ahead. A head wind sprung up separating the ships. The ‘City’ made all speed through the trade winds S.E. and N.E.

To our amazement the ‘Yatala’ appeared right astern, in lat. 27^o N., long. 40^o W., on the 23^rd March. It was calm at the time. The ‘Yatala’ brought a breeze with her, and both ships were again in competition. Heavy weather came on soon after, and on arriving in the Downs we got information from the tug steamer that the ‘Yatala’ had gone up the river the day before. The steamer that took her up came down to look for another job, and picked up our ship. We were detained 48 hours in consequence of the violence of the N.W. winds. Nothing happened to mar our comfort or enjoyment; fine weather nearly all the time. I am promoted to the command of the ‘City’. In the meantime my father will superintend the building of a new larger ship. The ‘Yatala passed the Downs 24 hours before our ship.”

On board the White Star liner Medic which arrived at the Semaphore anchorage on Tuesday afternoon from Liverpool is Captain John Bruce who was closely connected with South Australia in the early days. He was en route to Tasmania where he intends to spend the remainder of his life. Many of the early pioneers will remember Captain Bruce.

He is a Newcastle man 71 years of age and his connection with Port Adelaide dates back to the time of the small barque "Irene". He joined the "Irene" as an apprentice in 1856 and made many passages to South Australia. Those were the days of the wool clippers, and regularly every year the Captain reached Port Adelaide about November 1^st and left for the old world again about the end of December. 

He witnessed the gradual ousting from the wool trade of the sailor, the place of which was taken by the fast and roomy steamer. Captain Bruce took charge of the new composite ship “City of Adelaide" in about 1866 and continued his voyages in her to Port Adelaide. Composite vessels were then being used for the first time. He was also in the ship "South Australian" and in the auxiliary boat Glenelg in 1877. The last mentioned craft traded between London and Sydney via Port Adelaide and Melbourne. 

In 1889 the skipper retired from the sea. He obtained a shore berth in connection with the shipping on the Tyne, which he filled until recently when he was pensioned. He is looking the picture of health and says that he is going to Tasmania to escape the cold climate of the north of England. “My career", he said, has been an uneventful one, and most of my experiences have been pleasant."

AN OLD MARINER
RETURN OF CAPT JOHN BRUCE
THE DAYS OF THE WOOL CLIPPERS

There was an expectant little group of old friends of Capt John Bruce at the North Terrace Railway Station on November 16 to welcome him back to Adelaide, after an absence of 32 years. Many old colonists of South Australia and their descendants will readily recall the name of the veteran master mariner and that of his father, the late Capt David Bruce, for few men were better known or more popular in the far off days when those smart wool clippers, the Irene, the City of Adelaide, and the South Australian used to carry passengers and merchandise between London and Port Adelaide. Capt John Bruce has within the last two years retired from the position of harbourmaster of the Tyne, and taken up residence at Hallgarth, Tasmania, about eight miles from Launceston on the River Tamar West, where two of his sons have settled on the land. No sooner had he stepped from the train than it was apparent to his friends that notwithstanding the passage of years the captain had lost not any of the geniality and the manly bearing that characterised him of old. He said that he had long looked forward to revisiting Adelaide, and that he intends to stay a few weeks, during which time he will be the guest of Mr F.W. Bullock, at St Helens, Prospect Road. Miss Bruce is accompanying him.

A Nautical Family

Capt Bruce is a native of Scotland, having been born in the City of Perth, on the Firth of Tay, in 1840. He first voyaged to South Australia in 1855 as an apprentice on the Irene, of which his father was the skipper. The next vessel that the latter brought out was the City of Adelaide, full rigged ship of about 791 tons, and she was considered a great craft in those days (1864). In 1867 Capt David Bruce retired from the sea, and John, who had up to that time been chief officer of the City of Adelaide, succeeded to the command. The father then gave his time to building the South Australian, a composite ship of 1040 tons, iron frame, and teak planking. Capt John Bruce in 1872 brought her out to Port Adelaide and Capt Alick Bruce, a brother, took charge of the City of Adelaide. Alick, in 1876, succeeded John as skipper of the South Australian, which command the latter relinquished to bring out the Glenelg, an auxiliary screw steamer of about 1400 tons, and regarded at the time as something out of the ordinary for a vessel of her class. Capt john, in 1883, was chosen from among 41 applicants to fill the position of harbourmaster of the Tyne, with headquarters at North Shields. He had a staff of 18 assistants, and remained there for 28 years, at the end of which period he retired under the age limit.

Now a Coal Hulk

In a conversation on Saturday afternoon, Capt Bruce mentioned that the City of Adelaide used to a very favourite boat in the sixties, but the last he heard of her was that she had been converted into a coal hulk, and was in Gibraltar Bay. She used to carry about 30 passengers, not counting children, in the saloon, and about the same number in the second class. The voyage out from England used to occupy about 2.5 months, and the trip home about three months. The Cape route used to be preferred for passengers, but Capt Bruce rounded Cape Horn in five of his 25 trips out to South Australia. It is certainly an evidence of careful navigation that in all that time, although naturally bad weather was often met, and on a rough sea the old style of vessel used to toss about like cockleshells, he never had a serious misadventure to report.

Champagne and Cold Collations

The departure of one of the wool clippers for England used to be a red-letter event in the minds of Adelaide people. Generally a crowd of 400 or 500 (including passengers and their friends) would go off to the vessel, and there would be champagne and cold collations on the poop, with speechmaking. On the arrival from London, Capt Bruce would sometimes have to wait outside of Port Adelaide for a week, until the spring tide would enable him to navigate the limestone bar that was then, right across the entrance to the river.

Ocean Races

Another circumstance of the time that will be recollected by many of the older generation of South Australians was the friendly rivalry between the City of Adelaide and the Yatala (Capt Legoe). Mr Bullock thoroughly well remembers an ocean race which began a day or so after Christmas, in 1866, when he was a passenger to England on Capt Bruce’s vessel. The Yatala cast off from Port Adelaide a few hours before the City of Adelaide, and got into Table Bay a few hours before. Two or three days later the Yatala resumed the voyage, once more a few hours before her rival, and passed Land’s End the day before. The Yatala had double tops’le yards, and that was a distinguishing feature on the voyage, during which she was occasionally sighted by those on the City of Adelaide. All on board used to fraternize cordially during the long period at sea, and that was how Capt Bruce became acquainted with so many families in South Australia. He married a daughter of the late Mr George French Angas.

A VETERAN MARINER

Bygone Shipping Days

The death occurred a few days ago, at Launceston, Tasmania, of Capt John Bruce, an old Adelaide identity. In the early sixties of last century no name was better known or more highly esteemed in shipping circles than that of the deceased. Both his father and his brother Alick were deservedly popular. They brought out to South Australia well-known clipper ships of that period, in which many leading colonists sailed to the old country and back. Residents of the State still live who have pleasant recollections of sailing under the Bruces’ command. In those days, when sailing ships had the monopoly of the trade, early application had to be made for berths - particularly in the case of the Bruces’ ships, which were always popular.

Captains Three

Capt Bruce is a native of Scotland, having been born in the City of Perth, on the Firth of Tay, in 1840. He first voyaged to South Australia in 1855 as an apprentice on the Irene, of which his father was the skipper. The next vessel that the latter brought out was the City of Adelaide, full rigged ship of about 791 tons, and she was considered a great craft in those days (1864). In 1867 Capt David Bruce retired from the sea, and John, who had up to that time been chief officer of the City of Adelaide, succeeded to the command. The father then superintended the building of the South Australian, a composite ship of 1040 tons, iron frame, and teak planking. In 1872 this fine clipper ship made the first of several voyages to Port Adelaide, in charge of Capt David Bruce.

Subsequently the command was transhipped to Capt John Bruce, and Capt Alick Bruce, a brother, took charge of the City of Adelaide. Alick, in 1876, succeeded John as skipper of the South Australian, which command the latter relinquished to bring out the Glenelg, an auxiliary screw steamer of about 1400 tons, and regarded at the time as something out of the ordinary for a vessel of her class.

In 1883 Capt John was chosen from among 41 applicants to fill the position of harbourmaster of the Tyne, with headquarters at North Shields. He had a staff of 18 assistants, and remained there for 28 years, at the end of which period he retired under the age limit.

Red Letter Days

When visiting Adelaide a couple of years ago Capt John Bruce, in a conversation with a representative of The Register, mentioned that the City of Adelaide used to a very favourite boat in the sixties, but the last he heard of her was that she had been converted into a coal hulk, and was in Gibraltar Bay. She used to carry about 30 passengers, not counting children, in the saloon, and about the same number in the second class. The voyage out from England used to occupy about 2.5 months, and the trip home about three months. The Cape route used to be preferred for passengers, but Capt Bruce rounded Cape Horn in five of his 25 trips out to South Australia. Evidence of careful navigation is contained in the fact that in all that time, although naturally bad weather was often met, and on a rough sea the old style of vessel used to toss about like cockleshells, he never had a serious misadventure to report. The departure of one of the wool clippers for England used to be a red-letter event in the minds of Adelaide people. Generally a crowd of 400 or 500 (including passengers and their friends) would go off to the vessel, and there would be champagne and cold collations on the poop, with speechmaking. On the arrival from London, Capt Bruce would sometimes have to wait outside of Port Adelaide for a week, until the spring tide would enable him to navigate the limestone bar that was then, right across the entrance to the river.

Shipping Rivalry

Another circumstance of the time that will be recollected by many of the older generation of South Australians was the friendly rivalry between the City of Adelaide and the Yatala (Capt Leroe). An ocean race began a day or so after Christmas in 1866. The Yatala cast off from Port Adelaide a few hours before the City of Adelaide, and got into Table Bay a few hours before. Two or three days later the Yatala resumed the voyage, once more a few hours sooner than her rival, and passed Land’s End the day before. The Yatala had double tops’le yards, and that was a distinguishing feature on the voyage, during which she was occasionally sighted by those on the City of Adelaide. All on board used to fraternize cordially during the long period at sea, and that was how Capt Bruce became acquainted with so many families in South Australia.

The Last Port

Four or five years ago Capt John Bruce retired, and with his family went to Tasmania, where they settled. His sons are now engaged there in fruit growing. When a couple of years ago the deceased, accompanied by his daughter, re-visited Adelaide, many old friendships were renewed and early recollections revived. He was warmly greeted by many old acquaintances and friends, who were delighted to meet him again. Advancing years, however, had told their tale, and although still possessing the same happy and genial disposition, his physical infirmities were marked. His good and useful life was somewhat suddenly terminated. Mrs Bruce, who is a granddaughter of the late Mr George Fife Angas, still survives. There are also one daughter and two sons.