In 1905, James sailed on his first trip around the world on the SS Claverburn as 2nd Mate. He left England for New York on the Philadelphia to join the Claverburn  which was owned by the South African Steamship Company. This ship was "rigged fore and aft".** Captain Hayes went East through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to Singapore. From here the ship passed through the clear water of the Celebes Sea where a man could see the bottom at a depth exceeding 30 fathoms, and on to the Phillipines. Ilo-Ilo, Manilla and then Swatow in China were the next stopping places. In those bygone days, all the customs officials in China were British because of their trustworthiness.
By hours my father missed the epic battle between the Japanese and Russian fleets in the Korean Straits. The Claverburn rescued some fishermen who had fallen prey to the Russian guns.
From Shanghai, he went to Kobe in Japan and then to Yokohama.
Ocean Island, standing out of the sea at an angle of 45 degrees and which is composed mainly of valuable phosphate rock, was the most awe-inspiring sight that greeted him on that trip.
He stayed here for six weeks while the ship was loaded with valuable phosphate, and to pass the time did some shark fishing. "The tropical fish here were beautiful but not edible" he explained.
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Sailing the Seven Seas.  Voyages of discovery

Father's Discharge book entries for 1909 to 1910 showing six voyages from Liverpool to the West Indies in the Belgian
Belgian at Manchester
In 1905, Ocean Island was inhabited by 300 employees of a British mining company. The only things that grew on the island were coconuts. There was no water, and the inhabitants relied on a provision ship from Australia which called every month.
Sydney, Australia was the next stopping place on the voyage and here the phosphate was unloaded. Captain Hayes confided that if ever he wanted to settle down anywhere, it would be Western Australia because of the perfect climate.
Stopping places on the homeward journey were Durban, the Canary Islands, and through the Baltic and down the Kiel Canal into Germany's industrial Hamburg.
After his round-the-world trip, his voyages took him across the Atlantic to Boston and the West Indies before  he joined the White Star Line.
From an interview with a local paper on Captain Hayes' 80th Birthday.
** fore and aft rigged - referred to the use of sails in the event that the engines broke down in those early days.
Click here to see full listing of his Discharge Book entries