A LONG VOYAGE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8831, 6 May 1914, Page 5

A LONG VOYAGE.

"When Jules Verne wrote "Forty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' tew of his readers imagined that.his weird idea would be accomplished within their lifetime, yet two submarines are now on their way from England to Australia, a distance of 13,000 miles, which they will accomplish under their own power, created by oil-driven engines. They are .scheduled to. .reach Australia about. May 18, which allows for no loss of time/ from start to finish. Each boat has oil engines of 1600 horsepower, calculated to develop 360 revolutions per minute,, and? will carry 111,000 gallons of paraffin as iuel_ahd 11500 gallons .of lubricating oil. They I have as armaments, four, torpedo tubes, and on arrival wilKbe fitted with wireless telegraphy. They are to be known: as AEI and AE2, being of the E. Class. They were escorted-as far as Singapore by His Majesty's-ship; Eclipse, and front that port by the Australia, of the Ctommonwealth'navy. The crews are niamly Australians, who were sent to England for instruction; and they are naturally very keen on making a successful journey with the accompanying eclat. ' Apparently they do not consider the voyage contains. any. hazard out of the ordinary run, but none, expect much enjoyment during the passage, "as space below is very limited, and the only "deck" is a platform 18m. wide and a.bout 60ft. long. Here they can only «it or stand in single the, ana during '.flirty weather or heavy seas this plank walk is of little use.