TRIM LITTLE LAUNCHES

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 190, 13 August 1925, Page 9

TRIM LITTLE LAUNCHES

AND HANDY "CUTTERS." PETROL TAKES THE PLACE OF OARS. There is always a crowd of loungers round the Man-o'-war Steps, and at the steps further along Quay Street, which have been set apart for the use of the boats plying to and from the battleships at anchor in the stream. As the smart pinnaces and gigs dash alongside to land officers 0. , visitors who have been out to some ship, the longshoremen find the keenest satisfaction in watching the process. So far one has not seen an oar or a paddle in the whole of the fleet's launch equipment. Xo doubt such things are stowed away somewhere aboard the ships, but the shore-going boats carry none. Tins is the age of machinery, and the drugery of rowing heavy boats ashore is no longer part cf the tar's duties. Petrol takes all the weight off the sailor's back in this respect, and if the new way of doings things does not build muscle as the oar did, it certainly saves time. These American launches with the Stars and Stripes flying from a stall at the stern, are very well- found, like everything else in the lleet. They are nicely modelled boats, and the speed is particularly attractive. Some of them hame mahogony decks, with white seams, and as they are polished they look remarkably well, and are the envy of Auckland yachtsmen. There is a good deal more brass work about some of them than one sees in the boats of the Royal Navy, and everything is kept shining like a mirror. Apparently the supply of petrol is not rationed in the United States Navy, as some of these fast launches get up a great pfice. Among the "cutters," the big, rather lumbering-looking boats, in which the leave, en travel, and stores are taken off the ships, the pace is a very moderate one, but even then it is much faster than the old style of ten oars a side. In all the cutters the steersman stands on a small decked space, which would lie the stern-sheets in a rowing boat, and the liller is a big affair that he works standing up, very much as a barge-man works on the Thames. To give the signals to the man in charge of the engine, a big boll is used. It is made fast, and the steersman works the clapper by means of a loose line that lie holds in the hand not employed in manipulating the tiller. This "is the one antiquated not in the very modern equipment of the flotilla of launches, but there must be some reason for this seemingly anomaly. Instead of whistles, these launches give warning of their approach with klaxon horns, which are rather more raucous than the most strident motor horn, and should be pretty effective in a crowded harbour.